USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 75
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MEMBERS OF THE BAR.
There are many members of the Bar of San Luis Obispo, now and heretofore practicing their learned pro- fession, whom it would be proper to mention in detail, but whose history is unavailable at present. Among them are the names of W. H. Spencer, J. M. Wilcoxon, Jasper N. Turner, C. H. Clement, J. R. Patton, and R. B. Treat, who, with those previously mentioned, present an array of talent equal to any in the State, and invite the litigious to those expensive conflicts so profitable to the few and ruinous to many.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE.
A Chapter of Crime Unparalleled-Former Murders and Lynching -Terrible Times in San Luis Obispo-The Murder of George Fearless, in 1856-The Dark and Bloody Grounds-The Mur- der of two Frenchmen, in December, 1857-Light Dawning- An Organized Gang of Murderers-One of the Murderers Caught-He Escapes the Gallows-Causes of His Escape- Antagonism of the Native Californians and Americans-The Murder at San Juan Capistrano-Disposal of the Prisoners- Return of the Two Servants-One of the Gang Discovered- Hanged by the Citizens-Fruitless Pursuit of the Gang-The Motto of Linares and Jack Powers-"Dead Men Tell no Tales"-Capture of One of the "Five Joaquins"-Hanged by the People in Broad Daylight-Murder of Jack Gilkey by the Gang-Another of the Gang Caught and Hanged-Another Arrest-His Confession-His Execution-Letter to His Mother -Parties in Pursuit of Remaining Murderers-The Huero and Jack Powers in Distress-Corraling Some of the Gang in a Wood-Pio Linares Reorganized-Engagement with the Mur- derers-The Dead Buried-Execution of Blanco and Grijalva -How the Murderers' Account Stands-What Became of the Huero-The Native Californians Rising-Pursuit by Pacheco's Party after the Huero-Francisco Zuniga Discharged-The Value of Native Californians in the Matter-Growing Strength of the Vigilance Committee-Wholesome Result of the Move- ment-Prosperity Prostrated by Crime-"There's a Good Time Coming."
DOWN from many a craggy peak, Up from many a dark ravine, While winter winds are blowing bleak, Or summer airs are felt serene,
Low moaning whispers reach my ear, And specters seem to hover 'round, Which, while I list with shudd'ring fear, Point out "the dark and bloody ground."
Many a tale of crime they tell- Of murders done for love of gold, Would shame the very fiends of hell, Could they the deeds on earth behold. -Ned Buntline.
HE following vivid narrative of crimes of the early days of the county, and of the acts of the Vigilance Committee of 1858, is from the pen of Hon. Wal- ter Murray, in a series of letters written contemporane- ously to the San Francisco Bulletin :-
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
A CHAPTER OF CRIME UNPARALLELED.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, June 6, 1858.
There are various conflicting accounts in regard to a murder lately committed in this county, falsely reported to have taken place on the Tulares. This county has enjoyed a very unenviable reputation for years past. It is now about being cleansed. I propose to lay before your readers as short a history of the annals of crime in San Luis Obispo as can be made out of ten years of bloodshed.
FORMER MURDERS AND LYNCHING.
I shall pass over the by-gone times of Solomon Pico and Joaquin Muriata, and commence in the fall of 1853, when I first arrived here. In October of that year, some eight or ten men passed through here, after murdering a peddler near San Juan; and, after flourishing around town for a few days, boasting of their misdeeds, levied on a lot of horses and decamped for Los Angeles. A pur- sning party from this place overhauled them there, with the stolen property and that belonging to the murdered men, upon them. One was killed in the taking. Three of them were brought up to this place and hanged on landing. Another was taken in town and hanged. The rest escaped.
TERRIBLE TIMES IN SAN LUIS OBISPO.
I came to this place just after this affair happened, and I know that ever since then scarcely a month has passed without the disappearance of some traveler, or the finding of dead bodies or skeletons on the roads lead- ing out north and south from here. . Many a cattle-dealer from the upper country has come south to invest, and has never returned. As many as four dead bodies have been found on the road at one time, and scarcely a man has gone above upon business, without hearing of a new transaction of the kind. It seemed as though there was an organized band of murderers, with spies posted, who never failed of obtaining intelligence when a man passed with money, or in murdering him if found off his guard.
THE MURDER OF GEORGE FEARLESS, IN 1856.
