Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

Vasquez Captured at Last.
San Francisco Chronicle (newspaper),
San Francisco, Cal.

Friday, May 15, 1874.

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[MORE ABOUT TIBURCIO VASQUEZ]


Story

conscientious scruples restrained him, can only be determined by time, if at all. After a thorough search of the Cantua canon, Morse proceeded to Zabata China, where he pitched his camp, and from which point he scoured all of the adjacent country. Ten days search, and the
FREQUENT INTERVIEWING OF MEXICANS Within fifty miles of this camp brought him two items of information first, that Vasquez was then in the neighborhood of Fort Tejon, and second, that Manuel Lopez, a Mexican guilty of half a dozen murders, and suspected of being one of the Kingston robbers was living at a point particularly designated in Monterey county. After an unsuccessful pursuit of Lopez, Morse turned his steps towards Los An­geles county searching on the way portions of Kern and Tulare. He had about considered the information as to Vasquez' presence in Los Angeles untrue, when he heard of
THE ROBBERY OF REPETTO, When be hastened to guard the trails lead­ing to Soledad canon and Willow Springs. As is well known, the robber did not rush into the trap prepared for him, and after some days in that county, Morse followed the supposed tracks of the bandit north to Merced county, where, after totally wearing out five relays of horses, having been
IN THE SADDLE SIXTY-ONE DAYS, And ridden 2,728 miles, be abandoned temporarily the hunt, reaching home on the 12th instant, but intending to resume the search in a few days with the same company      [The capture of the notorious robber by Sheriff Rowland of Los Angeles, renders un­necessary a full detail of Morse's hunt. Suffice it to say, it was arduous, and in the neighborhood where he had reason to sus­pect the bandit was concealed it was thorough. Some interesting and exciting episodes occurring on this trip will appear hereafter.—ED.]

HOW MORSE WAS MISLED.

Circumstantial and Seemingly Re-
­liable information Which Was
Totally Incorrect.
     The very ordinary appearance of Vasquez has been strongly in his favor, for on the strength of it more than one officer has been misled, starting on his supposed trail upon evidence apparently unquestionable that the notorious bandit had taken it.
     From our dispatches of Sunday last it ap­pears that Sheriff Morse, than whom no more cautious officer can be found in the State, was then confident that Vasquez was then very near San Luis Rancho, in Merced county, and we are credibly informed that no later than last evening he received in­formation which he deemed perfectly relia­ble that the noted robber was at a point
IN MERCED COUNTY Well-known to his informant, and to whom he promised the entire reward offered in the Governor's last proclamation if he would guide him to within rifle shot of the spot.
     Certain it is, not only that a man answer­ing in every particular the description of Vasquez, even to the sunken left eye, left Los Angeles county about the time Vasquez disappeared from the sight of his pursuers, but that this man was accompanied by a man who resembled the robber-chief's fidus achates. Chavis
MACLAY'S STATEMENT.      Morse was informed by ex-Senator Maclay, at the time the former made his last visit to San Fernando, that Vasquez had been at this new settlement a few days be­fore and had the effrontery to drink at the hotel bar, but as the information was re­ceived in the same hour with other and con­tradictory statements—one to the effect that the hunted man, with four followers, had been seen that day seventy miles further south, and another that he was then in Soledad canon—Morse paid but little heed to Mr. Maclay's statement, and returned, via Soledad, to the New Idria region, believing that he was on the trail of the robber, and but a few days behind him. In the light of this experience, it is probable there was some truth in the story told Morse's party by a Mexican, that not only had Vasquez
NUMEROUS AND VARIED DISGUISES, But that a favorite ruse of his, when hotly pursued, was to send in an opposite direction from that he proposed taking, a faith­ful adherent arrayed like, and made to resemble himself as much as possible.
     In the struggle between Morse and Juan Soto, in which the latter was killed, in the face of Morse's fire, Soto found a man who donned his coat and hat, and risked his life for his friend.

A DRINK WITH THE BANDIT.

Ex-Senator Maclay's Experience
With Vasquez—He Sleeps in the
Same House With Him Three
Nights.

    Ex-Senator Maclay arrived here from Los Angeles last evening. It seems he had the pleasure of taking a drink with Mr. Vas­quez a few days ago, and also of sleep­ing under the same roof with the genial cut-throat. Mr. Maclay has pur­chased the tract of land known as the San Fernando ranch, situated about twenty-three miles from Los Angeles, and has had a town laid out there, to be called San Fernando. He was stopping at an old Mission house in the vicinity, in com­pany with Don Andres Pico. On Saturday last a man rode up and bade Mr. Maclay "Good day." The salutation was returned; the man dismounted and the two went in and had a drink and some social converse together. The man slept there that night. Next day a Mexican woman asked Maclay if he knew who the man was whom he had entertained, and proceeded to inform him that it was no less a person than the re­doubtable bandit Vasquez. That night Maclay noticed that Pico was particular about locking the bedroom doors. He asked him if the stranger was Vasquez; he answered that Maclay needn't be afraid—Vasquez wouldn't hurt anybody about there. The stranger slept in the house three nights. Most of the Mexicans about the locality seemed to know him and to treat him with consideration. On the morning of the fourth day after his appearance he mounted a horse and rode off toward Los Angeles.
     Mr. Maclay gave Sheriff Rowland infor­mation of these facts, and this perhaps led ultimately to the bandit's capture.

Other Expeditions.      Sheriff Adams, of Santa Clara, and Sheriff Morse, of Alameda, were organizing expedi­tions to start out in a few days. The CHRONICLE was to be represented by special cor­respondents with both Morse and Adams. Boyd Henderson, who had been with Morse on his recent long scout, was to accompany the Sheriff on the new bunt ; and a CHRON­ICLE man had already been dispatched to San Jose to set out with the Adams party.

The Governor’s a Proclamation of $8000 Reward.      The captors of Vasquez will be entitled to a reward of $8,000, as will be seen by the fol­lowing proclamation issued by the Gov­ernor:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
     SACRAMENTO. May 8, 1874.
     WHEREAS, on August 26, A. D., 1873, near the town of Hollister, in this State, several murders were perpetrated by one Tiburcio Vasquez, and by men associated with him and supposed to be under his control; and, notwithstanding a procla­mation offering a large reward for the apprehen­sion of the murderers they are still at large and are engaged in violating the laws and committing crimes in the southern part of the State; Now, therefore, revoking the proclamation of $2,000 or $3,000 reward issued January 24, 1874, by virtue of authority in me vested, and in pursuance of a special law enacted for the purpose of arresting and punishing the said criminals. I, Newton Booth, Governor of the State of California, do hereby offer a reward of eight thousand dollars for the arrest of the said Tiburcio Vasquez, payable upon his being delivered alive to the Sheriff of the county of Monterey; and I do further proclaim that if during an attempt to arrest him he shall make such re­sistance as to endanger the persons or lives of whomsoever may arrest him, and shall in consequence thereof be killed, I offer a reward of six thousand dollars, payable, upon proof of his death and the circumstances attending it, to the man or men who may have killed him. Only one of the above named rewards will be paid. If Tiburcio Vasquez shall be necessarily killed, the said sum of $6,000 will be paid; if he be arrested and de­livered to the Sheriff of Monterey county alive, the said sum of $8,000 will be paid.
     NEWTON BOOTH, Governor.

Newspaper images: 9600 dpi jpeg of 300 dpi jpg of original newspaper from the collection of Alan Pollack

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