Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-27
LOVE FOR HIS BABY
. SLAYER'S UNDO|NG
MEXICAN WHO KILLED WIFE
is CAPTURED
Lured from His Hiding Place with a
Promise to See His Child, He
Is Caught by Brave
Officer

Adelfino Albitre, a Mexican, charged
with the brutal murder of his wife, was
arrested at San Diego by Officer George
! Pringle ON christmas day, and yester-
day he was lodged in the county Jail by
Sheriff W. A. White, who brought him
north.
The man, when arrested, had heavy
revolver strapped to his side, another
one on the chair beside him and dirk
and razor in his belt.
Such is the cold-blooded report regis
tered in the great book of the county
Jail, but behind that story is story of
love greater than life, the love of a
Wild strong man. brutal to repugnance.
strong in the blood lust of his Indian
ancestors, yet weak as a child in the
love of but one person on earth-his
baby daughter.
The murder occurred September 2,
when Albitre, after shooting the woman
who had called him husband. like some
great gorilla he dragged the bleeding
and lifeless body about with him until
he was compelled to drop it, and, with
a gun flashing in either hand, take to
the hills for safety.
Remembered His Baby
There was murder in his soul and
murder in his mind, but through it all
he remembered the pat of a little hand
upon his face. the soft press of baby
lips against his own, the muttered
prattlings of his native tongue made
sweeter by a baby voice, and the SOFT
cooed "adios, padre" suffered out TO
him at his last parting.
The killing had come after, and that
was the other man, the bad man in him,
and he fled, knowing what must come
He crowled through washes, through
bramble and brush. He slept in ken
nels, with the dirt and CRIME sticking
to his face and clothes. He fought
nature like the wild man he was and
fought man with the cunning of the
mans brain in his head.
He gained safely among his own peo-
pie. He had money, friends. warm
place to Sleep the wild cliffs and hills
for his own, food and plenty and never
that terrible gnawing at the heart
strings that the trembling fox feels as
he lodges through the meadow and
brush with man and dog in full cry.
But there was another feeling there.
a remembrance of a baby face, a call
from across mesa land and hill, from
over the cap of rugged mountain and
swelling softly from the valleys. 1t
came to'him in his dreams, 1t shone be-
fore him as he trudged about in the
hills-a baby's face. The birds chirped
her name to him, his little Marguerite,
the sweet breath of the hills breathed
that last murmured caress, the wild,
shrieking voice of the ocean thundered
an echo to his desperate thoughts-and
he was lost
Their Last Quarrel
Frances Ramirez was the common law
wife of Albitre. They lived in small
hut in the southeastern section Of Mon
rovia and quarreled frequently. On the
morning of September they arose early
and quarreled as usual, the woman
using language which even to Albitre
caused his blood to boil.
He siezed her body in his arms and
hurled her against the wall. His big
revolver. a 44-caliber gun, his constant
companion, blazed twice and the hgure
of the woman fell to the floor.
The man picked 1t up and dragged 1t
with him as far as the railroad tracks,
where he dropped 1t. 1t was later dis
covered by the woman's brother, and
200 men and women with bloodhoundsI
secured the country for more than a
week looking for Albitre. He eluded
them.
It was not hard in that country. He
knew hundreds of his kin, and
Spanish Indian does not give up a
friend He lived at Los Nietos, laugh
ing at reports of pursuit, and then he
went south to Eel Cajon, in the back
land OF San Diego county. Albitre had
friends In that vineyard section-friends
with whom he might live the remainder
of his days and never be discovered,
but he could not stand It,
Fifteen DAYS ago a small, dark figure