Don Nepomuceno Guerrero and Don Crecencio Contreras were generals in the army of Manuel Lozada in the second Mexican Empire. Manuel Lozada was a mestizo from the Huichol tribe of Nayarit. A hero in the eyes of the indigenous people, he stole from the rich to give to the poor and ruled Nayarit during the time of the French empire under Maximilian. The Emperor recognized his power and influence in the West and made him a general of his army. After the empire of Maximilian of Austria was overthrown and President Benito Juárez was killed, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada assumed the presidency and paid disloyal men to ambush and kill him in order to regain control of the area.

Two of his generals escaped into the hills; Don Cheno and Don Chencho.  They were experienced bandits.  After the indigenous rebellion in Nayarit subsided and their general was killed, they sought to retreat in the mountains of San Sebastián. They said they were going to become ranchers and farmers, but instead went back to what they knew best; banditry.

The first robbery they did was at the Jalisco Hacienda. When they arrived at night, they stole silver ingots and took the night watchman, Pascual Dueñas, captive. Leaving on mules, through the mountains, behind Hacienda Jalisco, they traveled through the Mesa del Pinal towards Santiago de Pinos. In the morning, government troops were in close pursuit.  At Mesa del Pinal, with the troops very close, they panicked and in an attempt to lighten their load, they shot and killed Pascual and buried him along with half the silver bars at the foot of a huge pine tree.

Instead of going to Santiago de Pinos they took a path uphill and arrived at Mesa Lorenzana. There, on the banks of a spring, where there was a bed of reeds, at the foot of a large stone, they buried what was left of the robbery from Jalisco.

From there they went to the Mineral del Porvenir. There they stole the mines. They buried the gold and silver they stole in the “Cueva del Naranjito” in the “Arroyo de los Reyes”. From there they continued on their way to San Felipe de Híjar, where a friend from Lazada's army lived. However, General Doroteo Contreras wanted nothing to do with their activities and suggested that they return to Nayarit, where they were safer from government forces. As they were leaving San Felipe de Híjar, a government captain caught up with them. He chased them over the hills and finally caught up with them on the Huelotitan. It was the rainy season and the Ameca River was swollen, but Don Cheno and Don Chencho were not afraid. They jumped, crossed and escaped capture.

When the captain reached the bank of the river, he saw the rapids, gave up the pursuit of the thieves and went around San Felipe de Híjar. There he interviewed Don Doroteo, who informed him that they were very brave generals from Lazada. He also said they had experience robbing mines while in Lazada's army having previously robbed the Mineral de la Concepción and the Zopilote.

After spending time hiding in the hills, they returned to San Sebastián to their families. Don Cheno to his family in San Sebastián as owner of the Los Arcos house. Don Chencho went to Santiago de Pinos where he had a very large house and a room full of firearms.

Living out in the open seems like a bad idea for thieves wanted by the government, but the people loved Don Cheno and Don Chencho. They were heroes of the struggles against the landowners in Nayarit, so they were helped in hiding by family and friends who were resentful of the US companies that were mining in the region. Knowing that Don Cheno and Don Chencho were never going to be caught and held by local authorities, the federal government sent spies on behalf of the US companies that exploited the mines.

The first spy they sent was to Santiago. His name was Luciano. He got a job with Don Chencho, as a waiter in his restaurant there. He was smart, but too sophisticated. Don Chencho was immediately supicious, but he didn't say anything. To catch him he let Luciano think that he had earned his trust. After they became good friends, Don Chencho asked him to help him tend cattle and spend time hunting in the forest. “Saddle some good mules and pack your best pistol and rifle, because we are going to the Naranjo stream where there is good hunting. Be sure to bring your best though, as there are plenty of deer there, but also jaguars and pumas."  When they reached the area they camped among the herd.

Don Chencho told Luciano: "Make a fire while I prepare our dinner, and then go to the nearby spring to fill our canteens with water."

