Education, History
American rebel leader Joaquin Murieta: years of life, biography, photo
For more than a century and a half, the name of Joaquin Carrillo Murrieta or Murietta is known all over the world. He was a semi-legendary person in California in the 1850s, during the so-called Golden Rush era. Some consider him a Chilean Robin Hood and a Mexican patriot, and others - a bandit and a bloody killer. So who is Joaquin Murieta really: a real person or a fictional character from the book of John Rolin Ridge?
Genuine biography
Joaquin Murieta was born in 1830 in the south of Mexico, in the state of Sonora. Marrying a girl named Rosa Felis, he goes to California, taking with him and three of her brothers. Then just at the height was the Gold Rush. One of his wife's brothers, Claudio Felice, seriously engaged in the search for precious metal, and Joaquin himself worked part time as a catcher of mustangs, or as a vaquero (a shepherd).
In 1849 Claudio was arrested on charges of stealing gold from another prospector. I must say that the evidence of his guilt was in abundance, so the punishment for such a crime could be very severe - execution by hanging. Claudio judged that he was unlikely to get out of this mess, so he developed a plan for escape and successfully implemented it. A few months later he managed to put together his own gang of the same people as himself. Later Joaquin Murieta, whose biography will be closely associated with the criminal craft, will join her.
Attacks and murders
At the end of 1850, Claudio Felisa's gang committed its first crime. Her victim was John Marsh, on the ranch of which attacked a group of 12 people. They killed the master, but other people did not touch. Later, the bandits realized that they had committed an unpardonable mistake, leaving the witnesses alive. Subsequently, they tried not to make such mistakes anymore.
Ten days after the robbery of John March, the bandits carried out a night raid on the ranch of their next victim, Digby Smith. In this house they with special cruelty killed three people: two of them have crunched skulls, and the third and at all cut off a head. Leaving the crime scene, they set fire to a ranch that burnt to the ground. A month later, the gang again tried to rob another victim, but met a rebuff from a fairly well-armed vaguero. Then the killers realized that the local settlers were now on their guard, so Claudio Felis decided to move to the area where the gold mines were. There, his people began to rob and kill on the roads of solitary travelers.
Hunting for Claudio Felisa
Joaquin Murieta was in the gang of his wife's brother since September 1851 and managed to take part in several robberies and murders. When the law began to literally breathe the bandits in the back, he left the criminal gang and for some time settled in Los Angeles, and Felis and his accomplices in the meantime continued their atrocities.
They were completely indifferent to whom to kill - not only negroes, Chinese and white victims, but also Mexicans, the main thing is that it would bring a good income. It was such actions that became the main mistake, since even the compatriots turned away from Claudio Felice and his people. Now he could no longer count on their support. In addition, the Mexicans themselves began to hunt for the enraged leader of the gang, and soon the whole group was caught in a vice. According to eyewitnesses, during the last fight with the thugs, Felis' pursuers literally riddled his body with bullets.
New gang
The peaceful life in Los Angeles quickly got bored with Felis's former accomplice, and Joaquin Murieta again returned to his bloody industry. After some time, he, along with Reyes Felis (another brother of his wife), was charged with the murder of Joshua Bin, a state major general. Shorina Joaquin was caught and executed, and he managed to escape himself. After this incident, it was rumored that Murieta shamelessly abandoned his relative without any help, but fled himself cowardly.
Soon a new gang appeared in the district, but no one really knew who was its leader. It was assumed that the criminal group includes five Joaquins - Carrillo, Murieta, Botel, Valenzuel and Okomorenya. It is worth noting that the first husband of the mother of the famous bandit had the surname Carrillo, so the young man was sometimes represented by this name.
Among the members of the group was also a certain Manuel Garcia nicknamed Three-toed Jack. This bandit had a special hatred for gold diggers, who had a Chinese origin. Only for a couple of months the raiders killed 22 people, most of whom were from China, stole about a hundred horses and stole up to 100 thousand dollars in gold. It is noteworthy that people from Asia, as usual, did not carry weapons, which is why they were easily robbed and killed. Sometimes members of the so-called gang of five Joaquins cut their throats to the Chinese just to have fun. As you can see, the legend, which made a fighter from the throat of Murieta for the rights of the disadvantaged, has not the slightest foundation.
Counteraction of authorities
In May 1853, the then California Governor John Bigler signed a law to create an armed detachment to counter the gangs, known as the "California Rangers." His commander was appointed captain Harry Love.
I must say that the rangers had a very solid incentive - each of them was paid a monthly salary of $ 150. By the way, for those times it was good money. In addition, for the murdered bandit relied also a bonus of $ 1,000. In addition, the local Chinese diaspora, frightened by the numerous murders of its compatriots, established an additional prize for the capture of bandits.
