The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-24
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yeaft ahsgiR n titdslH8 cpunty and tof
iouf years lefbfs he election ~ Si~fih y
det uty alrfN
For twehty years RbrfiN Closhef na
lem IN clnsp touch With tln criminal III"
fnsht ~ tia hwef tuftlef The building
~ q mllruad lntr thla sectlon y years
aep cau~sd m eSodue ~ tlg had mon
end sinos tia, time there have besn but
two terms ~ court held In this county,
Thsrv haA hot Iepn y criminal case on tho
coift dochot for more than . year Alfalfa
fields end irrigated farms nov cover tlw
region which was formerly q adtIs covered
desert and the hiding place for bandits,
Il sotnsmter ona summer, q few years
ago. said MIR Closner, "when there was
an inquest every Monday morning for
eeven cunsecuti W. weeks The inqiests
we're not the results of acoidsnts, although
ths vordlots the Jurors brought In when
they mot In the Justice Of tho peace's oflcs
may have been 10 that effect. ThOre hasn't
been q killing for four or Ave years, and not
an atrocious murder for many years.
Closner does not look like n person one
would expect In "a man who had been a
Sheriff on the border for sixteen years.
Being Sheriff Of Hidalgo. county these
days IL only incidental with managing n
large sugar plantation and looking after
tho care OF 375 acres Of alfalfa. The cow.
boy hat and chaps have been abandoned
In Hidalgo county. The Sheriff Of Hidalgo
would be mistaken for a bank cashier or
o man Of business.
mo, / never had to kill a man in my life
said Closner. There was once, in 1892,
think il was, when it came nearly TO the
place whore l had to kill or get killed. It
was when Pancho Garcia and his band OF
MEXICAN outlaws we're stealing and terror
zing along the American border. several
men had been killed by the reckless bandit.
We learned where he made visits to Mex
lean woman house, and on a certain night,
when he was expected, / had two men
stationed, in the house where the woman
lived. That same night Garcia and one
companion held UP and robbed a party OF
seven persons and tied them to mesquite
trees. The travellers were relieved OF their
valuables and the horses were stripped OF
the saddles and brides.
I'VE don't want to hurt YOU Garcia
said TO them. AN we want Ii what you've
got, but there is one thing we are going
to do. We are going to Hidalgo and kill
the Sheriff and his deputy and the woman
who has given US away
Leaving the men tied Garcia and his
companion went to the house where he
had Waited the woman. When he knocked
at the door he was covered with a gun
from a window and commanded to sur
render. Replying that he never surren-
dered, he started to run. .Closner's depu-
ties filled him with buckshot, killing him
instantly.
"Pancho Garcia Is the same bandit who
made an appointment with the chief OF
police Of Reynosa, just across the border,
one day to meet him in a lane not far out
from the town. With a dozen picked men
he went to the appointed spot. Garcia
soon appeared, walked toward them. fired
: several times. wounded the chief Of police
and two OF his men and got away before
the officers ever got a shot at him.
1T may have been the same bandit who
killed a tenderfoot. 1t seemed that a
pedler In travelling through that part OF
the country had made the acquaintance
Of the band, had learned Of its methods
and Indignantly said he intended present.
irg what evidence he had before a Grand
Jury. The pedler was taken out and
literally cut to pieces and burned.