All this time rumors have always been afloat in the community, criminating this or that resident of San Luis, in connection with these matters. No proof could be obtained, because no lives were ever spared, and so noth- ing was achieved. Good men walked about, whispering and breathing vengeance, but no definite result was ob- tained. At length, early in 1856, a man of the name of George Fearless came down from San Francisco, with about $2,000, and went into partnership with a New Mexican named Jesus Luna, establishing a ranchito near the Nascimiento, on the road to Watson's about fifty miles from San Luis. In a few months, Fearless disap- peared. Luna stated that he had gone to the States. Luna sold out all the cattle and other animals-even the New Foundland dog and gold watch of his partner- and removed south with his family, and is now in New Mexico. About three months afterwards, the body of a man bearing every resemblance to George Fearless was found near the deserted rancho. Then men talked hard about Luna, but it was too late. This man was compadre to Pio Linares, whom we are now seeking.
THE DARK AND BLOODY GROUNDS-THE MURDER OF TWO FRENCHMEN IN DECEMBER, 1857.
Well, things passed on. New bodies were discovered, but nothing known as to the perpetrators. Then a light broke upon us. In November last, two Frenchmen, Pedro Obiesa and Graciano, collected a band of cattle
and started for the upper country. They hired a Cali- fornian named Froilan as their vaquero. This man, as also the great sporting character, ycleped Jack Powers, saw the two Frenchmen receive money just before leaving. On Monday, the 30th day of November, a horse-race took place at Santa Margarita, twelve miles north of this place. At break of day the two Frenchmen received cattle from Froilan and another man at Paso Robles, fifteen miles further on, and paid for them. Froilan had then left their service. At the same time a man named Nieves Robles made his appearance in their camp, and asked permission to accompany the party to San José. He did so, and pointed out that night a camping place, on a road pointed out by him, at a place near the mouth of the Nacimiento. This river and the ground for miles on each side is "the dark and bloody ground" of this section of country.
That night some horses were missed from the French- men's caballada. In the morning they both went out to look for them-and never returned. Nieves Robles, thespy, on the day of the disappearance, left camp twice, return- ing with his horse sweated. In the morning he made some excuse, and returned to San Luis. Weeks after- wards, the body of one of the Frenchmen was found and identified, the flesh almost gone, and the skull perforated with bullet holes. The other was never found. They left camp in opposite directions. The horses were after- wards recovered. An Indian witnessed from a distance the murdering of one of the men, the one found. He recognized no one, but testified that it was done by two men on horseback, with pistol and riata.
LIGHT DAWNING-AN ORGANIZED GANG OF THE MURDERERS.
The day before this murder a horse-race took place at Santa Margarita. That evening, at that place, Jack Pow- ers was present, together with two or three greaser com- panions, particularly Huero Rafael, alias Rafael Money, alias Rafael Herrada, the same man who since assisted Powers as groom at his great match against time in San Francisco. That night Linares, Powers, and Rafael dis- appeared; the first returning after several days' absence, flush of money, the two latter going to San Francisco. Late discoveries, made by accessories after the fact, show that these three worthies, with other two or three, waylaid the two Frenchmen singly and killed them, taking from one of them $3,500. Powers was the planner and assist- ant, Pio Linares and Rafael the principal actors, and others aiding and abetting. So daring and impudent had long impunity made these men that the murder was almost openly talked of between the bad characters at the horse-race the day before; and on the very night before the murder Juan Pedro Oliveras, a worthy well known in San José, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles, committed it in town to another rascal, and mentioned every actor in it as above named.
ONE OF THE MURDERERS CAUGHT.
The day after the body was found, viz., on the 20th day of December, Nieves Robles was taken from the gambling table in San Luis, and lodged in jail. He was examined and committed for trial. Linares, as we are informed, went above immediately to warn Powers. Powers, however, came down on the next steamer, and imme- diately conferred with the prisoner. Powers was intimate with him beforehand. Now he furnished him with coffee, liquors, and other comforts, and urges his attorney to get him released in some way or other. It is right now to say that Powers is, and always has been, a gambler by profession, and a boon companion of the lowest and worst Californians and Mexicans. This Huero Rafael, a
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man who fled from Los Angeles to escape the reward of crime, and who is now recognized as an actor in two late murders, captain in the last, Powers designated as his "right arm," Tu eres mi brazo derecho! These were his words.
