The July 23,1905, San Francisco Daily Evening

Bulletin depicts the 1853 death of Murrieta.

Chasing the Elusive

Joaqun Murrieta
No matter how many murders and robberies he actually committed,
California's most notorious bandit cast a wide shadow on the
gold rush. But it is hard to catch a shadow
By Lori Lee Wilson

ike the American Forty-Niners, Joaqun Murrieta

came to California to mine for gold. He found it
near Sonora, theTuolumne County town founded by fellow miners from the Mexican state of
Sonora, His claim was rich, and some greedy
American prospectors reportedly decided to drive him away.
Murrieta (or Murieta) went without putting up a fight. Then,
around April 1850, he found another claim nearby to work.
Again he struck gold. This time two Irish-American FortyNiners asked him to leave. Paying a foreign miner's tax was
bad enough, but losing another productive claim was intolerable. The young Mexican refused the demand, and a fight
ensued. One of the interlopers picked up a whiskey hottle
and struck Murrieta in the face, leaving a permanent scar.
Not that Murrieta needed a facial scar in the months ahead
to call to mind the injustice of it all or to remember the
reason he chose a different path to acquire riches.

who glorified V\^att Earp and Billy the Kid, portrayed Murrieta
as a Hispanic protagonist in his 1932 book The Robin Hood of
El Dorado. Even in Murrieta's own day, a segment of the populationmostly Mexicans and Californios (Hispanics who
had settled in California prior to the 1846-48 Mexican War)
viewed him as a rebel with a cause. After all. Californios lost
much of their land and horses to Americans, and Americans
drove off many other Mexican placer miners besides Murrieta,
exorbitantly taxing those allowed to remain. Resentment
brewed, and by 1850 vengeful young Mexicans and Californios
had formed outlaw hands. Joaqun Murrieta was the most
notorious of these banditos, hut even many honest and
hard-working Mexicans and Californios came to admire him.
Jn truth, though, not all of Murrieta's victims were Americans, and some California residents saw Joaqun as depraved
and greedy. The California Rangers would hunt him relentlessly. Yellow Bird (aka John Rollin Ridge), a Cherokee mesti-

And so Joaqun Murrieta hecame a bandit. According to one

viewpoint, he was justified in his outlaw actions because ofthe
injustices done to himlike the legendary Zorro or equally
fictitious Robin Hood. Walter Nohle Burns, the same author

A Sacramento newspaper ran this etching of the wanted Mexican

outlaw in 1853. Inset: San Francisco artist Pierre Boeringer made
this 1895 sketch of Joaquin "after the head preserved in alcohol."

54

APRIL

2009

zo who wrote the 1854 book The Life and Adventures of

Joaquin Muriera, said the brigand chief merited his violent
death. But the author also asserted Murrieta had left
"behind him the important lesson that there is
nothing so dangerous in its consequences
as injustice to individualswhether it
arises from prejudice of color or from
any other source; that a wrong done
to one man is a wrong to society and
to the world." That statement rings
true, but how much of the Murrieta legend is true?
Ridge's book has been labeled
the first American Indian novel,
and historian Joseph Henry Jackson argued that Ridge created
Murrieta "practically out of whole
cloth." In the opening paragraph
of the book, however. Ridge said
he wanted "to contribute my mite
to those materials out of which
the early history of California shall
one day be composed." And though
influenced by banditti romances of the
day, Ridge based sections of his accounts
on newspaper reports and interviews.,
for author Burns, he wrote fictionalized history, so it is difficult to sift the facts from his book.
Some people have concluded that Murrieta was a composite of several desperadoes operating in California. The
facts are still sketchy. He was probahly born in Sonora, Mexico,
in 1830, and he probably died violently In California in July
1853. But even though much folklore and mythology surround
the man, he realJy did live dangerously at the time of the gold
rush. And deserving or not, Murrieta, like the fictional Zorro,
left a permanent mark on California and the rest of the nation.

