Joaquin Murrieta

Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (c. 1829 – July 25, 1853) is a Mexican figure whose existence is debated, often nicknamed the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado. The 1854 dime novel *The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit*, written by John Rollin Ridge, claims to tell his story. Stories of a notorious outlaw in California during the 1850s gold rush grew from this, but solid proof of a real Murrieta is thin. Court records from 1852 mention a minor horse thief with that name, and newspapers from the same period reported a bandido named Joaquin who robbed and killed several people. A California Ranger, Harry Love, was tasked with finding Murrieta and reportedly collected a bounty by bringing in his head.

The popular legend says Murrieta was a forty-niner, gold miner, and vaquero from Sonora. According to the tale, his brother was hanged, Murrieta was horse-whipped, and his young wife was raped—in one version, she died in his arms. Swearing revenge, he hunted down the men who harmed her and began a short, violent spree killing Anglo tormentors. California offered a reward of up to $5,000 for him, dead or alive.

Historians disagree on who Murrieta really was and what he did. Susan Lee Johnson notes that many stories surround him, making it hard to separate fact from fiction. There is general agreement that Anglos drove him from a rich mining claim, then his wife was raped, his half-brother lynched, and Murrieta himself horse-whipped. He may have dealt monte cards for a time, then either traded horses (and occasionally stole them) or became a bandit.

John Rollin Ridge, a grandson of Cherokee leader Major Ridge, wrote the dime novel that fueled the legend, which was later translated into several European languages. A part of Ridge’s novel was reprinted in 1858 in the *California Police Gazette*, then translated into French. That French version was turned into Spanish by Roberto Hyenne, who changed every reference from "Mexican" to "Chilean." Because Chileans were so visible in California, the term "Chilean" came to mean any Spanish-speaking non-European, often associated with "bronze-coloured" skin. Early 20th-century writer Johnston McCulley supposedly based his character Don Diego de la Vega—better known as Zorro, in his 1919 novel—on Ridge’s 1854 book about Murrieta.

Most sources say Murrieta was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Historian Frank Forrest Latta, after decades of research, wrote that Murrieta came from the Pueblo de Murrieta on Rancho Tapizuelas, across the Cuchujaqui River (also called the Arroyo de [los] Álamos), north of Casanate in southeastern Sonora near the Sinaloa border, now part of Álamos Municipality. He attended school nearby in El Salado.

Murrieta reportedly traveled to California in 1849 during the gold rush, after his older Carrillo stepbrother, Joaquin Manuel Carrillo Murrieta, who was already there, wrote urging him to come. Like many Sonorans, Murrieta, his new wife Rosa Feliz, and a large group crossed the Altar and Colorado Deserts that year. The party included his younger brother Jesus Murrieta; another stepbrother, Jesus Carrillo Murrieta; three Feliz brothers-in-law (Claudio, Reyes, and Jesus); two Murrieta cousins (Joaquin Juan and Martin); four Valenzuela cousins (including Joaquin, Theodoro, and Jesus); two Duarte cousins (Antonio and Manuel); and other men from Pueblo de Murrieta or nearby.

In the rough mining camps, Murrieta faced prejudice and hostility. According to the dime novel by John Rollin Ridge—the only source for this—American miners, jealous of his success, allegedly beat him and raped his wife. Historian Latta wrote that Murrieta formed a gang with organized bands, one led by himself and others by trusted Sonoran relatives. The core group gathered to help Murrieta kill at least six Americans who had lynched his stepbrother Jesus Carrillo and whipped him over a false mule-theft charge. The gang traded horses illegally with Mexico, using stolen horses and legally caught mustangs. They drove herds from as far north as Contra Costa County, the Sierra gold camps, and the Central Valley, via the remote La Vereda del Monte trail through the Diablo Range, then south to Sonora to sell. At other times, they robbed and killed miners or American settlers, especially those returning from the goldfields. The gang is believed to have killed up to 28 Chinese and 13 Anglo-Americans, based on accounts of their raids in early 1853.

By 1853, the California state legislature listed Murrieta as a wanted man.