HE ESCAPES THE GALLOWS.
Well, Robles never confessed. He was a Californian. The Americans did not move. It was nobody but French- men who had been killed. The French talked lynch; the Californians threatened that in case they did it, every Frenchman in the county should be killed. The best lawyer in the county, the Hon. W. J. Graves, was appointed District Attorney. The proof was light. The jury, a packed California one. One of the jurors was, at the time, a fugitive from the charge of murder. Another was an accomplice in the very crime for which Robles was tried, and since is recognized as one of the actors in the late tragedy at San Juan Capistrano. The man was cleared.
ANTAGONISM OF THE NATIVE CALIFORNIANS AND AMERICANS.
You will say, perhaps, that we are to blame. That the American citizens in this county should attend juries, support the laws, etc. Sir, the American citizens of this county are but a corporal's guard. The Californians and their Mexican defendants are the great bulk of the com- munity. We are helpless. At an election, or at the empanelling of a jury, it is very easy for an unwashed greaser to swear that he came to this county before the treaty with Mexico. That oath makes him a citizen, and he takes his seat in the jury-box. The Frenchman, the Englishman, the Irishman can't do this. His conscience won't permit it. Therefore, although the good men of this community are in the ascendancy, as far as numeri- cal strength and acknowledged respectability are con- cerned, yet at the ballot-box and in the jury-room they are powerless. When Nieves was cleared, the public voice declared him guilty. The Californians admitted it, but to justify him, justified the deed. They said :-
.
Ladron qui mata a ladron Merecér cien años de perdon. Which being interpreted means,
The thief who kills a thief Deserves a hundred years' relief-
.I. e. from the pains of purgatory. They said that the two Frenchmen had received stolen cattle; therefore, deserved killing. This argument needs no comment. The few Americans laid low and said nothing; but they kept up a devil of a thinking. They felt it was getting hot, and that it would soon be time to stir. They said: "The time is not yet come, but it will come." It did come.
THE MURDER AT SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.
On the 12th of May another horrid assassination was committed. Please note well the facts stated, dates, names, places, etc., for they are all correct this time. Two Frenchmen, Bartolo Baratie and M. J. Borel, had come down from Oakland to settle on the Rancho San Juan Capistrano. They had been there but ten days. That place is forty-five miles from San Luis; fifteen miles from Captain Mallagh's; six miles from the Camate, the residence of Jack Gilkey. These two Frenchmen had two Californian servants, named Ysidro Silvas and Luis Morillo. On the morning of Monday, the Ioth day of May, eight men came along, representing themselves to be horse runners, and wishing to buy food. The open- hearted Frenchmen refused to sell, but gave. That night the men slept in a hut apart with the servants, and
on the morning of the rith went off. Early on the 12th one of the men, since recognized as Miguel Blanco (well known to the Sheriff and Constables of Los Angeles) came back alone, and said that his partners were off running horses, and that he had left them, not wishing to tire his horse. He asked permission to unsaddle his horse there, which was given him. The Frenchmen were several hundred yards from the house, cleaning out a well hole. The Californians were a short distance from them, but hid from their sight, cutting hay. Miguel Blanco stood on a small hill overlooking both parties, and, on a sudden, went down towards the Frenchmen. One of them, Baratie, left his partner and went round to speak to the two servants. Just as he reached them shots were heard where Borel and Miguel Blanco were, at the well hole simultaneously. The balance of the robber party made their appearance on horseback, and Blanco, coming round from his first victim, fired a shot at Baratie, hitting him in the shoulder. Others of the party also fired, one of them singeing the hair of Luis Morillo, the servant, but not injuring him.
The party then bound Morillo, Silvas, and Baratie, and drove them up to the house at point of pistol. Here they found Madame Baratie, the wife of M. Bar- atie, whom they also threatened with death. Baratie was then forced to point out the trunk which contained his money, and the captain of the band, who proved to be none other than the Huero Rafael, spreading out a blanket on the floor, divided out the money, $2,700, into eight portions, afterwards giving to each his share. Both husband and wife begged for mercy, which was promised them.
DISPOSAL OF THE PRISONERS.