Waites Station) on April 4, when the bandits shot Clark and

fled. The San Joaquin Republican predicted Murrieta would
be "summarily dealt with" at Willow Creek, lo which
the arresting officer was escorting him, but he
escaped the noose, possibly by paying a bribe.
Meanwhile, Claudio Feliz got himself
shot and captured while wresting his
15-year-old brother from a posse that
was transporting Reyes to the jail in
*
Sonora. Reyes Feliz fied south, joining up with Murrieta and a man

Harry Love is seen here about 10

years after the state Legislature
authorized him and a 20-man
company of rangers to track down
the elusive Murrieta and four other
outlaws who went by "Joaqun."

named Pedro (Pedro Conzales,

according to John Rollin Ridge). In
^
early May, the trio stole horses from
Rancho Orestimba, east of San Jose,
and herded them south along Indian trails
in the coast ranges. A posse from Orestimba
pursued them, as did bounty hunter Harry Love
and a partner, who were after three Mexicans suspected of murder and highway robbery in Mariposa County.
All three groups traveled about 20 miles a day. Murrieta's
party, which other Mexicans joined en route, reached Tejon
Pass, in northwest Los Angeles County, in early June. There
the outlaws abused the hospitality of Indian vaqueros from
Chief Zapatero's band. The vaqueros returned at night with
reinforcements, crept up to the sleeping bandits, seized their
weapons and robbed the robbers. They took everything,
ather Dominique Blaive recalled that during the including clothes, then bound the bandits and withdrew
summer of 1851 he shared a room at Hotel de Minas to divide the loot. Sometime during the night, the bandits
in Stockton with Joaqun Murrieta, who was not freed themselves and fled. As Reyes Feliz was retreating on
yet known as a thief. The first account of Murrieta's foot, a grizzly bear mauled him, adding injury to insult.
outlaw activities appeared in the Benicia California Gazette,
While Feliz was convalescing at a ranch house, Harry Love
which in February 1852 published the confession of young caught up with Pedro Gonzales on the road to Los Angeles.
Teodor Basques, a horse thief from Hermosillo. Sonora. The OS Angeles Star reported Love's claim in a court affidavit
Arrested in San lose in November 1851, Basques was hanged that Pedro had been captured and later killed attempting to
in January 1852. In his confession, he implicated several escape. Yet Murrieta got away, slipping into Los Angeles to play
Americans and a dozen Sonoran youths, among them the monte, train horses and spend time viith his Oame, Ana Benitez.
teenage brothers Claudio and Reyes Feliz and "Joaqun
On the first Sunday of November 1852, Benitez and Murrieta
Gurietta |5icl." Basques, Murrieta and some others stole together with Reyes Feliz and many other Sonorans, Caiihorses and mules in San Jose, sold them in Marysville and fornians and Americansgathered in San Gabriel to watch
lost all their money playing monte in Campo Seco, Calaveras a maroma (rope dance). At sundown, Murrieta and Benitez
Countya performance Joaqun would repeat in 1853.
went to the ramada (covered patio) at luan Avila's house and
On April 19, 1852, a man named Murrieta was arrested in shared a blanket; others slept nearby. During the night, witJackson, Calaveras County, as a suspect in the shooting death nesses heard angry voices, then shots. Major General Joshua
of posse member James Clark. The posse had tried to arrest Bean cried out for help. Mortally wounded, he lingered some
a small band of Mexican horse thieves at Willow Springs (now hours before dying. While the general was on his deathbed,

CALIfOBNI H I S I O I HOOM, CALIFOHNIA STATE LIBRARY. aCHAMENTO

APRIL

2BI9

Murrieta and some recruits stole horses in San Gabriel and

began herding them north.
Vigilantes arrested and questioned both Reyes Feliz and
Ana Benitez, among others. Feliz recounted his adventures
with Murrieta at Orestimha and Tejon, as well as Pedro's fate.
He claimed ignorance of who had shot Bean, but reported
that others had overheard Benitez say Murrieta had shot
him. The Star published confessions by Feliz. Benitez and
Benito Lopez (a member of Salomon Pico's gang) that first
week of December, and the San Francisco Alta California
reprinted them midmonth. The name "Joaqun Murieta"
came up repeatedly in their testimonies. Murrieta was suspected of also belonging to Pico's "band of cutthroats."
which vigilantes blamed for Bean's murder. Whatever the
truth, Benito Lopez and Reyes Feliz were summarily hanged.
In mid-December 1852, a band of Mexican horse thieves
arrived near San Andreas. Calaveras County. While miners and
merchants celebrated the holiday season, the bandits, under
the cover of a hailstorm, robbed four businesses in lackson, 16
miles to the north, taking cash, weapons, ammunition and
provisions. A couple of days later, the Stockton Journal reported
that Edward Cameron "was fired upon by two Mexicans and
wounded so badly in the abdomen that he died shortly afterward." Cameron was shot on the road between San Andreas
and Angels Camp, a 12-mile stretch that passed a side road to
Yaqui Camp (now Calaveritas), where horse thieves were
believed to be hiding out.
In January 1853, heavy rain caused flash
flooding in the area, and when the high
waters receded, miners found gold that
had been knocked free of quartz
deposits. Chinese miners recovered
much of the gold, but Murrieta
and his band soon robhed them.
American neighbors paid scant
attention until some of their
own horses went missing. On
January 21. one young bandit
was captured but soon escaped
as three mounted Mexicans
with drawn revolvers discouraged pursuers.
San Andreas Sheriff Charles
Ellis and two deputies, assisted
by two citizens, pursued the Mexicans over hills and across creeks
until they spotted 10 Mexicans
resting tbeir horses on a hilltop
clearing. The five-man posse quietly
advanced to within rifle range heneath
a small grove of trees, and one of the
deputies fired at the outlaws. The Mexicans
found cover but later mounted a charge, sweeping past the posse while firing their weapons. The sheriff's
men fired back until they ran out of ammunition. Amazingly,
none of the posse was hit.

