The Alaska citizen., 1911-05-08

~HhFE II iaHENitF can III ally NdF be associated Vi.h rhc thought If the ESpiuusas r was not until after the death i the mUrderers that the note book with itS statement ot offering victims in sacrifice to the Virgin proved the murderers to Le Peniten-- cs-the degenerate and perverted branch of a great faith.
 Nathan Hurd claims tha' the Es- pinpSas started on their career of crime actuated by some insult offered the elder Espnosa by the Americans in the legislature of New MeNic9. The theory of the religious tanatiCism k the one. however. which has been accepted and which accounts for the relentless zeal with which these weird uncanny murdererS of the mountains hunted their victims.
 While the mountains were holding their dread secrets Of the murdcrers, Captain John McCannou came over from California Gulch and organized a volunteer company to hunt tine mys terous murderers down. In this party of pursuit was Nathan Hurd and John Schrolk. noW of Denver, but the two were sent back home al Ter the posse had been on the Way for several days, as all men with families were excused.
 The man hunt for the brutal Els pinosas is story of the West that only the men who have faced danger in the mountains can tell. The turk ing dangers haunting the purple hills With the sheltering screens of timber | | .I,,fr ln.4 rN that even brave soldiers on the field upheld hy .he spirit f battle d. no. face.
 One morning al dawn as the .on- pany came to q weird and eeric Cau on OH the wcst side of Four Mile creek. they struck the trail of the bloody Espinosas. Near dense thicket of willow ill a little park they found two horses hobb!ed, on the south side of the sulch Captain Nr- Canon dispatched a parry to go around the bluh and get into the canon below Then push your way carefully up the canon while We cover the horses with ,ur guns he com handed. Don't fire until We have both men ill sight The stiffness of the carly dawn creeping over the mountains was broken only bF the l breathing uf the horses aH, tht cracking of unruly tWigs as the men made their descent into the gulch
 Suddenly the men watching the horses saw a large. muscular figure pnsh aside the sage and begin 10 un hobbIe the horses. All was siler. as they looked upon inc sinister figure of the murderer whose deadly work had written a history in blood in Colorado.
 Then in the tense siIencc a pistol shot rang out and before the eyes of Captain McCannon and his men the EspnOsa fell {. the ground. Joseph NJ Lamb had fired the shot, break ing a rib of he Espinosa. the bullet penetrating his body.
 The dying murderer, tiendish 10 the last and brave to desperation, even ill his death struggles raised himself upon his elbow and began firing at McCannon and his men. Anorh- CT shot rang through the air and the Espinosa fell dead Joseph Lamb claimed the killing of the Espinosa, but Captain McCannon stated that l-iIilD . SlOt dlti btN llttiA lI4t VI Ol h while Charles Carter shot the despe- rado between the eyes.
 As the bullet shot rang through the morning air the figure of the other Espinosa was sighted, but according 10 Captain McCannon's statement, just as he was about to shoot a cry came from one of his men that he was aiming at a member Of his own party. In this way the elder EspinO- Sd escaped into the mountains, and his deadly trail was marked by fur ther bloodshed.
 Vengeance now burning more cruel ly in the heart of this Mexican whose perverted religious ideas led him to cOnseCrate fresh victims 10 the Virgin whose gentle presence in the religious world he so terribly mis- understood.
 Returning to New Mexico, he came back to Colorado with nephew and started out afresh on his hideous car mage
 The capture and death of the re maining Espinosa was effected, not by an American, but by an old MeXi- can scout, Tom Tobins.
 With his knowledge of the noun tains and of nature, with his lore of the forest and the wilds, Tobins was able to track the murderer to his hiding place. Taking a few soldiers from Fort Garland he began his search.
 One morning bit of smoke rising high in the air and SilhOuetted against drifting cloud. turned silver by the sunlight. caught the trained eye of the mountaineer. He knew that some one had built a campfire and his , reason told him that the ESpinOsa had slain some roaming animal and was feasting Crawling on his hands and knees, gliding over the ground like a panther so as to make nc ; sound by the breaking of a tWig or , the rustling of a leaf Tobins came , upon the object of his hunt, , Before the campfire lay the slaught , cred carcass of a yearling steer. The , cruel face of the murderer, Espinosa , was bent over the campfire cooking , a steak Near by sat tWelve-year , old boy, the nephew, whom this wild murderer of the mountains had brought to accompany him on his , hideous career of bloodshed in which , his brother had been slain.
 Suddenly a feeling-subtle, but i'm pellng-caused the murderer to turl !, his head Before he could grasp his rife Tom Tobins had shot him dead - The boy, too, fell victim to the