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Felipe
Nerio Espinosa (1836-1863) - A member of the "Bloody
Espinosa Gang," Felipe was born about 1836 in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
He was a child during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and
witnessed six family member's deaths when Vera Cruz was shelled by the
U.S. Navy. Somewhere along the line, he and his brother, Jose Vivian
Espinosa, along with several cousins, migrated to
Colorado,
where the embittered Mexicans began a reign of terror. In 1863, by
their own admission, they killed more than 30 pioneers, in an
extremely brutal fashion. According to local legend, 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. Army to help track down the
murderers in 1863. The soldiers then called upon frontiersman,
Tom Tobin, to use
his tracking skills to find them and bring them in dead or alive.
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Mexican Vaquero by Frederick Remington.
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Outlaw
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