ack in San Andreas, the lawmen learned that

Mexican outlaws had killed John Carter in Yaqui
Camp. "A party set out from San Andreas in search
of the hand," the Calaveras Chronicle reported,
"and at Yackee [sic] met a Mexican, known as Big Bill...who
boasted of having killed Americans last year. [He was[
hanged forthwith, and the party proceeded on their march."
At Phoenix Quartz Mill, about a mile from Yaqui, a shootout
left two Americans dead and one bandit badly wounded.
The blood trail led to Cherokee Flat, near Angels Camp.
There, the lavmien shot a fleeing bandit, then captured and
hanged the wounded man. Before he swung, he revealed
that the leader of the outlaw band was named Joaqun.
Angry vigiJantes soon descended on Yaqui Camp, sacking
and burning it. Calaveras County seat Double Springs, where
the bandits had stolen horses, passed an edict forcing all
foreigners. Mexican and otherwise, into exile.

While the exiles, some with wives and children, retreated

on foot to Stockton, vigilantes continued to patrol the county
and make arrests. One nameless Mexican was hanged at
San Andreas. Another, rumored to be Joaqui'n's brother, was
hanged at Angels Camp. A mile to the south at Los Muertos,
Sheriff Ellis arrested a Mexican suffering from shotgun wounds.
Before being hanged, he too said Joaqun led the band, also
mentioning Claudio and Reyes Feliz.
On February 4, 1853, Justice Thomas Beatty of Campo
Seco ordered the owners of the ferry at Winters
Bar to let no one pass during the night, for he
T rw Tf^
^^^ heard Joaqun and his band were in the
-''^ ' ^
neighborhood. Beatty went to deputize
posse men, but while he was away, five
well-armed young Mexicans forced
tbe ferryman to carry them across
the Mokelumne River. Beatty and
posse crossed the river the next
morning and hunted for clues.
They met some Chinese miners
who had been rohhed by five
well-dressed Mexican youths
armed with revolvers, sabers
and knives. Outside Drytown,
the posse found several exhausted, abandoned horses.
Beatty collected the animals and
went to Jackson Gate, where he
learned that one of the robbers had
dealt monte all night at a Mexican
saloon, heading out before dawn in
a southerly direction. Beatty proceded
south to Campo Seco with the horses.
About the time Beatty gave up the chase,
an American and three Chinese men were
murdered near Jackson. The next day. a correspondent for the San Joaquin Republican wrote, "The
notorious outlaw, Joaquin, has been...within five miles of
Mokelumne Hill." The sheriff of Jackson formed a posse and

examined the
body and wrote a
description of the
notorious bandit
in his report to the
governor. Murrieta's
head was severed and
...preserved in
aleohol and later
exhibited

APRIL 2 i a 9

'**

THE HEAD
o r THE RENOWNED BANDIT

TO BE EXHIBITED
AT
STOCETON HOUSE
m . 19.18S3 - SI

The following li 00 of the

&flidvlU, crtiCft(f,
f th Kcnly of the
or
CocsTr or Siv
wf S o n o r , b c i . ' i g d u l >
^ TbAl
l
f Jr.t^uin. n o w
w e l l AC:IU
tion
tbiit i h b f j i h i N t ^ d 8t>ove La
v e h i * t > ) 9 h f i d o f J o a q u n l l u r h e t a . iJba c
c
d
Ad ftifUKT a x nt- XOHACI USARRAOA.

