Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-25
BURIED ALIVE IN DESERT;
MEXICAN'S SWIFT VENGEANCE

their performance once In a while to make
ieering faces at Ramon whose hend they
saw framed In the cell window With his
chin resting on his two hands ramon was
wa.cn'ns them. / knew, then, why he
mao heard me when I called him. He
haa been very busy thinking. Ramon.
Rosita and Juan. hand In hand. danced
sayly down the road. turning occasionally
10, 70 make hooking grimaces at Ramon. a
ntte whiie after l had climbed up on the
bench to look over Ramon's shonIdsr omt
or the window. When they had disappeared
In the moonlight. Ramon turned TO me with
s"ae. never saw such a smile as that
On man race, and never want to again
| The moon. she bright this night eh
IomassoT was all Ramon said to me-that
Is, he sort OF gasped 1t: but as looked
hn, man, man over curiously. couldn't help
out mink now I'd hate to be in Rosita's
and Juan's moccasins In case Ramon
should ever get loose
Sawed His Way Out
:" And i've nights later Ramon did yet
loose s''
He'd begun to saw his way out the
very night OF that road performance OF
Hosira and Juan. Took a piece Of steel out
or MS shoe for the work. Being a black
smith. ne was handy man at that sort
OF thing. and he worked all the time that I
WASH around. 30 he got through the win
COW on the NTH night after Rosita and
Juan had danced in the moonlight for him.
Left clumsy pidgin- English note for me.
saying that he hated to get mis- good friend
Iomasso into trouble by going that way:
put that he had thing to do that must be
he added.
Well. Ramon himself told me all the
rest OF 1t. He had gone straight from the
jail to his 'dobe. surprising Juan there with
Roslta. 1t was detached 'dobe, on the
edge OF the desert trail, and a thousand
Feet away from any other habitation. RAJ
mon put Juan and Rosita under the gun
before entering the 'dobe-and then he drove
both OF them before him 10 the shop He
had already lighted q lantern there. Ra-
mon. stu keeping the guilty pair under the
gun, picked up half-inch steel chain from
the noor and commanded Juan to make a
loop OF 1t around the beseechlng Rositas
The handsome vaquero was a craven.
ana. besides. this made 1t look as II Ramon
was only going to take vengeance on Ro-
sta, and, perhaps. let him 60. So Juan fas-
tened the chain loop around the wailing
Rosita's neck. and clamped the loop. When
that was DONE Ramon suddenly jumped for
Juan: Juan was baby In Ramon's hands
Ramon held him down while he made a
loop around Juans neck with the other end
OF the chain. Thus he had them securely
fastened together. chained by their necks
temporarily fastening the middle of the
chain to ring in the wall of the shop,
Ramon hitched his silver gray jennet to the
wagon. Then he lifted the neck-chained
Rosita and Juan into the bottom of the
wagon from the back. one by one. After
tossing spade into the front Of the wagon.
the .jennet. and drove OF under the stars
Into the desert. Ramon drove eight miles
before pulling the tennet up. He didn't say
much to me about how Kosita and Juan
had pleaded for their lives.
"."But tell them" he explained to me-
when they beg-it 10, oh, Jesu, how they
beg!-that they had both dance on my heart
under the 30 bright moon-and so, why
should give them lfer'
Given Time to Pray.
Well. eight miles out into the desert.
Ramon pulled up and got out and began to
dig. in the sand with his spade. He dug
two deep holes-they must have been at
least seven feet deep-right alongside each
other. The Job took him nearly two hours
Then Ramon told Rosita and Juan that he
would give them a few minutes in which
to make their peace with God He knelt
down with them while they prayed, and
crossed himself when they did: he told me
they prayed to the Mother, of all Mercles;
yet he had his duty to perform-and had
they not danced on his heart, out in the
road. under the moonlight 80 o..
Ramon buried Juan alive first, his idea
being. probably. to show Rosita what a
cur and what really Insignificant person
her pretty vaQuero really was. He tamped
and patted the ground above Juan's head,
good and firm.
Then he kissed the imploring Rosita
quite affectionately on the forehead-and at
the same instant he humanity stabbed her
to the heart with his knife. Then he buried
Rosita, standing up. like Juan. beside her
lover, and tamped and patted the sand
above her head. He drove his spade into
the spotNand left II there to mark the place.
Then Ramon climbed back into his cart and
kept on across the desert. making the long
drive to Chihuahua to see his old mother.
He told his old mother about what Rosita
and about the baby. and about what had
happened to Juan and Rosita-
Ten days later Ramon came to me at
the prison. mounted on his almost dead
had had vision Of the Holy Virgin. The
Holy Virgin had insisted that the old
mother advise her son to give himself up
to Justice and throw himself upon the
mercy OF God. And so Ramon. obedient to
his old mothers advice and command, re-
turned here and gave himself UP to me.
The bodies Of Rosita and Juan were dis
!nterred-the spade still marking the spot
In the sand. The bodies received decent
burial. but in unconsecrated ground. The
old priest held that Rosita and Juan had
been guilty.
Ramon wouldn't plead any other way
except guilty. and there was nothing for It
but to sentence him. I've hung a hull lot
Of Ereasers with more honest enjoyment
than I'm going to have in stringing up
Ramon1 sure have
THAT was the story Of my friend Sheriff
Tom. Ramon was strung up. per sched-
ule thirty-six hours after he'd been play
ing stud with the sherin and me. 1 couldn't
stand the feel of those gold and silver coins
of his In my pocket, and so gave them to
the old Mexican priest, to his intense sur
prise and delight. never much cared to
pack around a dead mans money.
Those holes dug In the sand by the
children up the beach brought NogaIes back
to me. and reminded me of Sheriff Tom
Brock and his account of Ramon Alcedo
and Rosita and the pretty vaquero Juan
Guerrero" CLARENCE /. CULLEN.
Do opposites Mate WellP