California boasts some of the most notorious figures from the Old West – rough and tumble men who engaged in robbery, murder, and often met their demise either in capture or on the run. However, outlaws can evolve into legends over time, much like the renowned Joaquin Murrieta, known as the "Robin Hood of the El Dorado." Some believe he was a noble bandit fighting against injustice, while others dismiss him as a mere character from historical fiction. The question remains: What is the truth, and what is the myth? Well, let me tell you a story

The birds are chirping, the sun...shining. Today is going to be a fantastic day. For some strange reason a enormous wave of emotion slapped Joaquin Murrieta in the face. He sits in his kitchen watching his voluptuous wife cook breakfast as he reminisces silently about how far he has come and how much better his life is, here in America. The smell of eggs frying causes his eyes to close and a smile to appear on his face. He goes on to think about his life before, A simple 17 year old boy working on a ranch in Sonora Mexico. He and Rosita fell in love and one day were caught by her dad picking wildflowers and he was chased off. The two of them decided to follow his half brothers advice and move to the Great land of Golden Opportunity, California. Now In the present day he is rich. He has his own gold mine and is doing amazingly well. Joaquin pulls out his bowie knife and chops up a zucchini that Rosita handed him after noticing his gaze upon her from behind. Once he is finished he lays the knife on the table and walks over to Rosita and pecks her on the cheek, she smiles then..

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

He opens the door to welcome to unexpected guest. It appears to be a group of hillbilly looking guys. Immediately a man on the left spits in Joaquin's direction. Joaquin is a slow to anger type of man so he takes it and politely asks what he could help them with. It turned out that they were not too happy with Mexicans mining in the area. Truth be told, Joaquin was one of the more successful miners in this area. Joaquin told them of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and his rights but these men did not care for a legal lesson and chose to teach him a lesson of submission. The spitter lunged in and socked Joaquin just below the jaw. Joaquin, Knowing his knife is on the table leapt back and to his surprise Rosita grabbed it first, her way of keeping her husband from becoming a murdering Mexican who would surely be hung for his crime, whether in self defence or not. The men seized this opportunity to rail on him, turning Joaquin into a wheezing bloodied up mess, they then turned to Rosita who ran but was caught and thrown onto the bed.

Joaquin awoke all tied up and saw the horror of his wife sprung on the bed, herself bruised and all out of tears to cry as the spitter lifted his pants back on, he shimmied over to Joaquin and spit once more, telling him he had 10 days to leave or he will be evicted from this Earth.

They took not even a day to leave and moved onward to what they thought was the middle of nowhere, somewhere safe.  Where they rebuilt. Only for him to be attacked again by some other men riled up by the simple fact that a Mexican owned land.  Joaquin informed them that he had become an American citizen. They didn't care. He then chose to submit and obey than to suffer the consequences as he had before and once again Joaquin and Rosita moved on, Trying out mining in a new place but meeting failure then becoming a Monte card dealer.

This new profession seemed to take a liking to him and for him. Becoming a celebrity among the gamblers as one of the best dealers with the most fun table. But again, Luck was never in his favor in the game of life. After visiting his brother one day and borrowing a horse to ride home he was surrounded by a mob. This mob accused him of being a horse thief. The horse had indeed been stolen but then sold to his brother who knew not of its “horsefax”.

They captured him, tied him up and forced him to take them to his brothers house.

He did.

As soon as his brother was seen, he was lassoed to a tall oak tree and was lifeless within 2 minutes.

Instead of being hung as well he was bound facing his still swaying brother then given lashes, each man seemed to want a turn. This is when Joaquin's heart became hardened. He turned and faced the men and gave each one a look down. imprinting in his memory what they looked like so he could exact revenge when he was freed, if he was freed. When all was said and done he lowered his brother to the rocky soil and gave him as proper a funeral as he knew how. Thick tears welled up in his eyes he swore to his brother right then and there that his soul shall not know peace until his hands were dyed deep in the blood of his enemies.

Soon a man was found dead, cut to pieces seemingly tortured to death. This was one of the men in the mob.

One by one the news spread of another death, another murder, another man of that mob sent down to Hell. Soon no man from that mob lived. But as the taste for ice cream cannot end at a single spoon nor can the Taste of revenge end with the death of the perpetrators. Joaquin would not stop, the enemy now vanquished, his cup remained half empty of the revenge he so desperately craved. Revenge now consisted of an idea, a cause, a deep seated hatred for the Anglo invaders known as Americans.

This blood lust extended to the want for money and horses, These crimes now giving him the unique title of both Outlaw and Bandit and he was only 19 years old.

Within a year, fear was upon every white man in the state. Crime was off the charts, stories of people riding then suddenly being lassoed off their horse then murdered in the brush were becoming more and more common.

