The Red Cloud chief., 1913-08-21
" VI

hurried past ana went nome as Iast
az he could. Being n Gringo from Cincinnati. he
thought II was a ghost
Any Mexican vaquero would have recognized
the sign. Such n light burns over buried treas
ure-nowhere else.
Had no followed the light II would probably
have led him to the buried loot OF old Joaquin
Murrieta Three.Fingered Jack TiburciO Vasquez
some other one OF the hundred bandits who
infested the TETON Pass and the Valley Of the
San joaquin.
And sir, they we're bandits. Dick Turpin!
Pough! A wretched piker! Dick Turpin and
Claude Duval couldn't have got Job currylng
horses for Joaquin Murrieta Don Joaquin was
without doubt the most terrible. bloodthirsty and
successful bandit who ever held up stage.
He was chief OF band that sometimes num-
bered nearly a hundred daredevlls. and the treas
ure that he collected must have been enormous.
An examination into the events OF his pictur.
esQue career would clearly indicate that the sto-
ries 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 a very ordinary look.
ing young Mexican Mt the time he began his dep
relations. He sometimes went by the name OF
GARLIC and many suppose that to have been his
real name
He came up from Mexico. where he was born.
III
1sls. With him came a beautiful young Spanish
girl Of highb0rn family. Her name was Rosetta
Felis
She and Joaquin settled In Stanislaus county
and had begun washing tho gravel for gold when
the tragedy occurred that turned Murrieta into
the cruelest outlaw the world has known.
At that time there were all manner OF race
riots through California as a result Of the 'ant.
foreign" mining laws that had been passed. Dur
Ing one of these riots. .Murrieta and his bride
we're driven out OF the gold diggings with insult
and indignity. Shortly thereafter. Joaquin.
while riding q horse borrowed from his half
brother. was arrested and whipped q horse
thief.
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 Diggings in Calaveras county that day
when they took him from the borrowed horse.
On account Of the Injustice OF the anti.foreign
legislatjon. there we're hundreds Of young Mexi.
cans ripe for Joaquin's picking and he soon col.
lected . desperate band Of cut-throats. Chief
among them were Manuel Garcia. known
ThreeF1ngered Jack on account of q mutilated
hand which had been wounded In the Mexican
war; Reyes Felix. brother Of his bride: Claudio.
Joaquin valenzuela and Pedro Gonzales.
Three Fingered Jack was a monster OF vice
and maniacal cruelty. He seemed to take q spe-
cial delight in numbering Chinese. On one occa.
sion he rounded UP six Cinnamon on the road.
tied their queues together and cut their throats
ono at . ume-laughing at the terrified yells of
tho living ~ the dying men struggled In their
blood.
For about four years Murreta's band ravaged
central California. Their main field of opera.
lions was through the San Joaquin valley. The
oldtimers say that the stage that ran from Los
Angeles TO Stockton was held up 80 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 solitary horseman. rounding clump
Of chaparral. was quito likely to hear the sing of