The Death of a Legend

Rangers kill bandit Joaquin Murrieta.

On July 25, 1853, “California Rangers” led by Captain Harry Love (picture) encountered a group of Mexican men near Aroyo de Cantua in Central California. In the battle that followed, at least two of those Mexicans were killed: the rangers said one was legendary bandit Joaquin Murrieta, the other Three Fingered Jack. They took the head of one and the hand of the other as evidence of their identity and displayed them in jars of alcohol. Some claim Murrieta was not killed by Love and that the head belonged to someone else.