Outlaws on the Mojave
Silas Cox Chases Horse Thieves to San Diego
One victim of theft at the beginning of the war was young Silas Cox, who, upon returning to San Bernardino from a stay on the desert, learned from his father that his favorite horse, Chappo, had just been stolen. He then discovered the thieves were actually men he had spent some time with in the mining region of Holcomb Valley:-
I asked father if he had any idea who stole him. He said he thought it was a bunch of young men, mostly gamblers, who had been in Holcomb Valley
and San Bernardino for some time. I asked him if they were in town. He said no, that they had all disappeared.
After he told me their names I knew them all myself. The most of them were Texas boys, and some of them were pretty good boys. It was just the breaking out of the Civil War, and I suppose they wanted to get back home, but I objected to them taking my Chappo along with them.
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