Joaquin Murrieta (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829–ca. 1853), also called the Mexican or Chilean Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a semi-legendary figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. He was either an infamous bandit or a Mexican patriot, depending on one's point of view.[1] Murrieta was partly the inspiration for the fictional character of Zorro. His name has, for some political activists, symbolized resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California.
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Life and career
The place of Murrieta's birth is disputed: either Álamos[1] in the northwestern state of Sonora, Mexico, or in Quillota, Chile (near Valparaiso). He came from Mexican and native American lineage. His mother's side of his family came from California long before it was claimed by the United States or Mexico
Some alleged he went to California in 1850 to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush. Instead of opportunity, he encountered racism and discrimination. While mining for gold, he and his wife supposedly were attacked by American miners jealous of his success.[1] They allegedly raped Murrieta's wife and whipped her.[1] However, there is no historical evidence for this tale; the only source is a novel written in 1854 (The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta by John Rollin Ridge).[1] In the purely fictional novel, Murrieta sought justice through the legal system but was informed by a friend who was also a constable that there was no way to prosecute the crime because of a California law that prohibited Mexicans from testifying against Anglos. To avenge this injustice, Murrieta formed a gang from his family and friends to hunt down those that attacked his family. They killed at least six, and as they were then outlaws, they turned to a life of organized crime, stealing and using the money to help Californios (Native Californians.) According to Susan Lee Johnson,
so many tales have grown up around Murrieta that it is hard to disentangle the fabulous from the factual. There seems to be a consensus that Anglos drove him from a rich mining claim, and that, in rapid succession, his wife was raped, his half-brother lynched, and Murrieta himself horse-whipped. He may have worked as a monte dealer for a time; then, according to whichever version one accepts, he became either a horse trader and occasional horse thief, or a bandit.[1]
Historically, Murrieta is said to have became the leader of an outlaw gang called The Five Joaquins, composed of himself, Joaquin Botellier, Joaquin Carrillo, Joaquin Ocomorenia, and Joaquin Valenzuela. Between 1850 and 1853, the gang, joined by Murrieta's right hand man, "Three-Fingered Jack" (Manuel Garcia), were said to have been responsible for most of the cattle rustling, robberies, and murders committed in the Mother Lode area of the Sierra Nevadas. They are credited with stealing more than $100,000 in gold and over 100 horses, killing 19 people, and having outrun three posses and killed three lawmen.
At the time, no one was certain of the leader's name, and he was simply called Joaquin. It was also unclear how many gangs there were. Murrieta's band was supposedly supported by many Californios, who protected them, and even by some non-Hispanic Californians such as Robert Livermore.
On May 11, 1853, Governor of California John Bigler signed a legislative act creating the "California State Rangers," led by Captain Harry Love (a former Texas Ranger). Their mission was to capture the "Five Joaquins". The California Rangers were paid $150 a month and stood a chance to share a $5000 reward for the capture of Joaquin Murrieta. On July 25, 1853, a group of Rangers encountered a band of armed Mexican men near Panoche Pass in San Benito County, 50 miles from Monterey. A confrontation took place, and two of the Mexicans were killed. One was claimed to be Murrieta, and the other was thought to be Three-Fingered Jack. A plaque (California Historical Landmark #344) near the intersection of State Routes 33 and 198 now marks the approximate site of Murrieta's headquarters in Arroyo de Cantua, where he was presumably killed.
The Rangers severed Garcia's hand and the alleged Murrieta's head as proof of their deaths and preserved in a jar of brandy.[1] The jar was displayed in Mariposa County, Stockton, and San Francisco, and later traveled throughout California; spectators could pay $1 see the remains. Seventeen people, including a Catholic priest, signed affidavits identifying the remains as Murrieta's, and Love and his Rangers accordingly received the reward money.
However, a young woman who claimed to be Murrieta's sister said she did not recognize the head and insisted that it could not be her brother's, since it did not have a characteristic scar Murrieta had. In addition, numerous sightings of Murrieta were reported after his death supposedly took place. Many people also criticized Love for displaying the remains in large cities and not in the mining camps, where Murrieta might have been recognized. It has even been alleged that Love and his Rangers murdered some innocent Mexican travelers and made up the story to claim the reward money. The preserved head was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Murrieta quickly became the subject of story and legend. In 1854 the first fictionalized account of his life appeared in a San Francisco newspaper and in a book by Cherokee author John Rollin Ridge. It tells the tale of how his wife was gang raped and killed, his brother was hanged, and he was horse-whipped for a crime he did not commit. Murrieta swore to avenge them by killing all the Yanquis or gringos he could find. Although there is no evidence to confirm that this actually occurred, any such evidence would have been destroyed in those days.
The citing of his alleged birthplace in Chile seems to be a result of reports that Murrieta sided with Chilean miners during the "Chilean War." A portion of Ridge's novel was reprinted in 1859 in the California Police Gazette. This story was subsequently translated into Spanish, which was translated into French, and finally the French version was translated back to Spanish by Roberto Hynne, who claimed to have been in California during the gold rush. This final version had Murrieta born in Chile instead of Mexico.
