Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1901 — TWO BOY HEROES. [ARTICLE]

TWO BOY HEROES.

Arisons luraptm Winning Dhtlnetlon »» Outlaw Hunters. Two young heroes have been developed in Arizona. They are Dick and Alfred Bocha, 14 and 15 years old respectively, and already they have laid a foundation for fame as Indian trailers and sleuths. These lads have accompanied their father, Pete Boscha, deputy sheriff at Congress, Ariz., on the most perilous expeditions and criminal hunts, never flinching, even under the hottest fire. They are expert marksmen, having been trained to firearms from their infancy. Alfred firs" distinguished himself two.years ago l the capture of Sinovia Garcia, a notori ous Mexican desperado, who had shot the husband of a woman of whom he was enamored. Sheriff John Munds, Deputy Sheriff Pete Boscha, and hi 3 two sons started in.pursuit of the bandit, and, after following the trail for some distance, separated. Several days after Alfred encountered the desperado in a lonely canyon, and succeeded in getting the "drop” on him. Garcia surveyed the dwarfed and youthful figure before him with considerable amusement, and laughed at the boy’s assertion that he was under arrest. He reached for his gun, when young Boscha opened Are, clipping off one of Garcia’s ears and “ sending two bullets through his hat. This was convincing proof of Alfred’s aim, and the bandit surrendered himself unconditionally. A few months later Dick Boscha was the hero of a capture that was equally as remarkable. Vincente Ortego and two others cut the throat of an Italian and robbed him of considerable gold dust. The lad trailed the murderer over precipitous mountains, and after several days returned with him triumphantly. Ortego is now serving a life sentence in prison at Yuma for his misdeeds. The Weaver district, where the Boschas live, is the heart of what once constituted the bad lands of Arizona. Famous old Geronimo, at the head of the most sanguinary band of Indians then in existence, infested the Rich Hill mountains and the Weaver and Blue Tank districts, firing settlers’ cabins, murdering, plundering, robbing stages and bullion trains, and creating a reign of terror that will live in history.