FROM DESPERADO TO TAMALE MAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 65, 17 March 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

FROM DESPERADO TO TAMALE MAN.

the unromantlc end of a once notorious California outlaw.

Years ag-o nobody rode better horses, could ride harder, dance longer, or shoot faster than" Ramon Ruis. He was the beau Ideal of a fandango dandy, and travelled a pace so fust with .such utter reckless disregard for the proprieties, even liie, that not even his best,friends—numerous, too — predicted for him an ending more tranquil than one with his boots on, or possibly the closing- for ever of his eyes in the cell of a penitentiary. Instead, however, he passed quietly away recently in Oaluveias county, the result of a cold contracted while selling tarnales on the street at night. The powerful constitution which had laughed at bullets and knii'e wounds had permitted a cold to develop into consumption, ana in just Ssi days Ramon was a dead man.

Ho wan bom in this State Wl years ago, and in his teens developed remarkable ability as a bronco rider and dexterity in the use of a .six-shooter. Thus it soon became known to the officers of the law that one of the most dangerous combinations they had to deal with consisted of Ramon, a. Rood mustang, and a pair or "sixes." He confined his operations almost exclusively to Cnlav-eras, San Joaquin, atunisltttis, and Merced Counties, though occasionally he was known to do a Dick in other sections. Tuolumne he claimed as a home.and frequently returned,though generally on the run, with sheriffs, detectives, or posses in hot pursuit. Once in the hills of "home," he managed to escape. He did one term in San Quentin for stage robbery, and is known to have been the lone highwayman of several other hold-ups in which the sufferers were Wells, Farg-o, and Company.

These operations, together with acquiring some of the best horses the State could produce without going through the formality of consulting the owners, kept Ramon very busy-keeping out of gaol. But as his ill-gotten gains came, so they went—easy. Ho spent his money like a prince, and gave a great deal to people who harboured or showed him any kindness. He never forgot a friend or forgave an enemy. That was his religion. He gave his promise to the officers of this county that he would commit no crime within its boundaries, and lived up to it. Some 15 years ago the State got too small to-hold him, and as his old enemies, the officers of the law, were closing in on him from all sides, ho crossed the mountains, but had hardly reached Hot Springs.Mono County, when he got into trouble with ft Piute Indian, and killed him. Ten years ago he worked his way to Lower California, and opened a butcher business. He did a brisk business from the start, and, though he trusted indiscriminately, never tried to make his army of debtors settle up. The reason of this was that ho got cattle cheaper than anybody else could. At length the stock-raisers got tired of Ramon's mode of getting beef cattle, organised a mob, and started to hang him. In the fight that ensued Ramon was shot twice, but succeeded in killing one man and wounding three others. He staggered to his horse amid a rain of bullets, mounted, and fled.

He came directly to this country and settled down. The old spirit of bravado had died out, and the man who loved adventure for the sake of the danger that went with it settled down to the unromantic life of a tamale vendor, and as such he passed away.—"Sonora Union Democrat."