Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
Special Correspondence Of The Star.


MADRID. May I. 1908.
-EW dime novels that have fired
sss "s sa"as s1 sss'''sS
dealt with so interesting and at
the same time so fascinating q
scoundrel as Ell vivillo. the Andalusian
bandit who was recently arrested In Bue-
nos Aires. Argentina. He now lies i'm
prisoned under very heavy guard. in the
renal prison at Cadiz. but no one who
knows anything about his career and his
extraordinary capacity for wriggling out
nf difficulties expects that he will remain
within the four walls OF his Jail very long.
Il Is freely limited in high circles here
that the hearts of many fair and infiuen-
tal ladies of sunny Spain have been lost
TO the daring desperate and that their
owners will move heaven and earth to
secure his release.
Despite his life of crime and undoubted
viciousness FL VivillO has been the favor
tie hero of the youth of this country for
more than eighteen years. The young
srers have followed his adventurous ca
reer as set forth from time to time in
the papers with bated breath and spark
ling ewes and have. no doubt. one and
al. longed TO some day emulate the bold
bandit and the band OF precious scamps
he so successfully Captained
This is not Ell Vivillos first term be-
hind prison bars but all attempts to keep
him there long have proved unsuccessful
heretofore. Either by the expenditure or
those in high places, or his own genius
Jail breaker. he has walked out APP
parertly when he pleased.
Bears a Charmed Life.
Like most heroes. either of fiction or
he hpr al n
life OF the reckless band of lawless
characters he led during his eighteen
years as premier Knight OF the road"
FL Vivilo, with one exception. is the only
one still alive All the others have fallen
i'm skirmishes with that very excellent
and sure-stooting body of mounted police
the civil guards. FL Vivillo's sole fellow
survivor of those strenuous times is Pa
iarito, his lieutenant. who is now under
going sentence Of ninety-one years
penal servitude in CordOva prison. La
Pajarito yields only to his chief in his
record of rascality.
A halo Of romance has grown up around
FL Vivilo and his band According to
the general opinion among the Ignorant
Spaniards of the countryside. he is a sort
or second Robin Hood. robbing the rich
and assisting the poor. Some OF the
stories which are told of him and on
which this view is based are undoubtedly
true. but the great majority of them
were just as surely. woven out of thin
air by imaginative writer's attached to
the press.
ri Vvillo was horn in the Andalusian
town of Estepa as long ago as 1865 AS
very young boy he acquired remark
able dexterity with the cards, and 1t was
through the constant exercise of this
talent that he earned the nickname by
which he has always been known. to the
exclusion o. his family handle" Ell
Nivillo. translated in English. means
Lively Little One" and from all ac-
counts the future bandit was very pre-
cocious youth. His parents appear to
have been honest. simple folks. and made
real effort to train him for a COM
mercal career He was sent to Cor
dova to serve apprenticeship in bust
ness house. but his employer soon bundled
him back home again because of his I'M
ruly ways. Under the paternal roof he
then remained until he reached the age
Of twenty-three when both his parents
died and he inherited small fortune
Vulgar, But a Gay Lothario.
FL Vivilio Immediately started out to
paint his home town red. His one idea
seemed 10 be TO get rid OF his fortune in
record time. and successful was he
that in two years he was penniless. AT