press release
BUSHWACKERS
New York, NY
& Cedar Rapids,
IA (PRWEB) June 9, 2004 -- When author Steven
Philip Jones stumbled across the
little-known exploits of America's first serial
killer, Felipe Espinosa, he figured he had found the hook for a new active
history book. But the obscure and sketchy
facts surrounding Espinosa's crimes
almost made Jones give up on what would become the new western novel
"Bushwhackers."
"Not many
details about the murders are chiseled in concrete," Jones said
recently from his home in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. "Many
of them are speculations and
rumors."
What is known for
certain is Felipe Espinosa and at least one family member
terrorized Colorado's San Luis Valley during the early 1860s by killing two
dozen or more settlers and miners. All the
victims were white, and all them had
their hearts removed. Panic became so
widespread through the valley that
several innocent people suspected of being the bushwhackers were lynched.
Eventually mountain man Tom Tobin was hired to track down Espinosa, who Tobin killed
and decapitated.
But many other
things about the Espinosa murders remain a mystery, including Espinosa's motive and the
exact year of the crimes.
Some accounts claim
Espinosa was fanatically avenging the deaths of his family during the American Naval
bombardment of Vera Cruz during the Mexican American War.
Other accounts claim Espinosa was a hold-up man who declared war on all Americans
after he barely escaped a shootout with territorial soldiers dispatched to arrest him at
his cabin.
"As for when
the murders took place, some sources claim it was 1860, some 1862, and others 1863,"
Jones said. "The one thing all the
sources I have been able to dig up do agree on is that the murders took place during a
three to four month period."
Even if 1863 is the
correct date then Felipe Espinosa would predate Jack the Ripper, popularly considered the
first serial killer, by 25 years.
"I do think
it's safe to say that the Espinosa murders occurred in the early 1860s, and that would at
least make them the earliest serial killings in American history," Jones said. "The next nearest incident I can find is the
Bender family of southeastern Kansas, who murdered eleven people at their territorial
inn over the course of the 1870s."
An unusual point of
contention surrounding Espinosa's crimes is the number of people he killed.
"Reports range
between 26 to over 40," Jones said. "All
my sources do agree that Espinosa cut out each of his victims' hearts. However, since his motives or the murders remain
uncertain, we'll probably never know why he mutilated his victims."
These uncertainties
about the murders almost forced Jones to give up on the idea of writing any kind of book
about Espinosa.
"Originally I
wanted to write an active history book, one in the same style of an earlier manuscript of
mine called `King of Harlem,'" said Jones. "In
that book I weaved a fictional mystery through Orson Welles' historical attempts to direct
an all-Negro `Macbeth' in 1936 Harlem, but those events are well documented.
The Espinosa murders intrigued me, but there just weren't enough documented facts
that I could weave a story through the way I did with `King of Harlem.'"
A compromise of
sorts presented itself to Jones when he chanced upon a dusty biography about British
adventurer J.G. Jebb called "A Strange Career" in the University of Iowa Library. Written
by Jebb's second wife, "A Strange Career" borrows elements from the Espinosa
murders to tell an entirely new story.
"In `A Strange
Career,' Jebb joins a posse tracking down three bushwhackers who have been terrorizing Colorado," Jones said.
"I figured, as long as I was honest and open about the source of my inspiration, why
couldn't I do something like that, too?"
The final result was
"Bushwhackers," which is set in the San Luis Valley but takes place in 1879. In the novel the duration of "
the murder spree is stretched from a few months to three years and the name Felipe
Espinosa is not used, allowing Jones to build a sense of mystery about the killer or
killers' identities. Instead of mountain man
Tom Tobin, fictional bounty hunter and Pinkerton man Paul Kirk is hired to track down the
bushwhackers.
"About all I
kept from the Espinosa murders was the bushwhackings and the panic that ensued," said
Jones. "I dovetailed those things with
historical events from 1879 Colorado, and that became the foundation for
`Bushwhackers.'"
So far sticking with
"Bushwhackers" has paid off for Jones. "Bushwhackers"
became Jones's first novel sale when Avalon Books (www.avalonbooks.com) purchased it in October 2003, and two months
later "King of Harlem" was purchased by Mundania Press(www.mundania.com). Today Jones is collaborating with artist Barb
Jacobs on an illustrated young reader fantasy novel, "Talismen: The Knightmare
Knife," the first in a series of books and graphic novels.
"Unlike the
Jebb biography, I make it very clear in `Bushwhacker's' acknowledgements that my novel was
inspired by the Espinosa murders," said Jones. "I
also hope `Bushwhackers' sparks interest in this bizarre bit of American western history. Maybe even intrigue some historian to try and solve
the historical mysteries surrounding the murders. I
wouldn't mind finding out more facts about our nation's first serial killer and why
Espinosa did what he did."
For
additional information contact:
Steven Philip Jones
319-366-5176
http://www.stevenpjones.com
sphilipjones@aol.com
Bushwhackers will be
available in August 2004 as a hardcover book from Avalon Books (ISBN # 0-8034-9671-0.
About
Avalon Books
Avalon Books (www.avalonbooks.com) is an imprint of Thomas Bouregy & Co., Inc. Established in 1950 by Thomas Bouregy,
the aim of the Avalon publishing program has always been to provide readers with quality
books in a variety of fiction genres.
Although some of these categories have changed and evolved over time, the underlying
principle of publishing books with good
stories and wholesome entertainment has not changed.
Press Releases:
October 13, 2003
May 13, 2004
June 9, 2004
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