The Remarkable Story of Atanacio Moreno

Even for the incredibly violent years of the first half of the 1850s in Gold Rush-era Los Angeles, the story of Atanacio (sometimes given as Anastacio) Moreno stands out.  His tale, though, is one that is part factual and part suppositional, though all of it is interesting.

Moreno, a native of Sonora, Mexico, came to Los Angeles at an unknown date and established himself as a merchant.  According to Horace Bell, whose memoirs Reminiscences of a Ranger and the posthumous On the Old West Coast, have to be taken with many grains of salt, Moreno went bankrupt in August 1853.

Meanwhile, in late July, it was alleged that the famed and feared bandido, Joaquin Murrieta, was killed by a posse in San Benito County in the north.  According to two accounts of the semi-mythical Murrieta, the early months of 1853 found the bandit chieftain and his henchmen committing a series of robberies and murders in Calaveras County in the heart of California's gold fields.

At Yaqui Camp, near the town of San Andreas, an attempt was made in mid-January 1853 to round up a posse to capture Murrieta and his gang, led by Charles H. Ellis, said to have been the deputy sheriff of the county.  According to The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, a fanciful account published in 1854 and penned by Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge), Ellis (spelled Ellas in the book) only had a single volunteer

He found no one at all prepared to accompany him but a Mexican merchant in the place named Atanacio Moreno, a man who was worth money, and stood well in the community.  Unsuspected by Ellas, the man secretly belonged to the band of Joaquin Murieta, or I should rather say, to the tremendous organization that that bold chieftain had established throughout the country.  

Yellow Bird went on to state that Moreno had assisted Ellis in capturing a horse thief and supplied him with information and men and horses in other posse activities, though this was, evidently, only because Moreno had conflicts with those who were pursued.  The account went on to say that, after Moreno's assistance led to no results when it came to finding Murrieta

It became known before a great while, for a certainty, that this man was a scoundrel, and leaving the country in a few weeks after his connection with Joaquin was discovered, he joined Sena [Senate], a petty robber of some note in the south.

Meanwhile, a later account, Walter Noble Burns' The Robin Hood of El Dorado, which appeared in 1899, stated the situation with Moreno in Yaqui Camp a little differently.  While noting that Moreno was supposedly the only one to respond to Ellis' call for assistance, Burns offered some details on him:

He was an impressive looking man, tall and rather stout, a smooth and voluble talker, and of manners suave and ingratiating.  This obliging person came forward with an offer to guide the deputy sheriff to the exact spot at which Murrieta could be found.  The offer surprised Ellis but he could not doubt the good faith of so distinguished a citizen.

Burns wrote that Murrieta was standing just a few feet away incognito, while Moreno offered his assistance to Ellis and went on to note that, "Atanacio Moreno was a merchant and quite prosperous.  Also he was Murrieta's spy and secret agent and at times took personal part in the murderous crimes of the outlaws."

What followed in the account was dialogue purportedly uttered by Moreno and Ellis regarding the assistance offered by the former to the latter.  After slogging through mountains and forests for some forty miles, however, Murrieta was nowhere to be found and only then, apparently, did Ellis realize that "Moreno had made fools of them."  Evidently, Burns went on,

Moreno had need of all his eloquence and adroitness to argue them out of stringing him up to a tree, but, in the end, they gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him off with his life.  Upon his return to Yaqui Camp, Moreno hurriedly packed his effects and left for parts unknown, and was never seen in that region again.

Bell, meanwhile, only stated that Moreno's store was "the first commercial failure in Los Angeles" but does not indicate when he arrived in Los Angeles to set up shop.  Bell did write that, "Moreno was a tall, straight, fine appearing white man, belonged to the best blood of Sonora, and up to the time of his disappearance stood well in society, and was highly respected."  But, after his store collapsed, Moreno vanished.

According to Bell, a crime wave washed through Los Angeles in the last part of 1853 and that, after news of Murrieta's death reached town, fears were stoked "that the frightened bandits [from Murrieta's gang] were making their way southward."  Moreover, the animated chronicler continued, "the excitement and alarm was fearful, the city was actually in a state of siege, business was at a standstill, and so October passed and November set in."

On the evening of 7 December, Los Angeles constable (Bell wrote that he was the city marshal and indicated the incident happened months before in August) John "Jack" Wheelan, a veteran of the Mexican-American War who came to California with Stevenson's New York Regiment of volunteers and who was just elected to his position in September, went to what was called the "Sonora camp" near the zanja, or water ditch--this was almost certainly what became Sonoratown on the north end of town--to serve a warrant on the charge of murder against Gabriel (a.k.a. Jesús) Senate.  Senate stabbed Wheelan through the heart, killing the constable.

