There are varying accounts of Murrieta’s death and I will be referencing it often, as it plays a decisive role in our interpretation of the outlaw fugitive as an archetype residing with an honorable visage, or a scoundrel. resorting to homicide as a way to survive. One account, repeated in lore from the beginning, is the famous leap from the sidewalls of Cantua Creek, into the creek bed, followed by a fuselage of cap n’ ball fired from the banks until the unfortunate soul, presumably Murrieta, whose horse was shot from underneath him, presumably el Tigre, fell to his knees, sinking in the sandy wash, and holding up his hands, exclaiming, “enough, I am dead,” or some such rot. The sides of the creek are pretty much as Rollin Ridge describes them in the original account, and it echoes the account given by Captain Howard (one of the Rangers who participated in the ambush at Cantua) – it still is today, in places, a 10-12 drop, straight off, making a dramatic story, but pushing the credibility of any horse, no matter how talented, even el Tigre. There are accounts of stories, documented by Latta, of grandfathers who were there; el Tigre was one of two horses, whose names are noted and referenced as exceptional animals owned at one time by El Famoso, as Latta refers to him, so it is likely that el Tigre was the horse cut in half by the 36 Cal Colts, blowing chunks off, or at least through an artery. But that’s where the veracity of the story crumbles. The vaquero in the creek with his hands up, whose head was cut-off and stuck in a jar, was Murrieta’s hostler, a horse guy from Monterey, which means he grew up with horses, and was at that moment, tending el Tigre’s sore back from the strenuous hours of eluding, or attempting to elude, the relentless pursuit of Harry Love and his Rangers, when just then, Love and Co, appeared with the sun at their backs, coming over the ridge, like Gandalf and his clan, or other such phrases of the fable.

Higuera and Herrero were Californios as well, born in Monterey or Santa Barbara, which is to say one of only two generations that could claim that title, and again, are described, by descendants, in stories documented by Latta, that they witnessed the ambush, and after, describe knocking the walls down upon the dead, and then later, returning to rebury them in unmarked graves. Leading to the formidable quest, where is the grave of Tres Dedos? Both Hig and Herr worked under Pedro Gonzales, the youngest crew chief, and most accomplished rider of the gang, which is to say, among the best in the world, more about him in the pick-up a silver dollar off the trail, post, coming up.