The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-10
BANDTTnOFCALIFORNIA
WILD CAREERS or JOAQUIN
 MURIETA AND HIS BAND.
Movement Inaugurated by Spanish Patriots to Keep Out Americans, which Ended in Converting Young Men of Good Families
 Into Desperate Outlaws.

. yuhen in lS49 California became the Mecca of the restless, energetic. and ao- yenturous from all parts of the worio, there already existed a Spanisn-lhoian civilization of considerable age. with tradition of easy living and gentle man ners. The eager, elbowlng goio-cra1e Areonauts neither under stood nor sym pathized with that civiizauon' hne .e California Spanish were unapie 10 co prehend the newcomers. So. misunoer standing led to conflict. The impuisNe native resented the crowding-out process that began in the mines, ana coheinue" to the towns and agricultural conihu tion in the rich valleys or the san ooa ouin and Sacramento Rivers. the oan Jose Valley, and the mission communi. ties of Los Angeles, Santa Barpara' ana Ssn Diego. ..-, x., Tn tbe course of .hange various high snirIted youngsters among the spanish rose m to resist the irritating yankee invasion. More than one hot-headed na- five dreamed of rebellion, the driving out of the incomprehelsible Americans, anG the re-establishment of pastoral sim nIir,tv. Some gainedsa certain following. but most became simple outlaws. wag- ing individual war, and .supmerging whatever racial patriotism they began with in a brutal lust for murder and robbery.
 Chief of all these, the king among California cut-throats." as he has been called, was the boy. Joaquin Murieta. .The Fra Diavolo of Ell Dorado was the more euphonious title won by this young Mexican who came up from Son. ora Mexico. to Los Angeles in 1s49. when he was scarcely II. Beginning in 1850, his brilliant career of crime occupied less than three years, and he was killed before he was 21.
 How Murieta Became an Outlaw.
 In 1850 a brother-in-law of Murieta was arrested at Los Angeles for ccmplicity in the murder of General Bean, an officer of the United States army. In the con- fession that followed he told of Murietas participation. with himself and others. in a horse-stealing raid the year before Until that time the young Mexican had excited no particular attention. being set down as a vivacious but law-abiding boy, popular with the girls. One of these. Rosita Felix. pretty senorita of l6, was so deeply infatuated that she fled north with him when the civil authorities were preparing to investigate his brother-in- laws story of the horse stealing. Later Reyes Felix brother of the girl. join ed the young bandid, only to be caught and hanged by the Los Angeles vigil lantes
 With Rosita, Murieta fled to placer mining camp on the Stanislaus River. where he located claim. and began to develop it. But the feeling in the mines against the Mexicans was strong, be- cause of recent murders. the outgrowth of racial hatred. and one evening Mu- rieta was visited by a deputation O. Americans, who peremptorily ordered him out of the camp.
 Murieta protested that he should not be molested. declaring that he had com piled with the legal requirements in To- eating his claim, and that it was val uable one. One of the party. rendered abusive and reckless by whiskey. refer red to young Joaquin and to the fright ened Rosita in insulting language. Int quick tempered Spaniard rushed at thI An44ffcan with a.sknife hut Rosita seis ed him, and begged him not fo n1akl trouble. Taking advantage of the girE' interference, another of the party knock ed Murieta to the floor, where he lay unconscious. while the devoted Rosits was further insulted.
 The Making of a Desperate.
 At last indignities soured whatever good nature survived in the man. Murieta cui loose from all of his friends, abandoned Rosta. and deliberately set himself tho task of killing every man who had par ticipated in either of the assaults upor him. Later he talked bravely of head ing a California revolution, when his band had grown to include more thar eighty members, with half dozen ca pablo lieutenants. all under strict disci pline. It was not Murieta's policy tc keep this cumbersome body of men to- gether, but he scattered them about ir small parties to plunder mining camps and isolated ranches. He maintained spies in the richest of the diggings, and certain members were detailed to pro vide horses at convenient places.
 Late in 1851 Murieta appeared with 2 number of companions at Marysville. and on the following day five white meI were found with riatas about theii necks, having been dragged to death Then, one by one, the men who hat driven him from the Stanislaus minei and from Murphys were murdered, thu work being so swiftly and quietly don't that it was impossible to trace the mur derers. But there was no doubt in tn minds of those who were familiar witl the young Mexican's history that Mu r.eta was making good his threat to kill every man who had injured him.
 The leader himself was not natural! over-cruel CT bio ood-thirsty and 1t Il probable that he would have become more or less staid citizen after his privat score was paid except for the presence in his band of two or three seasoned vii lains who delighted in crime. The wors of these-and by far the most siniste figure in California outlaw history-wa a terrible Mexican, Manuel Garcia, O "Three-fiingered Jack" A veritabl giant fin size. lacking a finger, which il had lost In a Mexican revolution, an, with an aspect ferocious enough to sui the part, Garcia butchered and robbe, with savage abandon. A favorit amusement of his was to ride, with two or three compan ions, into a camp of Chinese place miners. scatter them with a savage yell then, like a trained pointer working covey of quails, hunt them out of thei hiding places to rob and butcher them
 An Atrocious Crime.
 The offer of a reward followed thie. ing raid through Calaveras County. Elm boldened by the apparent apathy of tn authorities. and yielding to pressure fro: ''Three-hngered Jack" Murieta in March 1s5S led a party to the Chinese camp at Rich Gulch, near San Andreas. Tn Chinese were scattered over diggings tha had been abandoned by the American: who had moved to newer claims farthe up the river. Coming upon isolate groups as they worked in the sluices. tn fierce Garcia bounced hawk-like into thei midst At one camp three Chinese wer
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