William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 1

Leiva, his cousin, followed him like a dog. Soto implored him to rejoin the band, horse-lifting for the Mexican markets being a profitable trade. By turns he played each game; now stealing horses from the herd, now robbing store and stage; but always squandering his ill-gotten gains on dice and drink. No scruple as to shedding blood arrested him. If any one stood out, he shot him through the heart. Among his deeds of blood was the murder of a poor Italian, whom he robbed and slew at the Enriquita mines.

For four years this brigand kept his country in alarm. As fleet of foot as other men are in the saddle, and as much at home in the saddle as other men are in easy chairs, he mocked at city rangers and defied the hue and cry. At length he fell into a snare; the charge was stealing horses; a third time he was sentenced to four years imprisonment in San Quentin. At the end of three years, a legislature, not too hard on robbers, passed an act of clemency which set him free once more. When he came out, more like a savage than ever,