The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
BOLD ANDALUSIAN BRIGANDS
POLICE AND SOLDIERS HJNT
VIVILLO'S BAND ~ VAIN.
Extraordinary Organization BuiIt IN by
E~x-Snuggier. Who Has Thrown an
AurcOle Of Mystery About Himself
-Bloody Battles and Bold Defiance.

There Is a brigand hunt on in Andalusia.
Soldiers and ~rurales are chasing up and
down the southern provinces OF Spain
doing their best TO locate and capture
vivillo, the bandit chief. and to kill the
members of his band.
Last year they had SOM luck in the
latter direction. In several fights they
killed a number Of outlaws. One Of these
vas Vivillo's lieutenant, known a. FL Chato.
He fell with five OF his comrades after a
battle in which a couple Of hundred shots
we're fired on each side. The whole party
wa wiped out. Two or three Of the police
men had wounds also, though they fired
from ambush On the brigands.
But yivillo has found a new h~enchman,
Females, whose daring and cunning are
40 great that his local fame threatens to
o~ysrshadow that of his chief. One OF his
recent exploits was a sheer act OF bravado.
An official, Senior Zobian, was sent down
from Madrid TO investigate the brigandage
n the country. He went TO Estepa, a town
Of about 1900 inhabitants, about fifty-eight
miles southeast of Seville, and there he
held a public hearing.
Suddenly a tall, Drowned, wiry man
appeared in the doorway Of the room where
the proceedings were going on.
Il just called to pay my respects the
man exclaimed in a rasping voice, with a
sweeping bow that plainly was intended to
he ~ironical.
Sefar Zohian was about to reply when,
with a shout Of "Pernales!" The police officers
made a dash for the door
As they came the man just backed out.
They rushed after him. A. they reached
the entrance to the building he had vanished.
No one had seen him or would admit having
seen him. He had not left so much as a
footprint.
OF course the country people had the
laugh on the police. Zobian came in for
no small ridicule. Out among the peasantry
Il was again whispered that Vivillo and his
gang had help from another but not a
better world.
vivillo himself has always cultivated an
ar OF mystery. Few. outside his chosen
aids, have ever seen him to know him.
How he hides. what his personal life is,
are mysteries. There have been times
when the authorities have doubted il there
was really any Vivillo, IL he was not jus,
Q name kept up by an association Of plum
derers to terrorize the simple.
However this might be at present. there
certainly was a Vivillo. Hs started his
public areer nearly twenty years ago
Little IL known OF his antecedents. but he
Ia said to have been a muleteer and to have
begun his warfare with the police by Snug
Cling between Spanish territory and the
neutral strip which separates il from The
British post at Gibraltar. This is a no.
man's-land, where all sorts OF contraband
might be landed without m~olestation, and
its introduction into Spain was accom-
plished partly by daring and partly by
he connivance Of the customs officers.
vivillo. who at this stag Of his activity
vas known as Camago. was caught at this
game and Condemned 70 jail. There h,
the road.
Awhsa he got out he began operations