"Joaquin Murrieta"
"The California Bandit"
 Synopsis  by  
Garrett Saracho

In the history of the old west lives a romantic figure whom tradition, fact and fancy have made tradition.Of him much has been written, many tales told. From the confusion of truth and fiction, the man himself emerges-A friend to some, a menace to many, particularly the greedy miner49er's and well established ranches, who prospered during the infamous "GOLD RUSH," in 1848! Since the United States had defeated Mexico in the Spanish American War, many Californio's were displaced. They were cheated, beaten, killed and robbed of their Spanish land grants. Thus, the notorious  California bandit and his famous horse gangs, emerged; roamed and spread terror during a lawless and tumultuous period in early California!

This is the haunting tale of "Joaquin Murrieta," and his young bride, Rosa Felix, who made the long journey, to Norte California, to meet his brother Antonio Murrieta, so they could register  their own Spanish land grant, that was established in the Sacramento Delta area. Antonio was excited about the registration of their land  and convinced Joaquin, to go with him and meet a mutual friend, Don Flores and register the claim. After leaving Rosa with family friends at their hacienda, Antonio and Joaquin headed out to meet Don Flores, who would act as liaison, advisor and would accompany them up to Sacramento. Joaquin and Antonio reached  Hangtown, (later changed to Placerville), in El Dorado County, the central hub for the Mother Load region's mining operations, about forty miles east of the capital, Sacramento. They met Don Flores, in a hotel, where they got rooms and would discuss their plans for the evening and would celebrate their soon to be registered claim. After dinner, Joaquin decided to go to bed early so he could get a fresh start in the morning, while his brother, Antonio and Don Flores stayed up; drank and celebrated! Unbeknownst to them, two greedy miners had been sitting adjacent to them listened and watched the three of them carefully. Later that evening, Joaquin was suddenly awakened in his hotel room downstairs by an angry mob, just outside below. He looked out of his window and could see the two angry miners he saw earlier at the hotel, now with a mob of men yelling and surrounding Antonio and Don Flores. One of the angry miners has accused Antonio of stealing his horse. Antonio tries to prove his innocence and explains to the miner, that he has a bill of sale in his saddle bag for the horse. The Angry miner denies it and sends his partner to go grab the bill of sale out of his saddle bag. When the partner goes over to the side of the horse, he pulls out the bill of sale, folding it and immediately tucks it in his back pocket. He then returns to the miner and mob and tells them there is no bill of sale in the saddle bag. The angry miner and mob grows even more intense now. One of the members of the mob brings a rope and throws it over the crossbeam, in front of the livery stable. Antonio and Don Flores are pleading for their lives, but to no avail. The mob lifts them both up on a wagon and proceeds to hang both Antonio and Don Flores. Joaquin meanwhile watches in horror and turns bitterly and sobs. Later that evening, Joaquin grabs the claim and paperwork, then packs his belongings and heads out of his room and ducks out the  back way of the hotel. He walks right by where Antonio and Don Flores are swinging from the crossbeam as he ducks into the livery stable, saddles his horse and heads out of town back to Rosa. Joaquin was convinced that he and Rosa would head back and start a new life there, but Rosa who knew Joaquin and his brother's dream to mine and settle the beautiful rich fertile land in California, persuaded him to go up to Sacramento and file the claim.  So after a few weeks of hard thinking, about the horrible event and considerable deliberation, Joaquin and Rosa headed up to Sacramento and filed the claim. When they finally settled on the land, they met a good friend and constable by the name of Ben Marshall, who befriended Joaquin and Rosa. One morning, while Rosa had prepared breakfast for Joaquin and Ben, Ben had warned them about bad men in the area, who were swindling and robbing from small land owners, particularly of Mexican and Indian descent. It wasn't very long before Joaquin would encounter such a horrific fate. One night while Joaquin and Rosa were enjoying the late evening talking about a dress, that Joaquin wanted to buy for Rosa in town. Suddenly, there was a sudden knock on the door and Joaquin opened the door and saw a grubby man standing there looking very distraught. He told Joaquin that one of his his wagon wheels had broken down on the road and that his wife and son were  waiting for his return. Joaquin sprang into action and got his tool box and  overcoat and went out with the man to go help him fix the wheel. Joaquin followed the man only a few yards and suddenly was jumped by two other grubby men who fought and then knocked Joaquin over the head with a revolver, knocking Joaquin to the ground. The two men picked him up and tied him to a tree. Beaten and delirious Joaquin could barely keep his eyes open. Meanwhile,  the three men grabbed Rosa and began beaten and rapping her savagely. They left her motionless on the ground. The next morning, Chappo a Yaqui, coworker and  friend of Joaquin's had come to visit him. He road into there camp and saw the terrifying deeds of the three grubby men. He saw Rosa as she layed on the ground, still. Then Chppo's eyes moved  over to the tree where Joaquin had been tied up, still passed out. Chappo went over to Joaquin and untied and gave him water out of his canteen to revive him. When Joaquin came to his senses he asked where Rosa was.  Chappo pointed to Where Rosa layed motionless, as Joaquin grabbed the canteen and rushed over to Rosa and lifted her head. Her last words to Joaquin was, "Look what they did to me, Joaquin!" She looked at Joaquin touched his face with her right hand and died in his arms. Joaquin wept bitterly! From that moment on, Joaquin vowed he would have his revenge against the Gringos. Thus, he formed one of the most notorious horse gangs, throughout California! This is his story!