While Luciano was away, Don Chencho unloaded all the weapons he had on him. When Luciano returned, he told him: “Our food would be much better with fresh meat. While the fire burns, I will go to the spring to see if I can kill a deer, but lend me your pistol and your rifle, which are much better than mine. I'm going to leave you mine ." So they changed weapons and Chencho left the camp.

 
Since Luciano was a spy, he set off to keep an eye on Chencho, who he suspected of hiding gold or silver in the area. As he had guessed, Chencho was not hunting deer, but instead he came to a cave and went inside. Luciano was very close behind. He saw Chencho fill their backpacks and canteens with stolen money. He jumped up and pointed his pistol at don Chencho, revealed himself as a spy for the Company and told him: "Don Chencho, you are a thief and I am going to kill you." Don Chencho laughed. Luciano pulled the trigger but his pistol did not fire. Don Chencho took out Luciano's own weapon and brought it closer to the head of it's owner. Luciano fell to his knees and begged for his life. He promised never to reveal Don Chencho's secrets to anyone. But don Chencho said: “You are a spy and the job of a spy is to lie. I'm going to kill you and let your soul haunt this cave for eternity."

After the government lost contact with Luciano, they assumed that Chencho had killed him, so they sent another spy. The spy did not trust Chencho, so he kept his distance. However, he stayed in town and ate at a local restaurant. Chencho had his own spies on him and knew that he was being watched. It is suspected that someone put mercury in his food or maybe he just got sick since it was common at this time to die from simple ailments that today are easily cured.
 
For some reason, after a while, the spy began to get weak and sick. Chencho saw his opportunity to bury his enemy. He led the spy into the hills and spent a good part of the day wandering around the Saucillo cave where he had hidden money. Finally, when he knew that his pursuer was tired and exhausted, he entered the cave.

They say there was a lot of money hidden there. Three stacks of silver bars about three meters long. Don Cheno was tall but he could barely reach his hand to pick up the bars from the top of the piles. The cave had numerous passages, nooks and crannies. In each of them he had hidden wooden crates, bound with iron bands, full of money. When Don Cheno arrived, he quickly packed his backpacks and canteens, and snuck away watching the spy enter from a distance. The spy went inside and was immediately delighted with the treasure. His job was to kill Don Chencho and return the money to the American Company, but he was too excited to be logical. He told himself: “I can pack my bags and no one will miss it. I can recapture Chencho, hand over most of the loot, and still be a rich man. “

But the treasure was vast and varied, and every turn in the passages revealed more treasure. He wandered for hours. Just as he had packed his saddlebags with silver, he found gold bars in another area, and unpacked and packed several times, trying to get as much out as possible before nightfall. Then, just as he was ready to leave, he realized that he had gone too far into the cave and didn't know his way back. He was carrying heavy loads of gold bars, his back ached and his cough worsened as he struggled to find his way out. When, elated,  he finally stepped out of the cave into the moonlight, he gasped and fell dead to the ground.  Don Chencho saw from his hiding place what had happened and returned home. 

For a time Don Chencho hid in Santiago de Pinos. The government sent the captain who had gone before to chase him to San Felipe de Hijar to see if he could kill him. The captain arrived at the Jalisco Hacienda to drink with Don Santiago, the North American administrator of the Jalisco Hacienda. There they hatched a plan to catch Don Chencho.

The Captain arrived in Santiago in disguise. There he went into a little store where he had been told that Don Chencho came regularly to buy cigarettes. The captain, dressed as a local, was waiting there for Don Chencho. As expected, Don Chencho soon arrived. The Captain offered him a cigar. Don Chencho happily took the cigar and put it in his mouth. As he bought his matches to light it, the Captain pulled out a pistol and shot him dead.

