TWT #206 –

On July 25th, 1853, the “Robin Hood of the West,” Joaquin Murrieta, was killed by California Rangers for a $1,000 reward.

This is a story about love, revenge, and Joaquins.

Joaquin Murrieta lived a peaceful life in northern Mexico for many years. Until his older step-brother, Joaquin, made some money during the California gold rush in 1848 and told Joaquin to join him. So Joaquin traveled north with his wife… Rosa (did you really think she was going to be named Joaquin?).

Now is when the legend begins. And like all good legends, it must start with murder and end in revenge.

Apparently, when Joaquin arrived in CA and began successfully mining for gold, several Americans got jealous. They accused Joaquin and his other stepbrother Jesus Carrillo of stealing a mule. Joaquin was whipped within an inch of his life and Jesus was hanged. In some versions of the story, Joaquin’s wife was raped and died in his arms (but that’s not really funny, so ignore that).

Leaving Joaquin in the dirt, half-alive, was the biggest mistake of those guys’ lives.

After crawling his way to safety and nursing himself back to health, a la The Revenant, Joaquin swore he would get his vengeance. Forming a gang, Joaquin sought out and killed at least 6 members of the group that had destroyed his life… but the story doesn’t end there, folks.

That ain’t no happy Joaquin

After realizing how easy it was to form gangs in California in the mid-1800’s, Joaquin soon expanded his gang into several bands. Joaquin’s main racket doesn’t actually sound that bad. They would travel back and forth between Mexico and CA, illegally selling horses (and stealing horses to sell).

However, while Joaquin’s merry little gang of horse traders weren’t trading horses, they casually spent their time hunting down and killing Chinese and American gold miners. Whew! No wonder you got heat on you, Joaquin! Should have stopped at the horses, man.

In early 1853 Joaquin’s gang was responsible for the deaths of at least 28 Chinese and 13 Americans. I don’t know about you people, but I don’t remember Kevin Costner murdering a bunch of Chinese guys in that movie…

Finally, in mid-1853, the California government officially set out to do something about Joaquin. Step one: give his gang a really cool name.

And thus, the Five Joaquins gang was founded. Their names? Glad you asked:

Joaquin

Joaquin

Joaquin

Joaquin

and Joaquin

Oh, you wanted their full names? Gotcha:

Joaquin Murrieta

Joaquin Ocomorenia

Joaquin Valenzuela

Joaquin Botellier

and Joaquin Carillo

On May 11th of 1853, the Governor of California (a big fan of the infamous Texas Rangers) created the official California Rangers (not a very clever name, though).

The Rangers, led by Harry Love, had a specific task: Hunt down the Five Joaquin’s and capture them dead or alive.

Harry Love, killer of many a Joaquin

After two months of wandering the CA countryside, picking up smaller groups of bandits along the way, finally the Rangers got scent of the Joaquins.

And thus, on this day exactly 166 years ago, Joaquin Murrieta met his fate.

When Harry Love and his Rangers encountered Joaquin and his band, the outlaws attempted to flee on horseback. Unfortunately, the Rangers were great shots and took down either 3 or 4 gang members, including Joaquin and his best friend “Three-Fingered Jack.”

To prove the Rangers had actually killed Murrieta, they cut off his head and the hand of Three-Fingered Jack, and preserved them in alcohol. The Rangers then went about getting affidavits from people who could confirm that was Murrieta’s head.

They also put the head on display to anyone willing to pay $1 to view it. Gosh the 1800’s were cool.

Best $1 you’ve ever spent

And thus, without their fearless leader, Joaquin, the gang fell apart. The Rangers were paid well for their efforts, and everyone lived happily ever after…

OR DID THEY?

Immediately afterwards, an anonymous person wrote a piece in the Alta California that claimed the Rangers had actually killed some random Mexican farmers and bribed people to sign those affidavits. Some also claimed that Harry Love never displayed the head at mining camps (where many would recognize Joaquin’s head).

And then, 25 years later, the legend began to grow… Joaquin Murrieta’s sister apparently told someone that the head she saw on display was NOT her brothers. And several people claim to have seen and older Murrieta walking around town.

The survival of Joaquin Murrieta turned into legend, and he became a symbol of resistance against the evil white man. He is even supposedly the inspiration for the legend of Zorro.

Alas, we’ll probably never know whether Joaquin survived. But if you listen closely, anytime you happen to be in a room where five Joaquin’s gather, you can hear Joaquin say “Why is that guy listening to our conversation?”

Spoooooky!

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