Felipe Espinosa: The Headless Horseman, Part ll

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.

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.

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.

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 down the trail.

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.

Excerpts from TheVendetta of Felipe Espinosa by Adam James Jones

Felipe Espinosa: The Headless Horseman, Part l

In 1863 a Mexican bandit by the name of Felipe Espinosa became one of America’s first serial killers. "In a 12-month period he shot, stabbed, and brutally mutilated 32 people"--some reports put this number as high as 60.

Bloody Trail of the Espinosa

Beginnings

Espinosa was born in Northern Mexico in 1827, in what later was to become a part of New Mexico territory in El Rito a village 40 miles from Taos. During the Mexican-American War six of his relatives were killed. "It is said that Espinosa vowed to take 100 American lives for each of these six deaths."

El Rito New Mexico

He and his family were devout Catholics. Espinosa belonged to a fanatical religious sect known as Los Hermanos Penitentes.

Gathering of Penitentes
E. Boyd collection

The Spanish Conquistados first introduced this penitentes sect to New Mexico in the 16th century. This brotherhood believed in self-flagellation. 

By the late 1800s this sect was banned by both the church and state government for extreme practices. Later, when Espinosa became a bandit this brotherhood sheltered him on more than one occasion.

Promises Broken

After the Mexican-American War when the Treaty of Guadalupe was signed it stated that Mexican families could keep their lands in what was now a part of America. They also could retain their Mexican citizenship if they wished. But this treaty was broken.

Felipe’s family lost their home and land and now found themselves poor. In 1862, he and his family were "living in a cramped jacale outside the village of San Rafael near Antonito, Colorado."

By late 1862 or early 1863 Felipe and his cousin Vivian took up banditry.

A Killing Spree

Felipe already fanatical and seeking revenge now believed that the "Virgin Mary had been sent from God to tell him he must kill."

One of their first victims was a Mexican freight driver who was a neighbor to the Espinosas. They looted this man’s wagon and then tied him to the wagon tongue. They whipped his horse team into a frenzy and watched this man being dragged for miles.

This neighbor managed to survive and was able to describe the cousins. The first of many bounties was placed on their heads. 

A U.S. Marshall and soldiers from the newly formed Fort Garland were sent to pursue the cousins but they managed to escape into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

The cousins started their own personal war in Colorado in an area known today as Dead Man’s Gulch.

They murdered a man named Jim Harkins who was found dead in his cabin. At first it was believed Indians had killed him but shortly afterwards a couple of miles away another Anglo, William Bruce was found dead outside his ranch house. He had been hacked to pieces and a makeshift crucifix was found near his body.

The cousins continued to move north to what is now Fremont County killing randomly as they went. They preyed on isolated communities where there was no one around to hear gunshots or their victims screams.

The two bandits murdered several settlers near the small mining community of South Park.

Two  of their victims, Jacob Binkley and Abram Shoup stopped their wagon in Kenosha Pass on their way to Denver. While they slept the Espinosas stabbed one and shot the other.

The cousins after killing their victims mutilated the bodies so badly they were hard to identify. "They disemboweled, decapitated, and cut their hearts out. Crosses were often found in the victim’s chests."

Newspapers stated to refer to these murders as "The Axeman of Colorado." The bounty was increased once more.

One victim managed to get away. Matthew Metcalf was driving his team of horses through South Park’s "California Gulch" when he came around a bend. There stood the Espinosas. They said nothing as they fired upon Metcalf.

A bullet hit his chest and sent him flying backwards. His horses reared and raced down the trail toward the camp. They felt they had killed Metcalf so they didn't pursue his wagon.

Just that morning "Metcalf had placed a copy of Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation in his breast pocket." The thickness of this booklet stopped the bullet.

Metcalf was able to describe the cousins. Now the axeman had a face.

A Posse

A posse led by John McCannon was sent after the Espinosas. He and his men came across a freshly mutilated body that was butchered beyond recognition. Later McCannon tragically discovered this dead man was his brother.

The posse caught up to the cousins. They shot and killed Vivian. But Felipe managed to get away once more.

Read Felipe Espinosa: TheHeadless Horseman, Part ll where I share the story of his capture and the man who succeeded in doing this. I also share witness sightings of Espinosa’s ghost.

Excerpts from The Vendetta of Felipe Espinosa by Adam James Jones.