Felipe Espinosa went on a
brutal killing spree in 1863 in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He vowed to kill 600 Gringos. It was a violent time but Espinosa’s murders where he mutilated his victims shocked the frontier residents of this new American territory.
A posse had managed to track
down Espinosa and his cousin Vivian who was his partner in crime. His cousin
was killed but Felipe managed to escape.
Resumption of a Crusade
For months after the posse
killed Vivian everything was quiet. Some Colorado residents hoped Espinosa had returned
to Mexico. But Felipe returned to the Rocky Mountains in October of 1863.
He now traveled with his
14-year-old nephew Jose Espinosa. "These two drunk, attacked a wagon
traveling through La Veta Pass in southern Colorado."
In this wagon was Deloris
Sanchez and her Anglo companion a man by the name of Philbrook. When these two heard gunshots
they scattered. The Espinosas chased Philbrook but lost him so
they circled back to where Deloris was.
They raped her and then tied
her up. They told her they were going to get Philbrook and then return for her.
But Philbrook managed to reach Fort Garland and returned with soldiers from
this fort.
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| Fort Garland at base of Sangre de Cristos |
In the meantime, Deloris had
managed to untie herself and the group found her hiding.
A Reluctant Hero
Thomas “Tate” Tobin was
summoned to Fort Garland in order to track the Espinosas. He was a well-known mulatto trapper, tracker and mountain man who had scouted for the army. He was friends
with and fought alongside Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody and Kit Carson
during various Indian campaigns.
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| Tate Tobin |
"At first glance Tobin was unremarkable--he was short and bowlegged." But he was miffed
when he was informed that a detachment of 15 soldiers was being sent with him.
He felt he could handle this assignment on his own.
He traveled 3 days and 3
nights only stopping for a few hours each night--he did not let the soldiers
build any fires--several were sent back to the fort exhausted. He tracked the
Espinosas campfires. It was said of him once, “He can track a grasshopper
through sagebrush.”
On the fourth morning he
spotted a thin wisp of smoke, he left the soldiers behind as he crawled on his
stomach to where Felipe and Jose were warming their hands over a small fire.
Felipe stood, stretching his
arms out wide. "Tobin fired and Felipe whipped around holding a gaping hole in
his side and fell backwards into the fire." Jose took off for the nearby
woods--Tobin aimed, fired and hit him in the spine where he then fell dead.
Felipe still alive managed to
pull himself out of the fire. Tobin approached with his Bowie knife drawn. He
grabbed Felipe’s hair and bent his head over a log where with two slashes of
his knife he beheaded him.
When he returned to Fort
Garland he had both Felipe’s and Jose’s heads in a sack.
At the time Tobin killed the
Espinosas there was a $5500 price on their heads. Tobin never collected this
bounty stating years later he didn’t know there was one.
The Headless Ghost
Felipe Espinosa’s ghost is
seen where he died. As early as 1865 there were reports about this ghost.
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| Spot were Felipe Espinosa was killed. |
One eyewitness sighting
happened in the summer of 1869. Charles Streeter was heading home when he
reached the area where Tobin killed Felipe. Ahead of him on the trail he
spotted a immobile horse with a rider.
As he drew near he realized
this man sitting astride a jet-black horse was headless. The figure was
pointing a firearm at his chest. Streeter didn’t stop to think as he raced down
the hill.
In 1874, Ramon Costa and Juan
Sales also fled when they saw the same sight in the exact same spot where
Streeter had seen this specter.
The next year a Lieutenant
Wilson T. Hartz reported that he not only saw this headless horseman but that it
had galloped after him, holding a gun. Hartz reported he quickly raced
Later, in 1875 two friends
Philip McKay and Thomas Hatchwood, two businessmen from Denver, reported as
they rode through the area they also saw this frightening ghost.
The two men had heard about
this haunting and were skeptical but when they caught a glimpse of this rider
on a black horse they realized it was very lifelike except for the fact it had
no head.
They rode off in the opposite
direction, Espinosa’s horse at first chased them but it then just vanished.
It is said the heads of
Felipe and Jose were at one time kept in the basement of the Colorado state capital.
There are stories about these two heads haunting this building.
Read Felipe Espinosa: The HeadlessHorseman, Part l to find out more about the murders this Mexican bandit out for
revenge committed.
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