HarryLime
Greenie
Rebecca Taggart's book about her search in the Caballos is a great read. Copies are hard to find--I read it in a university library and I'd love to own a copy someday. She contracted with Doc Noss for him to look after some of her mining claims. She also witnessed Willie Douthit being led around by a sheriff's posse.
Rebecca was a very beautiful woman, as you can see from the photo on the backcover. Rebecca writes that she was an ugly duckling when she was a child. Her high-society, French mother looked down on her, preferring Rebecca's older, beautiful sisters. Then tragedy struck the family and her sisters all fell ill and died. Afterwards, Rebecca came into her own and grew to be a stunning beauty.
The love story about Rebecca and her husband Charles was also fascinating. Charles Taggart was about 35, the son of a wealthy family around San Francisco. He'd come into possession of an old map, written, I think, in Castilian and Latin. He needed a translator, but who could he trust? Charles Taggart chose the 16 year-old niece of Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico. It was a good move. Who else but a 16 year-old girl would chose love over gold?
Rebecca helped translate the map and visited Taggart's camp in the Caballos. There Taggart made another very good move. There was an old Apache who knew secrets about a mine his tribe had sealed up with warriors chained inside. Taggart knew very well the Apache would never share any informaton with him. So he hired the old warrior to be Rebecca's bodyguard. As Taggart hoped, the old, battle-hardened Apache and the young, good-hearted girl became close friends. He shared his secret with Rebecca, giving directions to the mine as best he could remember.
Charles and Rebecca fell in love. They were married with the approval of Rebecca's father. The couple spent years searching the Caballos. The book tells how on Rebecca's first night in camp, they witnessed strange lights suddenly appear hovering over the ground. Another times, decades later, she tells how balls of light, apparently electric, drifted through their tunnels.
I would have loved to have known Rebecca Taggart. As I read everything I can find about the Caballos and Victorio Peak, I've come to feel a lot of affection for some of the people involved. Their lives are just as fascinating to me as any lost treasure. Rebecca was a resolute woman who made a promise to her husband on his deathbed to keep searching. She never backed down. Once, because she was the smallest, she had to crawl into a tunnel that dynamite had collapsed and pull out a trapped man. Another time the mule she was riding fell from a high trail--Rebecca grabbed onto a tree branch and when the mule hit bottom, the dynamite in the packs exploded, splattering mule all over the rocks. Her life became very hard, but she never gave up, never broke her promise.
Stories are told about the Taggarts that don't appear in Rebecca's book. Some say she claimed she and her husband discovered a burial cave with 100s of skeletons inside, but covered it back up because it was sacred. A sense of mystery surrounds both the book and the Caballos/Victorio Peak. A sense that the real story remains untold. But the saddest thing, to me, is that the life stories of searchers like Rebecca Taggart are mostly unknown or forgotten. It doesn't matter if she never found what she was looking for. Her story's inspiring and admirable. People like her should never be forgotten.
Rebecca was a very beautiful woman, as you can see from the photo on the backcover. Rebecca writes that she was an ugly duckling when she was a child. Her high-society, French mother looked down on her, preferring Rebecca's older, beautiful sisters. Then tragedy struck the family and her sisters all fell ill and died. Afterwards, Rebecca came into her own and grew to be a stunning beauty.
The love story about Rebecca and her husband Charles was also fascinating. Charles Taggart was about 35, the son of a wealthy family around San Francisco. He'd come into possession of an old map, written, I think, in Castilian and Latin. He needed a translator, but who could he trust? Charles Taggart chose the 16 year-old niece of Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico. It was a good move. Who else but a 16 year-old girl would chose love over gold?
Rebecca helped translate the map and visited Taggart's camp in the Caballos. There Taggart made another very good move. There was an old Apache who knew secrets about a mine his tribe had sealed up with warriors chained inside. Taggart knew very well the Apache would never share any informaton with him. So he hired the old warrior to be Rebecca's bodyguard. As Taggart hoped, the old, battle-hardened Apache and the young, good-hearted girl became close friends. He shared his secret with Rebecca, giving directions to the mine as best he could remember.
Charles and Rebecca fell in love. They were married with the approval of Rebecca's father. The couple spent years searching the Caballos. The book tells how on Rebecca's first night in camp, they witnessed strange lights suddenly appear hovering over the ground. Another times, decades later, she tells how balls of light, apparently electric, drifted through their tunnels.
I would have loved to have known Rebecca Taggart. As I read everything I can find about the Caballos and Victorio Peak, I've come to feel a lot of affection for some of the people involved. Their lives are just as fascinating to me as any lost treasure. Rebecca was a resolute woman who made a promise to her husband on his deathbed to keep searching. She never backed down. Once, because she was the smallest, she had to crawl into a tunnel that dynamite had collapsed and pull out a trapped man. Another time the mule she was riding fell from a high trail--Rebecca grabbed onto a tree branch and when the mule hit bottom, the dynamite in the packs exploded, splattering mule all over the rocks. Her life became very hard, but she never gave up, never broke her promise.
Stories are told about the Taggarts that don't appear in Rebecca's book. Some say she claimed she and her husband discovered a burial cave with 100s of skeletons inside, but covered it back up because it was sacred. A sense of mystery surrounds both the book and the Caballos/Victorio Peak. A sense that the real story remains untold. But the saddest thing, to me, is that the life stories of searchers like Rebecca Taggart are mostly unknown or forgotten. It doesn't matter if she never found what she was looking for. Her story's inspiring and admirable. People like her should never be forgotten.