SB

APRIL

2009

Pacheco's ranch, claiming they

pursued. The lawmen, the paper
were hungry vaqueros who had
reported, "overtook the gang
lost their way. Pacheco's wife set
and fired on themwounding
about preparing a meal while
one...who, however, made his
the ranchero kept a wary eye on
escape." The posse came back
SanArtdreas
his well-armed guests.
with a badly wounded Chinese
Double Sprin|s
* >;Yaqui Camp
cook and some equipment the
Cherokee Flat ^
Murrieta did not use an alias
Angels Camp
Oeeing bandits had left behind.
or dodge the question when
Pacheco asked whether he was
Following a tip, a Mokelumne
the Joaqun who had caused so
Hill posse later rode to Mount
much alarm at the mines of late.
Ophir, a Mexican camp a few
The
talkative and seemingly affamiles outside town, where if
ble
young
man simply justified
arrested Antonio Valencia. The
his
crimes,
claiming he had
wounded Chinese cook identified
found
it
impossible
to make an
him as one of the bandits, and
honest
living.
"With
an Amerianother hanging commenced.
San LUIS Obispo\
can
friend,"
he
explained
to the
But Murrieta remained at large,
ranchero, "J took up a piece of
dnd that was unacceptable to
"" ~ ,
San Gabiiel
land not far from Stockton, and
the citizens of Mokelumne Hill.
Los Angeles-.^
Saff Beiraraino
was getting a fine little farm
Ihey took up a collection to
underway, when I was annoyed,
raise a posse of six good men,
SaV Die
100
200 miles
insulted and injured to such a
ied by Charles A. Clark, deputy
degree by my neighbors that I
sheriff of Calaveras and captain
of the Calaveras Guards. The Murrieta made his presence known throughout California- could not live in peace. I then
community also circulated a even after death in places like Stockton (opposite page). went in the placers and was
[petition, asking the governor to offer a reward for the getting on very well, when I was driven from my hole by
capture of loaquin. Governor John Bigler responded by some of my lawless neighbors. I was in trade and business
offering a $1,000 reward for "Joaquin Carillo," which the there and was wronged and cheated by everyone I trusted."
San Francisco Herald later clarified was one of the aliases So, Murrieta said, he decided to follow the example of
his unruly American neighbors, taking what he wanted by
used by Joaqun Murrieta.
wronging and cheating others.
Captain Clark and his men set out from Mokelumne Hill
Joaqun also told his nervous host of his recent adventures
tuU of confidence on Friday, February 18, 1853, but they
returned six days later empty-handed and saddle sore. in Calaveras County, adding that when he heard a large reward
At one point, Clark reported, the posse eame close enough was being offered for him, he went to Stockton in disguise
to fire on the bandits, but a bullet "unfortunately struck and read the different "wanted" handbills. On one posted
une of the Mexicans in the hand only; they took to their by Chinese businessmen offering $5,000, he wrote in pencil,
horses and were out of sight in an instant." While fleeing, "I will give $10,000 myselfJoaqun."
ihe Mexicans had the nerve to carry out more criminal activFrom Pacheco's ranch, Murrieta and his band rode south
ity. "We saw them about three-quarters of a mile distant, through San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles, arriving there in
robbing some Chinamen," Clark reported. "They turned and mid-June, according to reports in the Los Angeles Star. Jn the
saw us advancing, but they stirred not an inch until we were Spanish section ofthat paper, an editorial asked, "Quien es
half a mile lawayl... then they mounted their horses and rode Joaqun?" ("WJio is Joaqun?"). The piece suggested that not
off....We attempted pursuit, but our horses were worn out." everyone in the Spanish-speaking community believed
Although they failed to capture Murrieta's band, Clark and Murrieta could have committed all the crimes recorded as
company did manage to force them lTom the county.
far north as Yuba County and as far south as San Diego
Countyand indeed they were right. Other active bandidos
oaqun Murrieta was next seen passing through in the region included Joaqun Valenzuela and Luis Burgos,
Tuolumne County en route to Mariposa County, alias Joaqun. The editor argued, however, that Californios
where, in early March, he bet high on monte at who saw Murrieta as a hero retaliating against unjust AmeriHornitos. A talkative gamhler, he excited suspicion, cans were sadly deluded. Murrieta depicted himself as an
and his nervous confederates made him leave the table early. avenger, the editor said, only to win over allies who would
Later reports suggest the hand looped north along the foot of then supply his band with food and shelter, horses and recruits.
The editorial may have helped to undermine Murrieta's
the Sierras to Placerville, west to the Sonora near Marysville,
network
in Los Angeles County, for he found it necessary to
on to Cokisa, and from there all the way south to Stockton,
leave
the
area a couple of weeks later. He and his band again
San Jose, Monterey and the Salinas Valley. There, at 1 a.m. on
headed
north,
crossing the San Fernando Valley and stealing
April 13, Murrieta and five followers called at Francisco