Two of the band, to wit, Luciano, the Mesteño (who has since, God be praised, paid for his crime by his life), and Froilan-still at large-were then ordered by the captain to take the two Californians at a distance and kill them. These two men then placed the servants, still tied, on horseback, and took them out a distance of about a league, and, after some discussion, finally agreed to spare their lives on condition that they should stay there until dark. The two robbers then returned. In the meanwhile, two of the men had been detached by the captain to dispose of Baratie and his wife. They were taken a few hundred yards from the house, to a patch of willows, still under promise of mercy. Here Mrs. Baratie saw one of the men draw on her husband, and kill him with pistol shots. She herself covered his body with his cloak and hat, in which position it was afterwards found.
They then brought Mme. Baratie to the house, and Luciano having returned, it was agreed that he should take her off to the "Cuevas," his resort. He mounted her on a mare, with a side-saddle, and started off with her. This man, from the first, promised to take her to a place of safety, and, in fact, did so, for, after about a week's travel by a round-about road, traveled evidently only by these miscreants, passing by the ranch of Her- nandez, called the " Pulvaderas," kept by a wretch well- known as the harborer of thieves, and where she slept one night. She dared not speak here, or at the place where the fellow left her at San Juan, because she saw he was among accomplices. At San Juan he left her at a house about half a mile from the center of the town, kept by a man named Chavez. From here she went to the stage office and took passage for Oakland.
RETURN OF THE TWO SERVANTS.
The two servants of the Frenchman, at about 5 o'clock P. M., returned to the house and saddled up. They found M. Borel lying dead by the well hole, with
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three shots in him. They did not find M. Baratie's body. The house was all in confusion; all the clothing picked over, and the best of it carried off. No horses were gone, except a black horse which the Mesteño had taken off, and a mare which the woman rode. Silvas and Morillo, the servants, went that night to the Estrella, where they slept. On the morning of the 13th, Silvas went to Mallagh's rancho. Captain Mallagh immediately saddled up and came into town with the witness. Silvas made his declaration in accordance with the above facts, before Justice White, no names being yet known, and warrants were issued to take John Doe, and Richard Roe, etc., on the charge of murder.
ONE OF THE GANG DISCOVERED-HANGED BY THE CITIZENS.
While the papers were being made out, Captain Mallagh and the witness, with the Sheriff, in walking round town to look for the murderers, stumbled on one of them, whom the witness immediately identified. He gave his name as Santos Peralta, and was recognized as one of the Chico Martinez band of horse-runners. He denied his guilt, but could give no account of himself, except what was immediately proved to be false, and part of the stolen articles of clothing was found on his person. That night a party of citizens, infuriated by the enormity of the outrage committed, and satisfied of the determination of the greaser population to set justice at defiance by means of the mock forms of law, en- tered the jail and hung him. After revelations proved more conclusively even, if that were possible, his damn- ing guilt.
FRUITLESS PURSUIT AFTER THE GANG.
In the morning information was given that a part of these rascals, in number four, were hid in a ravine back of town, where Pio Linares, the arch-conspirator of this place (a Californian whose father before him was a rob- ber and murderer, and whose whole family is tainted with crime), had a receptacle for stolen horses, termed a ranchito. A party of fifteen men was formed under orders of the Sheriff, who traced the men up, and even got within two hundred yards of them, on the mountain- side. Ysidro Silvas went with them, and there identified the whole four-Rafael, the Huero, as being the captain, Miguel Blanco as the man who killed one Frenchman and wounded the other, Froilan as the one who took the two servants out and afterwards spared them, and Desi- derio Grijalva as another of the party.
THE MOTTO OF LINARES AND JACK POWERS-DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.
All these men are well known as intimate friends and accomplices of Pio Linares and frequenters of his house in town. After revelations have proved that this Linares, a sort of chieftain among the young Californians, had ac- companied the party on the expedition as far as the rancho of San Juan Capistrano, and had then, without showing himself, returned without taking part in the mur- der, because he wished to murder the whole party, includ- ing the woman, to which others would not agree. His motto is: "Dead men tell no tales." Jack Powers' motto is the same, hence their former impunity. A departure from this rule in this last murder is, under providence, the cause of our detection of these incarnate fiends.
CAPTURE OF ONE OF THE "FIVE JOAQUINS"-HANGED BY THE PEOPLE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.
