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| Joaquin Murrieta |
Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (1829-July 25, 1853), also called the Mexican Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a famous figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. Depending on the point of view, he was considered as either an infamous bandit or a Mexican patriot.
In 1919 Johnston McCulley supposedly received his inspiration for his fictional character Don Diego de la Vega better known as Zorro from the 1854 book entitled The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta, The Celebrated California Bandit by John Rollin Ridge.
John heard about a Mexican miner who had turned to banditry and was intrigued by the story.
More information: Ancient Origins
John Rollin Ridge, grandson of the Cherokee leader Major Ridge, wrote a dime novel about Murrieta; the fictional biography contributed to his legend, especially as it was translated into various European languages. A portion of Ridge's novel was reprinted in 1858 in the California Police Gazette. This story was picked up and subsequently translated into French. The French version was translated into Spanish by Roberto Hyenne, who took Ridge's original story and changed every Mexican reference to Chilean for either nationalistic reasons or to better fit the Chilean market.
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| A banner about J. Murrieta |
The historian Frank Latta, in his twentieth-century book, Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs (1980), wrote that Murrieta was from Hermosillo in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and that he had a paramilitary band made up of relatives and friends. Latta documented that they regularly engaged in illegal horse trade with Mexico, and had helped Murrieta kill at least six of the Americans who had attacked him and his wife.
He and his band attacked settlers and wagon trains in California. They also stole horses, driving them from Contra Costa County to the Central Valley via the remote La Vareda del Monte trail through the Diablo Range. The gang is believed to have killed up to 28 Chinese and 13 Anglo-Americans.
By 1853, the California state legislature considered Murrieta enough of a criminal to list him as one of the so-called Five Joaquins on a bill passed in May 1853. The legislature authorized hiring for three months a company of 20 California Rangers, veterans of the Mexican-American War, to hunt down Joaquin Botellier, Joaquin Carrillo, Joaquin Muriata, Joaquin Ocomorenia, and Joaquin Valenzuela, and their banded associates.
More information: Federico de California
On May 11, 1853, the governor John Bigler signed an act to create the California State Rangers, to be led by Captain Harry Love, a former Texas Ranger and Mexican War veteran.
The state paid the California Rangers $150 a month, and promised them a $1,000 governor's reward if they captured the wanted men. On July 25, 1853, a group of Rangers encountered a band of armed Mexican men near Arroyo de Cantua on the edge of the Diablo Range near Coalinga, California. In the confrontation, three of the Mexicans were killed. They claimed one was Murrieta, and another Manuel Garcia, also known as Three-Fingered Jack, one of his most notorious associates. Two others were captured. A plaque, California Historical Landmark #344, near Coalinga at the intersection of State Routes 33 and 198 now marks the approximate site of the incident.
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| Joaquín Murrieta |
As proof of the outlaws' deaths, the Rangers cut off Three-Fingered Jack's hand and the alleged Murrieta's head and preserved them in a jar of alcohol to bring to the authorities for their reward. Officials displayed the jar in Mariposa County, Stockton, and San Francisco. The Rangers took the display throughout California; spectators could pay $1 to see the relics. Seventeen people, including a Catholic priest, signed affidavits identifying the head as Murrieta's, alias Carrillo.
But, 25 years later, the myths began to form. In 1879, O. P. Stidger was reported to have heard Murrieta's sister say that the displayed head was not her brother's. At around the same time, numerous sightings were reported of Murrieta as an old man. These were never confirmed. His preserved head was destroyed during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. His head is displayed prominently in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town San Diego, so there are doubts to whether his preserved head, in fact, still exists.
Murrieta's nephew, known as Procopio, became one of California's most notorious bandits of the 1860s and 1870s; he purportedly wanted to exceed the reputation of his uncle. Murrieta was possibly partly the inspiration for the fictional character of Zorro, the lead character in the five-part serial story, The Curse of Capistrano, written by Johnston McCulley and published in 1919 in a pulp fiction magazine.
More information: Hollywood Jesus
For some activists, Murrieta had come to symbolize the resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California. The Association of Descendants of Joaquin Murrieta says that Murrieta was not a gringo eater, but He wanted to retrieve the part of Mexico that was lost at that time in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Last studies talks about another theory about the real Zorro, another person with an Irish origin. The mystery continues...
Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age.
H. L. Mencken
there r many questions regarding joaquin murrieta orozco joaquins true name I am a descendant of joaquins n I've read many versions from writers research ing and of those who've taking from those to yet give there version each add a lil from that previous story or referencing from them alot of them sticking to there own some more accurate than others but rarely do they research indepth or time with the murrieta families altho not all r willing to give up info other have no problem how ever in the end the story comes out altered to writers needs or is hit with spices that change the true essence of character and its dialog wich only contribute to more confusion one book contradicting an other wen joaquins thots r added of his purpose a reasoning there r good works out there don't get me wrong I respect people work . my perspective and beliefe as a murrieta .and the stories told n passed to n thru me continued to the next generation is that joaquin didn't die that day on July 25 at the aroyo contua joaquin was never decapitated he lived to be abt 70 n
ReplyDeleteand was baried in Mexico of old age clearifying the fact there were 3 existing joaquin murrietas in the family not one this is wat contributed to the 2 debate regarding joaquin true discretion but in fact both were accurate however not knowing the existance of 3 joaquins actually live n participating in those times people stuck with thier own belief in discription they felt most strongly .then comes the iconic pic thot To be joaquin murrieta for many years turns out to be an error of misre p resentation at someliot during the late 1920s where the known family by t he name of the marshals ben f and son frank b marshall who actually the photo is of took on the and assume the identity of joaquin murrieta n was recently clearified by 2 marshal descendants who have claimed n proven the identity of the iconic pic thot to be joaquin still fresh some accept it as fact other refuse to let go wich is understandable nevertheless a fact I've come to terms with it this becuz its a fact n it's time joaquin get to be honored for his many sacrafices made n simply becus he's erned it !!