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vii Contents List of Figures Foreword by Stephen J. Leonard Acknowledgments Introduction 1. “Alarming Intelligence and Intense Excitement”: First Murders in the Pike’s Peak Country 2. “Most Horrible and Fiendish Murders”: The Bleeding of South Park Begins 3. “There Has Been Considerable Excitement”: The First Colorado Cavalry Steps In 4. “The People Are Scared Nearly to Death Here”: The Murderers Strike at the Vitals of South Park 5. “Fallen into the Hands of Hard Men in an Evil Hour”: The Lynching of Baxter 6. “Glorious News! The Mysterious Murders Unraveled at Last”: One of the Slayers Slain 7. “Desperate and Lawless Bravos”: The Brothers Espinosa 8. “Revenge for the Infamies Committed Against Our Families”: Serial Murder as Vendetta ix xiii xv 1 11 33 49 61 75 91 109 137 contents viii 9. “Malicious Interference Was the Cause”: The Scapegoating of Captain E. Wayne Eaton 10. “Times Have Become Quiet Again”: Panic Recedes in South Park but Murder Moves Elsewhere 11. “Ready for Any Duty, Untiring, and Full of Energy”: Samuel F. Tappan Takes Up the Hunt for the Espinosas 12. “If This Woman Is Found Dead, Tell the People the Espinosas of the Conejos Killed Her”: The Attack on Philbrook and Dolores Sánches 13. “I Drew His Head Back over a Fallen Tree and Cut It Off”: Tom Tobin Ends the Terror 14. “The Brightest Success Rewarded Them for Their Toils”: Tobin Brings in the Heads 15. “Who Is There to Gather the History of This Wretch?”: The Espinosas Remembered 16. “Times with Me Have Sadly Changed”: Destinies Appendix A Location of the Death Site of Vivián Espinosa: Alternative Theories The Perkins Theory The Walker Theory Appendix B John McCannon’s Attempt to Claim the Espinosa Reward Bibliography Index 157 193 207 221 239 265 277 285 293 293 297 303 309 323 ...

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