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 In the spring of 1863, residents and travelers through
Colorado Territory feared for their lives as account after account of
vicious murders were reported and lone riders disappeared, only for their
bodies to be later found in a remote a gulley or hidden in the brush of
the mountainsides. The murders were a mystery. No one knew who was
responsible as the perpetrators left no clues. Numerous look-outs were
posted throughout the regions of the killings, but they had no idea who to
look for -- Indians, a gang, or a lone vagabond desperado.
The first victim was found in May, 1863,
his corpse mutilated and the heart hacked out of his chest. During that
summer, twenty-five more people were attacked and killed in a similar
fashion. Only when a wagon was attacked along a road to Fairplay,
Colorado
and the driver was lucky enough to get away, were the murderers finally
recognized.
They were
Felipe and Jose Espinosa, who led a gang made
up of their cousins, who soon took on the nickname of the "Bloody Espinosas." The Espinosas who came from Vera Cruz, Mexico, had witnessed
the killing of six family members when their town was shelled by the U.S. Navy during the
Mexican-American War.
Living near the village of San Rafael,
Colorado the Espinosas were not only embittered by the earlier killing of
their family members, but also because they claimed their land grant in Conejos County
wasn't being honored and numerous white settlers were squatting upon their
property. The Espinosa brothers had earlier been suspected of horse
stealing, but now they were wanted for murder.
According to local legend,
Felipe Espinosa
claimed to have had a vision from the Virgin Mary telling him to kill
100 Anglos for every member of his family lost during the
Mexican-American War. Hotly pursued by lawmen,
Espinosa sent a letter
to Governor John Evans, threatening to kill 600 "Gringos," including
the governor, if he and the other members of the gang were not granted
amnesty and some 5,000 acres in Conejos County,
Colorado. The
Governor soon called upon the U.S. Cavalry to help track down the
murderers.
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Somewhere along the line,
Felipe's brother, Jose was
killed, but his place was taken by a cousin named
Julian Espinosa and their deadly vendetta
continued as more and more men were killed. By their own admission, the Espinosas
killed some 32 people.
In the meantime, the cavalry called upon
well known frontiersman and scout,
Tom Tobin, to use
his tracking skills to find the murderers and bring them in dead or
alive. Following the ambush and murder of a man
and his wife on La Veta Pass, Colonel Sam Tappen, commanding officer
at
Fort
Garland, called upon well
known frontiersman and scout,
Tom Tobin, to use
his tracking skills to find the murderers and bring them in dead or
alive. Accompanied by a detachment of 15 soldiers,
Tobin set out to
find the outlaws. A few days later,
Tobin left the camp alone,
accompanied only by a Mexican boy. Within just a few days, he had
tracked the outlaws and when a gunfight erupted he shot both
Felipe
and his cousin, Julian. He then returned to
Fort
Garland, with their
heads in a sack. Though he anticipated receiving the $2,500 reward on
their heads, he only received $1,500.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated May, 2010.
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