In revenge, a son of Don Chencho named, Fortunato Contreras, pursued the Captain. He shot two or three of the agents with him, but failed to kill any. However, this made other company agents more reluctant to follow the trail of the missing money. The money had disappeared and everyone assumed that Don Fortunato had moved it. Later in his life, his relatives quarreled over the land he had owned, as everyone assumed he had buried Don Chencho's treasure somewhere on it. However, it was never found.

Don Fortunato died under mysterious circumstances with bruises all over his body, but his family denied knowing the cause.

It is said that Don Chencho told one of his sons where he had hidden the money. Before he died, he supposedly took one of his sons, Nicolás Guerrero, to the Cueva del Saucillo. When his father died, Nicolás said that he took a team of mules to carry the money, but they could not find the cave. Another day while he was walking through the area he said that suddenly he came across the cave, but since he did not plan to be there he only had his pockets to fill with the purest of loot. Although he searched many times after that, he claimed that he never found the entrance to the cave again.

Meanwhile, the government sent a captain to apprehend Don Cheno in San Sebastián. He finally succeeded. Don Cheno offered to give the Captain his weight in gold for his freedom, but the Captain was an honorable man and did not accept his offer. Instead, he took him prisoner to Guadalajara. There he was accused of killing 26 people. (Many of whom were from his days as a general in Lazada's army which was a bit unfair considering it's a soldier's job to kill his enemies). The governor of Guadalajara, who was a dishonest and greedy man, Prisciliano Sánchez, visited him in jail and offered his freedom for double his weight in gold, and Don Cheno accepted. When the captain who had captured him objected, the governor had him killed.

During his life Don Cheno tried to use his money to help others, but it never brought peace to anyone who took it.  While imprisoned in Guadalajara, his daughter, Mrs. Barbarita Guerrero, went to take care of him. Don Cheno took good care of her, but she married a man named Marcos Meza Tovar in that city who had heard of her father's treasure. He was perpetually dissatisfied and made her miserable with his expectations of her.

Don Cheno came to live a long while in San Sebastián. He lived with his second wife, named Valeria, in the house that later belonged to José Aguirre and Margarita Dueñas, which is near the bridge that overlooks La Pareja. They lived simply because Don Cheno feared the power of wealth to attract evil.

When he grew old and widowed, he became very ill and a neighbor, Mrs. Barbarita, came to take care of him. He told her that he was very poor and struggled to pay for the smallest necessities in life. Doña Bárbara believed him because he lived very frugally. When Don Cheno got better, she told him: “Here, I don't have much, but I'll bring you this little help,” and offered him several hundred pesos that she had saved. Don Cheno then told her: “Thank you, but I am poorer than you in grace and spirit, but richer in money. Come so you can see."

He showed her a box, five feet long by four feet wide and fifty centimeters deep, filled with canvas bags of money. Part of this he gave her as a reward for her generosity. With her new wealth, she went with her husband to Guadalajara to start a new life. They lived there unhappily, knowing that they had enough money to live on, but not enough to start a business or satisfy her husband's obsessions.

In the end, Don Cheno died here in San Sebastián of natural causes.

Near Don Cheno lived a bastard son named, Ruperto Guerrero. When his father died, he spent the money freely. One day, without knowing that Don Cheno had died, Dona Barbarita, at the request of her husband, went back to get more money, but she found the box empty.

Don Ruperto Guerrero also lent money at interest and increased his wealth by never having too much in his possession to tempt a life of idleness, greed, and vice. It is said that he lent part of it to don Federico Bermúdez, don Julian Dueñas and don Ignacio Zaragoza.

He was later assassinated under mysterious circumstances clearing all debtors of his obligations.

Notes:
Don Cheno died on May 15, 1886.
Don Ruperto Guerrero was assassinated in Soyatán.
Jesús Mejía wrote a little book on this subject, impossible to find, he is the grandson of Mr. Crescencio Contreras.
He took a fragment of the relationship.
Oral source: José Durán

Don Cheno y Don Chencho (Spanish)