Jose Dominguez and Desidoria Ochoa
source date: 1890
availability: public-domain

Jose Dominguez and Desidoria Ochoawere tried today for burglarizing Ed Dicken- son’s house and stealing therefrom a suit of clothes, rifle and double-barrelled shot gun. The crime was committed in May last. The criminals were captured by a Deming officer a few days afterwards. When captured they had a large assortment of door keys in their possession — skeleton keys among the lot as well as pincers, nippers, screw drivers, and a motley collection of traps of various kinds. They were shown to be the very worst class of sneaking, low down, skulking house thieves. The property was found in their possession and the way they accounted for it was humorous. They claimed they met another Mexican on the railroad six miles this side of Whitewater at a bridge. They were entire strangers to each other. Being tired they all stopped to rest, the sun being quite hot. The Mexican stranger seemed to have fallen in love with a hat worn by one of the defendants — an ungainly looking sombrero. The stranger had the rifle, shot-gun, clothes and a lot of other tricks and bantered one of the defendants to play cards, offering to put up the rifle against the hat; each one by chance having three decks of cards. They played monte, and the defendants won. The stranger then put up the shot gun, the defend- ants won again. Next was put up the suit of clothes, the defendants won again.

cards, offering to put up the rifle against the hat; each one by chance having three decks of cards. They played monte, and the defendants won. The stranger then put up the shot gun, the defend- ants won again. Next was put up the suit of clothes, the defendants won again. Finally the stranger staked all he had left to his new friends. The two defendants then went their way and the stranger came on toward Silver City, stripped of all his property. He was never seen after he parted from the defendants. It is thought by some that his losses so preyed upon his mind that he committed suicide in some gulch. Inasmuch as the defendants couldn’t produce the man whom they won the goods from, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and the judge to clinch the verdict gave them four years in the penitentiary. Moral : Never stop to gamble with a stranger on the lonely plains, even if you do win you are liable to get the worst of it.