Joaquin Murrieta [pp. 530-539]

JOAQUIN MURRIETA.
accidentally, and even the sheriff that
sold the "aforesaid exhibit" met an accidental death. The violent death of
these men was regarded by the Mexicans as the vengeance of Heaven, and
as the natural consequence of their act.
For a year or two the State was free
of banditti, but having had a taste of
blood, a number of Murrieta's lieutenants
organized small bands and again took to
the road.
Pancho Daniel, who had desertedfrom
Murrieta's band, taking also his mistress, Antonia, organized at Los Angeles
a band, mainly of Manila men, and on
the same line as that of his late chief.
The band was composed of the unlucky
number of thirteen, and all came to a
sudden period excepting one, who was
only spared because of his youth. They
had killed a merchant at San Juan Capistrano and robbed his store, and were
pursued by the sheriff and four assistants,
who were ambushed and killed. A party
of vigilantes from Los Angeles started
after the bandits. Two were caught and
hanged in the defile now known as
Canfada de la Horca. The others were
killed or captured, and Pancho Daniel
came to a timely death in Los Angeles,
at the end of a rope.
Claudio, another of Joaquin's lieutenants, organized a small band, composed
of Bras Angelina, Sebastian Flores,
Francisco Garcia, Juan Cartabo, "E1
Huevo" (Bad Egg), and other ex-members of the old band. Their career was
short. "One-Eyed" Piguinino and
"Indian Juan desired to secede from
the band and lead an honest life. They
were refused a division of the spoils.
Indian Juan threatened to invoke the
law in order to obtain the plunder he had
stolen as an outlaw. Garcia and Bras
Angelina shot him to death. Flores betrayed his commander, and nearly all the
band were killed. Fifteen years afterward Bras Angelina was hanged at San
Jos& for killing the Indian, on the testimony of Flores.
Tiburcio Vasquez was, next to Murrieta,
the most daring bandit in California's
bloody history. He was about fifteen
years of age when Joaquin began his
career. He had no grievance like Murrieta, but became an outlaw from choice,
- he wished to acquire a reputation even
greater than that of Murrieta. At a fandango in Monterey, he quarreled with
another Mexican who claimed a sefnorita
for the next dance. An American constable interposed, and Vasquez stabbed
him to the heart. Vasquez, was bloodthirsty, reckless, affable in manner, and
possessed influence over those with whom
he came in contact. He was of mixed
blood, half Indian, and was brutish by
instinct and treacherous by nature. His
features were coarse, and he was anything but handsome, yet his dashing
manner made him a favorite among the
ladies. Soon after Murrieta's death, he,
with the assistance of Juan Soto, a noted
horse thief, and Chavez, organized a
band of about forty men, mainly thieves,
who had only plunder in view. The
career of Vasquez was temporarily sus
pended by his capture and retirement to
the State prison for horse-stealing. He
escaped and resumed business at his old
stamping ground. He also emulated his
predecessor in his romances. He eloped
with a daughter of Seior Salazar at San
Jos&. The unromantic old gentleman
overtook them at a ranch house at the
foot of Mount Diablo, with a shotgun.
One shot wounded Vasquez, and the
other struck his daughter in the arm, and
she fell fainting in the arms of the bandit.
The old gentleman then took his daughter home. Vasquez's next escapade was
to gain the affections of the wife of Abdon Leiva. Rosaria persuaded her hus
538