The University of California, Berkeley has a housing cooperative named in his honor, "Joaquin Murrieta." However, the city of Murrieta, California, is not named after him.
Murrieta's nephew, known as Procopio, went on to become one of California's most notorious bandits of the 1860s and 1870s, and it was said that Procopio wanted to exceed the reputation of his uncle.
Joaquin Murrieta in media
Joaquin Murrieta has been a widely used romantic figure in novels, stories, and films, and on TV.
- Joaquin Murrieta is depicted as a largely sympathetic character in the 1936 William A. Wellman film The Robin Hood of El Dorado [1].
- The fictional character of Zorro was in part inspired by the stories about Murrieta. In fact, a character with his name appears in The Mask of Zorro, as do Three-Fingered Jack and Harry (here Harrison) Love. In the film, after Joaquin's death, his (fictional) brother, Alejandro (Antonio Banderas), becomes the new Zorro and later kills Captain Love in revenge. Joaquin was played here by Victor Rivers.
- Throughout the Mother Lode region of California, there are dozens of saloons, bars, hotels, and places where Murrieta is said to have robbed, slept, or been.
- He makes an appearance in a novel by Isabel Allende, Hija de la Fortuna (Daughter of Fortune).
- In 1954, the actor Rick Jason, later of ABC's military drama Combat!, played Murietta in an episode of Jim Davis's syndicated western television series, Stories of the Century.
- His story is told in a play, Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquín Murieta (The Splendor and Death of Joaquin Murrieta), by Pablo Neruda.
- The first Soviet and Russian musical (rock opera), Звезда и смерть Хоакина Мурьеты (Zvezda i smert’ Khoakina Mur’ety — The Star and Death of Joaquin Murrieta), 1976, by Alexei Rybnikov and Pavel Grushko, is based on the play. Published as double LP (1978) and movie (1982). Now available on CD and DVD, respectively.
- A tribute song to this Chilean rebel can be heard in Premonición de la Muerte de Joaquin Murieta, performed by Quilapayún
- Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter assassinated by the Pinochet regime in Chile, also wrote the song Así Como Hoy Matan Negros taken from Neruda and Sergio Ortega's collaboration "Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquín Murieta."
- Both Víctor Jara and Quilapayún recorded the "Cueca de Joaquín Murieta" in the style of Chile's national dance, the cueca.
- The Sons of the San Joaquin included a song called The Ballad of Joaquin Murrieta on their Way Out Yonder album.
- Bob Frank & John Murry included a song called Joaquin Murrieta, 1853 on their 666 World Without End album.[2]
- The corrido version of Joaquin Murreta's ballad states "... no soy chileno ni extraño en esta tierra que piso, de Mexico es California..." (I'm not Chilean or stranger to this land, California is Mexico...)
- In The Mother Hips song 'Time-sick Son of a Grizzly Bear' : "Were you out in Monterey/ In Joaquin Murrieta's day/ Adobe huts in the cypress groves/ Is where the rich man now builds his homes" from the 666 album Kiss the Crystal Flake
- The story (and, supposedly the actual severed head) of Joaquin Murrieta are featured in the 1978 film Faces of Death
- Writer T. Jefferson Parker casts Murrieta as the great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather of one of the main characters in his novel L.A. Outlaws.
- The Fortune & Spirits song 'Archangel, the Murderer' is in large part a retelling and exploration of the morality of the legend of Murrieta [3]
- Joaquin Zihuatenejo tells the story of Murrieta in his poem titled "This Is A Suit" presented on HBO's Def Poetry series (Season 5, Episode 4)[2]
- Singer/Songwriter Dave Stamey performs "The Bandit Joaquin" depicting the life and death of Joaquin Murrieta, and questions the validity of his capture.
- He is also immortalised in George Sherman's " Joaquin Murrieta" (Spain , 1965).Played by Jeffrey Hunter
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058247/)
See also
References
- Vida y Aventuras del Mas Celebre Bandido Sonorense, Joaquin Murrieta: Sus Grandes Proezas En California, by Ireneo Paz, Mexico City, 1904; first English translation by Francis P. Belle, Regan Pub. Corp., Chicago, 1925. Republished with intro. and further translation by Luis Leal, Life and Adventures of the Celebrated Bandit Joaquin Murrieta: His Exploits in the State of California, Arte Publico Press, 1999.
Footnotes
Further Reading
- Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush by Susan Lee Johnson. Norton.
External links
- Joaquín Murrieta
- The Legend of Joaquin Murieta
- Mystery of the decapitated Joaquin
- Joaquin Murrieta - Biographic Notes
- The Last of the California Rangers by Jill L. Cossley-Batt (1928)
- What's the story on Joaquin Murieta, the Robin Hood of California?
- Military museum 1940s history with Muster roll and text for legislative act passed
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