Horse Stealing and Chinese Terrorizing
A lot of atrocities have been attributed to Murrietta and his men, so many in fact that there is some doubt that he or they performed them all. But among them was an occasion when, so it is told, that Murrietta tied some Chinamen together by their queues. He then made them dance to the pinging melody his pistol produced. The conclusion of this dance session was Murrietta shooting out the Chinamen's eyes. If the Orientals had been white men there would be more credence to the report that Murrietta was the afflictor, but there is little support for Joaquin being a Chinaman hater as well as a gringo hater.
Another incident has Murrietta and his men luring a Sacramento River schooner over to the beach to take them aboard. The gang then killed the people aboard and helped themselves to more than twenty thousand dollars in gold. Another story has Murrietta offering a thousand dollars for his own capture and arrest. He then told a sheriff who he was and killed the lawman. The later incident sounds somewhat like a Zorro adventure gone bad.
More horse stealing is added to Joaquin Murrietta's long list of California crimes with a tale of some 50 fine-blooded horse he stole from the estate of the California governor. Supposedly, he then ran the steeds down to Mexico. He may or may not have pulled that one off. If so, Murrietta wasn't the only outlaw doing that trick.
The law was unable to apprehend Murrietta. One of the reasons he was so difficult to capture was that, like Robin Hood of old, Joaquin was, in secret, loved by many of the rancheros who he helped with money and other favors.
Joaquin Murrietta continued.
