Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-04-05
CABALLER0, 10
YEARS OLD, TO
SERVE YEARS
CONVICTED or PARTICIPATION IN
MURDERS or SMITH AND DON
ALDSON ON FRESNOS TRACT.
ACCEPTS VERDICT OF Is YEARS
WITH SMlLE-TWO-YEAR SUS-
PENDED SENTENCE GOES.

Roicrio Caballcro. accused of compiled
tv in the murder of Earl Donaldson and
j. +. Smith M Los Fre~nn~ during the
bandit raids of 1918 l. guilty. determined
Il Jury ia the district court Wednesday
late. lie will serve u years in the state
penitentiary for the killing.
n told in late editions of Wednesday,
Herald. the jury brought IL that decision
I'D 4 80 o'colck Wednesday afternoon. aft
ter five hours deilbcration. At three o'clock
the Jury came into court To ak that a por-
tlon OF the testimony Of Stanley Dodds,
the states sole eyewitness. be- read again.
They retired after hearing.thI~ and came IN
finally an hour and \ half later.
Young Caballero J. but nineteen years
old. The prison pallor under his brown
skin became winter and hi~ lips drew into
4 tense line a. the twelve men who had
east the die II life ~ death filed into the
court room. Beyond this b. showed ~
sign Of the strain under which h. has
lived since hi> trial opened Monday.
Whcn the jury had reported there was
n distinct interval before anyone thought
"a translate the verdict 10 the prisoner.
He did not ask that this be done. though
IL was evident that he did not know whcth-
cr the turn of the thumb was mp or down.
Then hi~ counsel. T.. X. Goodrich and X. A.
Kitchen. camc over 10 him and Judge
Goodrich sand IN Spanish Fifteen years
Caballcro broke INTO Il smile. and left the
court ~nll smiling. u%ndaunted by the
thought of seventeen years To be spent he
hind bar. lie has two wears To serve ON
u suspended sentence for cattle theft.
The crime Of which Cahallero was con
victed was cnmmed by thirty armed
bandits on September ,, 1915. They took
Stanley ;. DuddS. . contractor. and J. T..
Smith hi helper. from their work in a
new concrete pump Pr Al the second lift
pumping station on the. Los Frc-nn- canal.
sixteen miles north Of Brownsville and six
east lof San Beaito. and marched
them north along the canal bank. At y
crossing "a a road they camc upon Earl
Donaldson. \ farmer who had recently
moved onto his farm at Loo Fre-no~ from
the North.
They took the mules from hi~ farm
wagon and made him Join Smith and
Dodd-. Perhaps two miles further up the
the bandits took Smith and Donald
son INTO The brush III the canal side. mutt
them. allowed them to suffer for y
time and then finished them by shooting.
Dndd~, standing on the canal bank.
the grnan- ~ biz fellow. and the
shots that ended their misery. He cxpect-
ed "a meet the same fate but he .wa~ told
to rome along when the band took up the
march again. Then the argument over
what wa to be done with him started
again.
A man who had once worked For Dudd~
and who had been well treated ~ the
swung the balance to life in
of death by saving that Dodd~ was
4 German. II was then decided not to
Kill him. n little later The gang took to
the brush and the advance party ran lnlo
lnlted State infantrymen. When the fir
ing began ahead the men guarding Dodd~
forward. Dodd- dropped behind
\ cactus rlump until the lat III hi- rapipr~
passed and then made Aft IN the rear aud
around 10 get Ia San Renito. liz
arrived there five hours later ia u piiiable
state from hi~ flight through the cactus.
with hi clothes torn almost off and hi~
rir..rd and bleeding. Dndd~. A. the
states star witness. told this story IN The
Asked whether Cahallero was one
- a.. tl.r,tt ,n.vF.Y.,. h.II. III H.. ..
certain he was. but would not swear
to III.
Caballrru'- attorneys have not decided
whether they will appeal the ease.