CANDADO COSTILLO, A RED-HANDED MURDERER, DEFIES THE OFFICERS FOR YEARS
AND RAIDS THE COUNTRY AT WILL--FINALLY CAUGHT UNAWARES BY MARSHAL
HYATT AND SENT TO THE PEN--SERVES OUT HIS TIME--AFTER HIS RELEASE, HE
ADDS FOUR OTHER MURDERS TO HIS LONG LIST OF CRIMES--HIS TRAGIC DEATH.
Candado Costello, a nephew of the famous murderer, Espinoza, although the
blood of the ancient Castilian nobility flowed through his veins, was a
bad, bad Mexican.
And, although we have neither the space nor the inclination to moralize at
any length, it might be well to remark, for the benefit of the boys who
feast upon blood-and-thunder novels of the yellow-back variety, that bad
men invariably come to grief. For a time they may rob and kill and
plunder, and swagger around saloons on the proceeds of their crimes,
terrorizing peaceable and defenseless people, yet sooner or later justice
will overtake them, and they must pay the penalty of their crimes. This is
the inexorable law of fate, and though they may be able for a time to
evade its penalties, they are only enjoying a respite--their days are
numbered, and the number is never large. But to return to our subject.
Costillo was a murderer as well as a thief, there being no less than four
cold-blooded murders that have been directly traced to his blood-stained
hand. But the particular case which we wish to relate here, is that of the
killing of a wealthy Mexican cattleman near Bernallilo, N. M., in 1886,
for which he was brought to justice by two members of the Rocky Mountain
Detective Association--Frank A. Hyatt, and Walter O. Malley, of
Walsenburg.
Costillo, with his brother Juan and a number of other relatives and
friends, made their homes in the almost inaccessible Huerfano cañon, about
twelve miles north of Walsenburg, Colo. From this stronghold they sallied
forth on many a raid after cattle and horses, which they generally managed
to escape back into the cañon with in safety. In the raid on Romero's
ranch, he and his brother secured a fine bunch of cattle and were driving
them toward home, when they were overtaken near Española by Romero and his
son. They turned and fired upon their pursuers, and the elder Romero fell
dead. The son escaped back home and tried to persuade their neighbors and
friends to organize a posse and follow his father's murderers, but they
were all afraid to follow the desperado.
Mrs. Romero offered a reward of $5,000 for the capture of Candado
Costillo, Juan having escaped to old Mexico. Gov. Shelton offered $500,
and an uncle of Mrs. Romero $100 more. All these rewards did not tempt the
local officials to capture him, and the sheriff of Huerfano county, for
some reason or other, did not make any effort to apprehend the criminal.
Finally, Senator Barilla, of Walsenburg, a friend of Romero, the murdered
man, wrote to Dr. Gale, of Alamosa, asking him to interest Frank Hyatt in
the case, as he knew of no one else that would undertake the difficult
job.
Hyatt commenced work on the case about the 1st of May, 1887. He went up to
Walsenburg and had a consultation with O'Malley as to the best means of
securing their man. O'Malley said that it would be almost useless to
attempt to take the murderer at his home, but added that Costillo was
subpoenæd as a witness in a civil case that was to be called up for trial
in about a month, and that would be the best time to effect his capture.
So they agreed to wait, and Hyatt returned to Alamosa.
On the 2d of June he received a message from O'Malley, saying: "Man O. K.
Come at once." He went to Walsenburg that evening, and the next morning,
O'Malley came to his room at the hotel with the information that Costillo
was then in the court room. They both went over to the court house, and
Hyatt stepped into the office of Treasurer Nolan to wait while O'Malley
hunted up Costillo. When O'Malley entered the room with Costillo, Hyatt
was pretending to read a paper, and paid no attention to them until
O'Malley introduced the Mexican, who stepped forward, with his right hand
extended, to shake hands. Hyatt seized the Mexican's right hand with his
own left, and held it as in a vice, at the same time leveling his revolver
with his right. Realizing that he had been neatly trapped, Costillo did
not make a struggle, and O'Malley quickly slipped the first pair of "dead
cinch" handcuffs ever placed on a murderer's wrists on the prisoner.
Hyatt and O'Malley, with their prisoner, hurried out of town toward La
Veta, to take the train for Santa Fe. At La Veta they were overtaken by a
deputy sheriff and a posse, with a writ of habeas corpus for Costillo, and
a warrant for the arrest of Hyatt, on a charge of kidnapping. This
necessitated a return to Walsenburg, but as soon as the case could be
called up, Hyatt was discharged, and allowed to proceed with his prisoner,
whom he landed safely at Santa Fe.
Gov. Sheldon promptly paid the $500 reward offered by him, as did the
uncle of Mrs. Romero, but the widow declined to pay the $5,000 she had
offered, or any part of it, and Hyatt finally decided to let her go.
Costillo was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in the territorial
penitentiary.
Costillo was a model prisoner and in consequence a large portion of his
sentence was deducted for good behavior. This was due not to any good
qualities of the brute nor to a desire to reform, but was simply a cunning
design to obtain freedom that he might the sooner wreak the vengeance his
blood-thirsty appetite desired. He was afraid to attack the plucky officer
who had sent him over the road, so he contented himself with the murder of
inoffensive travelers, by his own confession in a letter to a friend,
having killed no less than four white men after his release.