APRIL

2089

Murrieta was known to rob, murder and gamble in and around the mining town of Mariposa, seen here six years after the outlaw's death.

horses from General Don Andrs Pico's ranch along the way
One of Pico's vaqueros soon stopped the bandits and warned
them that the general was not a man to be trifled with,
loaquin at least was willing to compromise. He decided to
hand over 40 horses to stall pursuers hut kept the seven he
and his men were riding, saying they needed them.

s Murrieta made his latest escape, certain members of the state Legislature passed an unpopular
hill, creating the California Rangers and authorizing Captain Harry Love and a 20-man company to
track down five JoaquinsMurrieta, Valenzuela and Carrillo
among them. Love's company caught up to Murrieta's band
in the pre-dawn hours of July 25 at a water hole near Cantua
Creek, about 120 miles north of Tejon Pass. The weather was
sweltering and the creek bed dry. Riding south through
Panoche Pass, the rangers spotted a wisp of smoke to the
south where one of Murrieta's men had started a cookfire.
Arresting two lookouts en route, the rangers continued south.
As they approached the Mexican camp, ranger Bill Henderson saw a bandit jump to his feet, pull his hat down low and
go for his horse, which was tethered outside camp. Henderson spurred ahead, placing his horse between the Mexican
and his saddle and blanket, where the outlaw had left his
revolvers. When Captain Love caught up and started asking
questions, the young man claimed to be a mustang hunter
and that the others worked for him. But when ranger William
Byrnes, the last to arrive, saw the man's face, he recognized
Murrieta and blurted. "That's Joaqun!"
Henderson fired his shotgun at the bandit, but his horse
shied and the pellets went wide. Murrieta, meanwhile, swung
onto his horse bareback while shouting in Spanish, "Every
man for himself!" He rode off west, jumping his horse into the
creek bed in an effort to shake pursuers, but the horse stumbled, throwing Murrieta. Henderson saw him remount and
M I M

APIIL

ZQ09

head upstream at a gallop. The ranger dropped his shotgun,

drew his revolver and gave chase. He shot Murrieta's horse, but
the animal didn't even slow. Reaching a sloping bank. Murdeta
turned up toward the hills. At that moment, ranger John White
caught up with Henderson, and they fired at Joaqun almost
simultaneously hitting him in the small of the back. The outlaw fell, hut again jumped to his feet and started running up
the slope on foot. Henderson cut him off and fired again, the
bullet piercing Murrieta's heart. The mortally wounded bandit
finally stopped. Staring up at the rangers' smoking gun barrels,
Joaqun Murrieta shouted "No tiren ms, estoy muerto!"
("Stop shooting, I'm dead!"), then collapsed on his side.
Captain Love examined the body and wrote a description of
the notorious bandit in his report to the governor. Murrieta's
head was severed and transported to Fort Miller, where it
was preserved in alcohol and later exhibited in Stockton
and other locales. Don Andrs Pico, who came to claim the
horses the rangers had recovered, was among those who
positively identified the severed head as that of Murrieta.
Of the six others in Murrieta's party, three escaped, one was
killed and two were arrested. One of those arrested drowned
while trying to escape; the other confessed and was hanged.
While Murrieta became a legend, the California Rangers (see
"Cunfighters and Lawmen," P 18) did not. A sly minority in
the state Legislature had undermined public trust by pushing
through the politically unpopular Califomia Ranger bill. Others
argued that the head in the jar was not even that of Joaqun
Murrieta. Out of their doubts came the belief that Murrieta
may have escaped and lived out his life on a ranch south of
the border. Such beliefs add to his lasting legend, ww
A descendant of a gold rush prospector, Lori Lee Wilson now
lives in Vermont. Suggested for further reading: The Legend of
Joaquin Murrieta, by James F. Varley, and The Man From the
Rio Grande: A Biography of Harry Love, by William B. Secrest.