Joaquin was the leader of this enormous gang that was marauding the land. His sadistic side kick Three Fingered Jack was loyal and enjoyed doing the dirty work but he didn't care for the cause, he just really liked butchering the innocent, watching as their eyes became a blank stare and their mouths never shut. His favorite part was to play with their bodies post mortem. He was made famous a few years ago when he and his own little group stripped naked a few men and tied them to a tree, then used their very much alive bodies for knife throwing practice. Then when they got bored gashed their eyes out, cut out their tongues then gutted them like a fresh caught River Salmon.

Joaquin would use Three Fingered Jack to do his more, publicized murders.

Since this great gang was Anti American or generally Anti white, The rancheros throughout Californian that were were Mexican were accomplices to the gang, they viewed what they were doing as a just thing to these Americans, these invaders. You could argue there was a very elaborate grassroots radical racist vigilante group to rid the land of the Americans who had taken over in recent years.

Joaquin and his men would go undercover like spy's and work normal jobs, lure people into certain situations and strike.

Eventually it became too much for the governor of California to bear. Something had to be done.

He put out a reward for $6,000 for his head and after a few months Harry Love and his band of rangers that were searching for Joaquin found him. A long shootout took place and in the end both Joaquin and 3 fingered Jack were killed.

Joaquin was beheaded and his head placed in an old alcohol jar. The hand of 3 fingered jack was severed, also put into a jar.  By cutting off the head of the snake that ravaged California Harry Love brought forth peace to the land.

Joaquin's head went on to be a sideshow piece shown by one of the rangers until it found its final resting place at a museum in San Francisco. Then in 1906 an earthquake shook the museum and Joaquin's head. The head crashed to the floor and The ghost of Joaquin Now freed continues to haunt whoever dare disturb him or think upon his plight.

This is the part of the article where I tell you that though this story is what is repeated on just about every article you can find. This story is a work of fiction. Historical fiction but Fiction nonetheless. Not all is untrue but a lot of it in fact is simply a work of fiction.

What I just told you was my adaptation of the original book called the Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrietta by a guy named John Rollin Ridge.

From 1850 to 1853 There was in fact an uptick of crime by Mexican outlaws all over the state. Eventually in 1853 the first name, Joaquin was listed as the mastermind. I believe though Joaquin was simply a placeholder name like John Doe but because Mexicans were the perpetrators Joaquin was used. Eventually 5 names were Put out. Joaquín Valenzuela, Joaquín Ocomorenia, Joaquín Carillo, Joaquín Beotllier, and Joaquín Muriati

The cry for this anonymous Joaquin became to loud that Governor Bigler put up $1,000 for the apprehension and safe delivery of Joaquin Carrillo, Harry love and his rangers were given the task to do it. They had 3 months and in the 3rd month they came upon a group of Mexicans. They took this opportunity and killed them. They severed the head of one and called him Joaquin Valenzuela. There are a ton of newspaper articles doubting the head is of the right guy and one newspaper claimed it was in fact a man named Joaquin Valenzuela but not THE Joaquin Valenzuela listed in the 5 Joaquin's.

The real Joaquin Murrieta came to California with his brother, his wife and her 2 brothers. One of the brothers became a gang leader and eventually Murrieta joined in. They targeted the Chinese the most since they were easier targets but every race was free game. It got a little too much for Joaquin so he left and lived in L.A. for a bit. Eventually the Brother in law gang leader was killed and Joaquin was given the title. He took over and continued to kill and steal. There was never any cause or racial reasoning for anything. He and his gang simply killed and plundered for the same reason any other criminal does. There was nothing heroic about it.

After the head was shown and the $1000 reward was given, another $5,000 was given by the state and another $1,000 was given by the Chinese people of San Francisco.

The truth gets a bit muddied as to how Joaquin really died, but it seems like there was a shootout somewhere else and he died then. The head was made into a freakshow piece and people paid $1 to look at it. A lady claiming to be Murietta's sister saw it and said it was not her brother.

Now as for the book, It was written as fiction but in a very realistic way. I would compare it to the short story called The Case of Summerfield which was also a work of fiction taken as fact by a bunch of people in California. In that story Black Bart, a character had the recipe of a insane bomb that would destroy the world. Charles Boles the real outlaw took that persona and played with peoples minds writing poems then signing Black Bart, The PO8... PO8 was the recipe for the bomb which I expand on in my episode about him.

But back to Murietta. In his case it is the exact opposite. Ridge took the real man and made him into a legend. The book is written in a biographical story and eventually was cited as a primary source of the real Murietta by Herbert Bancroft the Historian. This solidified this fiction story as fact from then on. The book was plagiarized a billion times and the storyline changed with each edition eventually changing him from being Mexican to being Chilean, his wife's name becoming Carmela and his revenge story becoming more idealistic and soon he became a part of the Chicano movement back in the mid 1960's a play was written where he became this robin hood like character and he had a new catchphrase "I am Joaquin, Kill me if you can"  Then there came a poem called I am Joaquin which went viral. and in somewhat modern time the character Zorro. In that movie Zorro's true Identity is Alejandro Murietta and his brother is Joaquin Murietta