The crime for which he was finally shot to death was the murder of two
Swede miners at Red Hill pass, in South park, in 1891. He, with a younger
Mexican, killed the Swedes while they were camped at night, and dragged
their bodies away from the road so that they were not found for several
days. Finally they were discovered, and the sheriff of Park county, with
two deputies, started after the Mexicans, who they learned had gone to
Costillo's old retreat in the Huerfano cañon. They seem to have killed the
two miners simply for revenge, as neither of them had any money or other
property sufficient to tempt the cupidity of even a Mexican.
When the sheriff had them surrounded in their cabin the young Mexican
surrendered, but old Costillo refused to give up, and stood the officers
off for two or three days. Finally he made a desperate dash for liberty
and was shot all to pieces by the officers, and no one mourned his loss.
It is doubtful if he was even given decent burial, as his neighbors, who
were nearly all Mexicans, despised him so thoroughly that they would have
nothing to do with him.
The young Mexican was convicted of murder and sentenced to the
penitentiary for life, and is now probably serving out his time.
CONCLUSION.
Just a word with the reader in finishing this book. Not by way of apology
or explanation, but as a general adieu. Certainly we feel that the stories
as here given explain themselves, and we believe that the reader, will
agree with the writer, after perusing the volume from beginning to end,
that he has gotten the worth of his money. Hence no apology is necessary.
It is true that the cases here related have not been drawn out as is the
custom with some detectives who write books, but this neglect, if such it
may be termed, has been intentional. It is not believed that the western
reader has time to pore over small details, or that he cares to know of
every step of the detectives, whose personal conduct outside of their real
accomplishments in the line in which they may be operating is of no
consequence to any one but themselves. Hence this book has not dealt with
all the little operations of the detectives who figure in its pages. Its
aim has been to present the material and important facts, and to picture
the criminal as well as the officer.
The criminal of the Far West is a man who displays himself most thoroughly
in times of emergency. It is when he comes face to face with the officer
that he is desperate and difficult to deal with. He will always fight, and
the officer who hunts him down may in four cases out of five count upon
having to take his man at the muzzle of his revolver. It is this fact
which makes the western narrative of more thrilling interest than that of
the more conservative eastern localities. It is also this fact which
increases the danger and hardship of a detective's life in the West. The
detective of the Rocky mountains, and of the plains which stretch out to
the great rivers in the middle of the continent, must be a man possessed
not alone of a keen capacity for hunting down criminals, but must have the
courage to face such criminal when taken, and to risk his life in
hand-to-hand combat when his man is come upon. But it would seem
unnecessary to dwell upon this fact for the benefit of the reader of this
volume. It speaks for itself. There is hardly a story of the number told
which does not bear out this assertion. There are very few captures here
reported which have not been made by officers who risked their own lives
in making them. There are some cases in which men made such resistance as
to require that they be shot down in their tracks, and in some cases it
has been the sad duty to chronicle the killing of efficient and faithful
officers by these desperadoes. As a class, however, Gen. Cook's men have
proved quite capable of taking care of themselves, while his own escape
from the desperado's bullet, during his thirty-five years of active
detective life on the border, has been little less than marvelous. It can
be accounted for only upon the ground that he is shrewd enough to detect
many difficulties before they arise, courageous enough to meet them
promptly when they do come, and cool and skillful enough to give them
better than they send when the emergency arises. It thus happens that he
is alive and prosperous, after serving thirty-five years of detective life
on the border, when nearly all of his old-time companions are dead. He has
also trained his men so thoroughly that they have learned to protect
themselves.
But the record here presented is not merely one of daring and adventure.
It is one of hardships and great personal sacrifice as well. It will
appear in many of the stories told that the events related occurred at a
time when there were no railroads in the country. Gen. Cook and his
officers have, since the time when he first settled in Colorado, traversed
almost the entire barren plains and Rocky mountains from Northern Dakota
to Southwestern Texas, climbing precipices, stage-coaching, horseback
riding and walking; sleeping out for several nights in succession,
subsisting for days on the scantiest supply of food, and often going from
sixty to seventy-two hours without sleep; facing the worst of storms, and,
indeed, enduring all the privations of frontier life, where there are few
people, fewer accommodations and much that is trying upon mind and body.
Any one of the trips, such as those recorded of Gen. Cook in the Britt and
Hilligoss or Clodfelter and Johnson story, would be sufficient to use up
an ordinary individual, and many would be entirely unable to endure it.
Yet Gen. Cook has put in thirty-five years in just such service, ever
mindful of the public welfare and forgetful of his own comfort and
quiet; ever anxious to bring the guilty to punishment and to free the
country of the human vultures who prey upon it, regardless of his own
private well-being, and in many cases without hope of reward or
appreciation. That he has in his day done a grand service for the people
of the state in making it a place disagreeable and dangerous to evil-doers
is a truth which many appreciate. His services have ever been at the
command of the people among whom he lives, and the stories here told--only
a portion of those which might be related--best attest that when he has
acted he has done so in a way to make the work count.