Avery Elizabeth Hurt - Joaquín Murrieta: Robin Hood of the California Gold Rush

Published in 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hurt, Avery Elizabeth, author.

Title: Joaqun Murrieta: Robin Hood of the California Gold Rush / Avery Elizabeth Hurt.

Description: First edition. | New York: Rosen Publishing, 2020. | Series:

Our Voices: Spanish and Latino Figures of American History | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Grades 58.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018007102 | ISBN 9781508184843 (library bound) | ISBN 9781508184836 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Murieta, Joaqun, 1853Juvenile literature. | RevolutionariesCaliforniaBiographyJuvenile literature. | Mexicans CaliforniaBiographyJuvenile literature. | OutlawsCalifornia BiographyJuvenile literature. | Frontier and pioneer lifeCalifornia Juvenile literature. | CaliforniaGold discoveriesJuvenile literature. | CaliforniaHistory18501950Juvenile literature. | California

History18461850Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC F865.M96 H87 2019 | DDC 979.4/04092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007102

Manufactured in the United States of America

On the cover: Joaqun Murrieta (18291853) was a hero and freedom fighter to his fellow Latinos and bandit and scourge of the gold rush to US authorities.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

A poor Mexican family is struggling to get by. They live in California during the gold rush of the 1850s. But gold hasnt been rushing their way lately. They tried to stake a claim in the gold fields, but the white settlers chased them off. Then they moved into a shack on the land of a cousin who farms, but hes not doing too well either. The farming hasnt been good, theres not enough to eat, and now one of the children has taken ill. Times are hard.

Then one day, the family returns from the fields to their tiny cabin to find a burlap bag sitting right in the middle of the rickety old dinner table. Inside the bag are medicines for la chiquita and enough money to buy a weeks worth of groceries.

Murrieta has been by!

Many stories like this one have been told about Joaqun Murrieta. He was a bandit and leader of the outlaw gang known as the Five Joaquns. He was said to be like the English Robin Hood or Pretty Boy Floyd of Oklahoma during the Great Depression, stealing from the rich and giving the money to the poor. He punished the wicked and helped the people who had been treated cruelly or unfairly.

Yet Murrieta is a mysterious figure. There are plenty of stories about him, but few facts. He was born in Mexico, in the state of Sonora. According to most of the stories about him, he went to California in 1849, during the gold rush, to make his fortune. Instead, he encountered vicious racism and was chased out of the mining camps. After that, the stories say, Murrieta turned to a life of crime. He and a gang of bandits stole horses, attacked wagon trains, stole from the passengers, and killed many people.

Joaqun Murrieta, 18291853

However, not everyone says he was wickedor at least not totally wicked. Many, many stories tell of him helping the poor and the suffering. So who was Murrieta, really? Are the stories about him true? Was he a hero? Or a dangerous outlaw? Or maybe a little bit of each?

No one really knows for sure. Its often that way with legendary heroes. When hard facts about a persons life are elusive, sometimes people make up stories to fill in the details. And those stories often make these heroes into whatever people need them to be at the time. If they do some good at a time when some good is really needed, people might overlook their bad deeds and celebrate the good ones. If they are really evil, its convenient to forget that even very bad people often have some good in them.

The whole truth about Murrieta will likely remain a mystery forever. But the few known facts and stories are decidedly exciting and fun. Get ready to learn what is known, what remains shrouded in uncertainty, and what historians and history enthusiasts like to believe about the man who came to be known as the Mexican Robin Hood.