The party that went in pursuit spent a week of fruit- less search in the hills. The murderers being well mounted, easily eluded them. At the rancho of San
Emilio, however, they took one Joaquin Valenzuela, alias Joaquin Ocomorenia, who was identified by several persons as one of the five Joaquins, who were men- tioned in the Act of 1853, authorizing the raising of Harry Love's company of rangers. This man is also an old accomplice of Jack Powers, spoke of him as his pat- ron, and is a man steeped to the lips in guilt. He is well known at the mouth of the River Merced, and on the San Joaquin, and owes justice a score which fifty lives can never pay. He was hung in full sight of the whole people of San Luis, in broad daylight, by the voice and as- sistance of all the respectable men of the county, and died acknowledging his guilt, asking pardon of his friends, and warning all malefactors not to tell their secrets, even to their own countrymen. "Porque asi se pierde," said he-that is: "Thus you loose yourself."
MURDER OF JOHN GILKEY BY THE GANG.
I will now relate a trifling episode in the San Juan Capistrano tragedy. At the Camate, six miles from that place, lived Jack Gilkey, a hunter, well known in Tuol- umne and San Joaquin Counties, and a man as far as known here, without a vice. His only fault was, being a gringo, or huero, that is, having a light skin. When this band of murderers left the scene of their guilt they went to his place. He was hoeing in his field. The Huero, Rafael, rode up near him, and unseen by him let his pistol drop; then, dismounting, pretended to find it, and made the remark: "What a fine pistol I have found!" Jack went up to him to see, and the villain then fired at him. He missed, but another of the gang, Desi- derio Grijalva, came behind and put a ball through his head which killed him instantly. It is sup- posed that he was killed because he knew them, as they had shared his hospitality the day previous. They knew the murder would be discovered; that parties would go in pursuit; that Jack would, like an honest man as he was, tell whom he had seen, and that they would be detected. Hence his untimely end. The pursuing party came back without finding any of the criminals in the murder. However, they were determined to persevere to the end. During their absence, Pio Linares had remained in his house, feeling the public pulse, and safe, on account of his complicity in the last murder being hidden. After discoveries show that when the Huero Rafael returned from the murder, he gave Linares for his share $140, and $65.00 to Linares' wife. Rafael lived in their house. The party on entering town searched several houses for the culprits, and at length came to the principal one, Pio's. They surrounded it, and demanded entrance to search for the Huero Rafael, under the warrant. Pio Linares placed himself on the defensive, and refused admission. They therefore demanded that he should come out, which he refused. A light was then put to his roof, the rest of the inmates having voluntarily come out, and at length the head culprit broke, and became a target for a volley of balls. He, however, escaped, and is now in hiding- it is thought, wounded.
ANOTHER OF THE GANG CAUGHT AND HANGED.
Another party was formed, with good trackers among them, who, taking up the trail of the Mesteño and Madame Baratie, traced them two or three days' journey. at length encountering the villain on his return. He was immediately taken, and brought into town. He confessed everything. His story tallies with that of all the other witnesses, and the above statement. He was hung in broad daylight also, as a warning to all miscreants.
By the last boat Madame Baratie came here, at the instigation of San Luis Obispo gentlemen, who wished to see her and to prove to her that, although her fortune had been entirely wrecked by a pack of hell-hounds.
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fostered and favored by the natives of the soil of San Luis Obispo, yet that the American population would do her justice. Her account tallies with all the rest. We hear that stories against her have been circulated above, but here no one has a breath of suspicion against her. It is too ridiculous. It is too infamous to assail a poor woman who has had her husband murdered before her eyes, and the bulk of their property divided among a lot of bandits, with suspicions as to her complicity in a crime ` which would not advantage her one jot or tittle.
The people of San Luis, who did not know this lady until she came down on the steamer, since the occurrence above detailed, appeal confidently to her friends in Oakland, who have known her for five years, to rebut all attacks on her character. We can only say that those facts show her to be the victim of Spanish atrocity and cupidity, backed by Californian affinity and crime. One word in regard to the Californians. Of those who interest them- selves to pursue the criminals of this county, two or three are of the native race. The rest are all Americans or foreigners. Romualdo Pacheco, our Senator, and José Maria Muñoz, our County Judge, have been appealed to for their assistance, and to use their influence to get the Californians to stir, who are the best riders and have the best horses, who are in fact those who can take the criminals. They have replied formally :-
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