Throughout the Civil War era, a major part of the nation was concerned with the actions
of the Jesse James boys. At the same time, California was suffering its own, unique
dilemma; it was awash with marauding bands of local banditti.
Five different men, all named Joaquin, had led hoodlum groups in devastating the Golden
State. Many of their assorted crimes were blamed on one gang- that led by Joaquin Murieta.
But Murieta, killed in 1853, was more of a legend. The actions of a later bandit, the
notorious Tiburcia Vasquez are fact.
On May 18, 1875, Vasquez's band enjoyed its last successful heist 18 miles North of
Huntington (now Victorville). Led by Vasquez's daring and adept lieutenant, Cleovaro
Chavez, the pack rode in from the west and raided Cottonwood's stage coach station (now
extinct). Pinpointed about five miles north of Helendale, near the Mojave River, the post
was an half-hour's ride from Oro Grande.
Chavez and some 15 rag-tag killers ransacked this general store- type depot,
strategically located on the main wagon route serving Death Valley's mining interests; the
Los Angeles/Salt Lake Trail and the Old Government Road east to Arizona. Born in Monterey,
California in 1835, Tiburcio was a bachelor. His forebearers came to the state with Capt.
Juan Batista Anza's famous trek of 1776. A known petty thief at 14, Tiburcio became a
seasoned highwayman by 22, and was soon lanquishing in San Quentin Prison for several
crimes. Released in 1863, he joined two famous desperados in terrorizing citizens in the
San Joaquin Valley and coastal area. Slight, wiry and handsome, Vasquez wore chin whiskers
and favored light-colored stallions, usually palominos, for personal use. A natural
leader, he soon headed a derelict band of brigands and chose Cleovaro Chavez as his second
in command.
There are no known photographs of Chavez, but he was described as swarthy and muscular,
almost six feet in height and weighing more than 200 pounds. Recognized as blood-thirsty,
Chavez joined Vasquez in every robbery and foul killing committed by the gang between 1870
and 1874.
Assisted by a $15,000, state-funded war chest for their expenses, lawmen throughout the
state were actively seeking Vasquez; his capture would also net a reward of $8,000 if
taken alive, $6,000 if taken dead.
Frequently hidden by family and friends, Vasquez was finally shot and apprehended on
May 14, 1874, at a small rancho in Hollywood, where Hollywood and Santa Monica boulevards
now meet.
En route to the Los Angeles jail, Vasquez joked with his captors saying he knew they
wouldn't kill him because he was worth $2,000 more alive.
His wounds healing, he was taken by carriage to San Pedro, then departed for San
Francisco aboard a coastal side wheeler steam boat before ending up in San Jose.
There he was tried and convicted of several murders during a bold, plundering and
killing spree at Tres Pinos, a tiny central valley community.
On March 19, 1875, special gallows were brought to San Jose from Sacremento and used to
hang California's leading outlaw.
Upon Vaquez's capture, Chavez had fled to Mexico. Two months before his former leader's
execution, Chavez re-entered the state and rallied the remnants of Vasquez's gang.
These dozen or so outlaws renewed their desperado ways, operating from the Walker Pass
area in Inyo County. Stage-coach and other types of robberies became common affairs
throughout Kern County, with this banditti group, the culprits disappearing from time to
time into the vastness of the Mojave Desert.
Searles Station at Borax Lake and other nearby settlements were also victims of this
gang, which, five days after Vasquez was hanged, assaulted the stage station at Little
Lake, in Inyo County near today's highway 395.
Four days later they visited Granite springs, further east in the Mojave, and on May
18, 1875, surprised Cottonwood Station. They looted the proprietor of $80 cash, his gold,
firearms and all his horses.
In a rare turn, Chavez returned the horses after pleas not to remove the station's
means of livelihood.
The May 22, 1875 edition of the San Bernardino Guardian told of the Cottonwood robbery
and stated "Chavez in his line, promises to out-rival Vasquez."
Leaving Helendale's environs, Chavez and company rode east towards the Territory of
Arizona, little caring of the conspicuous path they left, like jet vapor trails in today's
skies.
Once in Arizona, they settled at a horse ranch 60 miles north of Yuma, on the Colorado
River. It was here, on Nov. 25, 1875 that two bounty hunters ambushed the outlaw leader,
seeking the $2,000 reward posted for his capture, dead or alive.
Seventeen buckshot balls later, Chavez lay dead and the remaining gang members fled
south.
Chancing another robbery before crossing into Mexico, the leaderless group entered the
village of Campo in San Diego County, where they tried to sack the general store. The
ensuing gun fight left one thief dead and wounded most of the others, who fled.
A pursuing posse was credited with rounding up those involved and "trussing"
them to the nearest tree Although not elaborated on, trussing suggests the hunted were
tied by their necks, with no special gallows erected for the grisly task of hanging.
In the three decades of blood shed terrorizing and plundering citizens, Vasquez and his
ilk suffered violent deaths within 8 months of each other. Their misdeeds gained them but
occasional, meager wealth, and Victor Valley's only Vasquez-related crime led to this
gang's wholesale doomsday.
