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.