Hunt for a gang of five Joaquins
The authorities of the State of California have entered into a three-month contract with the Rangers. When the time allowed for the liquidation of the gang was already coming to an end, on July 25 they nevertheless attacked the track of the criminals. In this they were helped by a group of Indians, who recently saw passing Mexicans passing by them, who were very similar to the people from the gang, whose leader was supposedly Joaquin Murieta. His photo did not survive, although there are images made on the basis of this person's verbal description.
Death of the leader
The Rangers quickly attacked the trail of the killers and caught up with them. The battle ensued, which soon ended with the complete victory of representatives of the law. As evidence that the gang was liquidated, the people of Lava provided two trophies. One of them - a brush Three-fingered Jack, since his face was mutilated beyond recognition. The second was the head of a Mexican, like a leader. These trophies were placed in containers with alcohol.
Officially it was recognized that in that battle it was Joaquin Murieta who died. Cause of death: shot, and then beheaded. The governor personally accepted and examined the trophies, and then paid the rangers a rewards. And this despite the many doubts that it is the head of Murieta. Be that as it may, the people rejoiced. Newspapers, in turn, sang the courage of the commander of the Rangers Harry Lava and his people, who were everywhere met as heroes. As you can see, the real Joaquin Murieta, whose biography was closely connected with crime, could not have anything to do with the Latin American insurgency.
Beginning of the legend
A year after the defeat of the gang and the murder of its leader, John Rolin Ridge wrote an adventure novel about Muriete, where he set forth his own biography of the protagonist. It was this book that became the main source of the spread of the legend. I must say that the fate of this artwork and its fictional character is very interesting. The fact is that after the publication in America of the novel Ridge very quickly learned in Europe. The book was immediately translated into several languages. The European reader enjoyed great popularity, so it was reprinted more than once.
By some coincidence, one of the French copies of the book was in Chile. Here, Roberto Ninne quickly translated the novel into Spanish, and in the foreword to her added that he himself was in California during the Gold Rush and about Muriete heard from the first mouth. Thus, the impression was created that the events and characters described in the book were genuine.
The plot of the novel
The book Rolina-Ridge called "The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta" describes the story of a poor Mexican guy who, seeking a better life, goes to California, where he recently discovered gold. According to the plot, gringos (the so-called white Americans) always disliked immigrants from Mexico, so they dishonored his wife, and her brother was slandered, accusing him of stealing horses. The poor man was hanged on the nearest tree, not listening to his arguments, but the main character was tied to a tree and carved.
After such a brutal massacre, the Mexican, along with his wife and several compatriots, hid in the mountains. There he vowed that he would kill any white American who would get in his way. So Joaquin Murieta, whose years of life were now devoted to revenge, gathered a small detachment of like-minded people and began to settle scores with gringo for all the grievances inflicted on him and his wife Rosite. The book ends with the fact that he was already going to raise a real uprising of the Mexicans against the excesses of the white oppressors, but the hired rangers under the leadership of Harry Lava soon overtook his detachment and dealt with him, killing the protagonist as well.
The fate of the book
There are several versions of the novel by John Rollyn Ridge, which was originally sold in an incredible amount at the time - 7 thousand copies. This work could take a worthy place in the "Guinness Book of Records" in the part of plagiarism. Five years after the Rollin-Ridge novel was published, a double of this best-seller appeared, remade by an unknown author, where the name of Joaquin's wife is already Carmel, and not Rosita, who was not only dishonored but also killed. Later in San Francisco, a play was created, created all on the same subject. In her, the wife of the famous avenger was called Belloro, and he himself also had a scar on his face.
Joaquin Murieta: Latino American leader of the rebels or a simple burglar and murderer?
There were a few more reincarnations of this adventure novel, until it was translated into Spanish. Now it was already called "Chilean robber", where Joaquin Murieta came from the same places. Here, a partially fictional character became so popular that he was placed a monument as a bold and uncompromising fighter with injustice!
The appearance of this novel in Chile and the perception of it as a biographical work so misled historians that some of them in their writings indicate the town of Kiljetu as the real birthplace of Murieta. But it is for certain that in the old church records that have survived to this day in Mexico, there is a Joaquin Murieta whose birth year coincides with the birth of a brutal leader of a gang of thugs. Many historians tend to believe that these documents are proof that he was still a Mexican bandit, not a Chilean rebel leader.
So who is Joaquin Muriette really? There is still no unambiguous answer to this question, and, in truth, it is unlikely to be.
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