Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-20

other night. He had seen q ball OF
light flickering and dancing along the
plateau Of the Banderillos. He said 1t
fioated along the road in front Of him
for a long time as though to lead him
somewhere. Finally, It stopped by the
side of the road: he hurried past and
went home as fast as he could. Be-
ing a Gringo from Cincinnati. he
thought It was ghost. -.
Any Mexican vaquero would have
recognized the sign. Such a light
burns over buried treasure-nowhere
else. a
Had he followed the light, 1t would
probably have led him to the buried
loot of old Joaquin vasquez or some
other one Of the hundred bandits who
infested the TETON Pass and the Valley
OF the San Joaquin.
And sir, they were bandits. Dick
Turpin! Pough! A wretched piker!
Dick Turpin and Claude Duval couldn't
have got job currying horses for
Joaquin Murrieta, Don Joaquin was,
without doubt, the most terrible,
blood thirsty and successful bandit
who ever held up stage.
He was chief of band that some
times numbered nearly a hundred
dare-devils, and the treasure that he
collected must have been enormous.
An examination into the events OF
his picturesque career would clearly
indicate that the stories Of his buried
gold are not mere vaquero myths. He
must have left treasure in consider
able quantities cached somewhere in
the vicinity OF the TETON ranch-very
likely In the TETON pass.
Murrieta is described as very or
dinary-looking young Mexican at the
time he began his depredations. He
sometimes went by the name of Ca
riIlo and many suppose that to have
been his real name.
He came up from Mexico, where he
was born, at the time Of the California
gold excitement in 1S49. With him
came a beautiful young Spanish girl
of high-born family. Her name was
Rosetta Feliz. ~ ~
She and Joaquin settled in Stanis-
laus county and had begun washing
the gravel for gold when the tragedy
occurred that turned Murrieta into
the cruelest outlaw the world has
known. @ t "
At that time there were all manner
Of race riots through California as
result of the "anti-foreign" mining
laws that had been passed. During
one Of these riots, Murrieta and his
bride were driven out of the gold dig
gings with insult and indignity. Short
ly thereafter, Joaquin, while riding
horss borrowed from his half brother,
was arrested and whipped as a horse
thief. tl4 81.
With black murder in his heart, he
"took the road" and no one knows how
many innocent lives were sacrificed to
wipe out the wrong done this Mexican
peon when lashed to tree at Muir
phys Diggins in Calveras county that
day when they took him from the bor-
rowed horse.
On account of the injustice Of the
anti-foreign legislation, there were
hundreds of young Mexicans ripe for
Joaquin's picking and he soon collect
ed desperate band Of cut-throats.
Chief among them were Manuel Gar
cia, known as Three Fingered Jack
on account of mutilated hand which
had been wounded in the Mexican war,
Reyes Feliz, q brother Of his bride,
Claudio, Joaquin Valenzuela and Pc
dro Gonzales.
Three Fingered Jack was monster
of vice and maniacal cruelty. He SEEM
ed to take a special delight in murder
ing Chinese. On one occasion, he
rounded UP six Cinnamon on the road,
tied their ques together and cut their
throats one at time-laughing at the
terrified yells Of the living as the dy-
ing men struggled in their blood.
In the gang were three women who
sometimes lived in the border towns
and charmed all by their quiet, de-
mure manners; but who, at other
times, wore mems clothes and who,
armed to the teeth, rode with the rob-
Der bands. ..
Joaquin evidently used them as
spies to find out from the townspeople
what treasure would be abroad on the
highways. Very likely, one Of these
was the lovely rosetta Feliz.
On one occasion these three women
saved Joaquin from capture and hang
ing. The band was operating in the
vicinity of San Luis Obispo. A COM
pany Of rangers had located Murrieta's
camp end rushed the place at night.
AS the officers entered the tent by the
front, the women set up commotion.
while Joaquin and two companions
slashed their way out at the back with
their bowie knives and escaped.
For about four years, Murrietas
band ravaged Central California. They
came as far south as Los Angeles
county and went as far north as Stock
ton. Their main field Of operations
was through the San Joaquin Valley.
Tle Ola timers Tell IIlS ludI lhC oeooS
that ran from Los Angeles to Stock
ton was held up so many times in the
vicinity Of Bakersfield that it became
an ordinary and commonplace event
No road was safe and every traveller
rode at the peril Of his life. The SOL
itary horseman rounding a clump OF
chaparral, was quite likely to hear the
sing Of a RATA through the air and feel
the rope settling around his shoulders
with a jerk that dragged him from the
saddle. The band Of robbers that
worked for Murrieta were unique In
that he riata was their chief weapon
the RATA and the bowie knife. Many
of Murrietas victims were ;.Sged
from the saddle and had their lnroats
cut.
There was seldom any parley with
the victims, nor any mercy shown
With Murrieta, it was not only quest
Nfr