Despite a search by Sheriff James Barton, the Los Angeles Rangers citizen militia and others, Senate escaped.  The 10 December edition of the Los Angeles Star observed that "the assertion has often been made, that Sonorean thieves and murderers are harbored and assisted in our midst" and the paper charged that "circumstantial complicity" was manifested by some twenty others who stood by as Senate killed Wheelan.

The paper also reported that there was so much anger and excitement generated by Wheelam's death that there was talk of attacking "the whole mixed race" among the Sonorans, but that cooler heads prevailed, even if "a single word" might set off a mob offensive.  Typically, Horace Bell claimed that any vigilante committee action was halted because“the bad characters were evidently in the majority, and might turn out and banish the committee and their backers.”

In that same issue of 10 December, Sheriff Barton advertised for a $500 reward was offered for the delivery of Senate, either alive and brought to the county jail, "or the same price for his head, if killed, by any person attempting to arrest him."  In a 1929 book of selected diary entries of District Court Judge Benjamin Hayes, the jurist tried to prevent Barton from advertising the reward because he was concerned about vigilantes taking advantage of the situation.

A short article about the robbery and rape committed at the home of Martin and Josefa Lelong from the 28 January 1854 edition of the Los Angeles Star as reprinted in the San Francisco Alta Calfornia on 5 February.  Retrieved from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside. Click on any image to see them in enlarged views in a new window.

Still, weeks went by with no sign of Senate.  On 20 January 1854, a gang of "six Mexicans" robbed Martin Lelong of a little more than $50, as well as rings, earrings, two watches, a horse and other personal property and then raped Lelong's Californio wife, Josefa Alanís.  According to Horace Bell, who only referred to the victim as a "Frenchman" and his wife, this happened the prior November just after the robbing of the "grand opening ball" of the first brothel opened by outsiders--these being "fair and frail sisters from San Francisco."  Bell also claimed the number of robbers was a dozen, so his accuracy, as noted in this blog several times before, is to be questioned.

In any case, on the 25th, shock, surprise and delight greeted the news that Senate and Juan Burgos, alleged to have bragged that he was Joaquin Murrieta (others evidently did so throughout California), had been killed, their corpses delivered to Sheriff Barton and the bodies quickly buried.  The Star's edition of the 28th, however, noted that, while some of the story it related could be corroborated, some of it "lacks confirmation."

What then followed was the statement that Senate and Burgos, accompanied by several other men, invited four young men to join them at a dance, but actually perpetrated the outrage at Lelong's house.  After decamping to a nearby rancho, part of the gang left for other locales, leaving the four youths with Senate and Burgos.  When the latter proposed killing two Americans at the ranch, the quartet balked and, according to the story, "the four referred to, finally killed Senate and Burgos."

The response in Los Angeles was that "the death of these two villains caused universal joy to our citizens."  The paper concluded by noting that Senate and Burgos were "desirous of emulating the exploits of Joaquin."  Only later did it emerge that Atanacio Moreno was involved to the extent that he drove the wagon into town with the bodies of Senate and Burgos and claimed he had killed them—and then claimed his reward.

According to Bell, Moreno claimed he had been kidnapped by the two and that he killed them in the course of escaping.  Bell also stated that the reward was $1500, not the $500 that Barton actually advertised.

Judge Hayes, in his diary of 25 January, wrote "To-day Senate and Borghias, two assassins, are brought in dead . . . they were killed by one of their companions in the late robbery of Lelong, Atanacio Moreno, a bankrupt merchant who joined the remnants of the Murrieta gang . . . they were delivered at the jail by the stepfather of Manuel Marquez, and the reward paid."

Then, on 8 February, Moreno was arrested, as reported in the Star three days later:

Atanacio Moreno, the man who killed Senate, was arrested in this city . . . on Wednesday, he was in the act of trading in a watch, which was recognized as the one recently sold to Mr. Lelong.  Atanacio was taken before Justice Dimmick, where Mr. Lelong identified the watch, and also the shirt the prisoner had on, as the property taken by the robbers in the recent attack upon his house.  He also testified that Atanacio was a leader in that affair—that he threatened him with a drawn sword, if he made any noise, and took the watch with his own hands.

Moreno was indicted in February, remained in jail for about two months until his trial on 5 April on two indictments, one for the robbery against Lelong and another for grand larceny in the theft of a horse from the Los Angeles Rangers.  This case is one of the few in the surviving court records of the era that has a great deal of material remaining in the folder, including testimony offered at trial.  Moreno was convicted on both counts and sentenced to 10 years for the Lelong robbery and 5 years for the Rangers grand larceny.

Judge Hayes had a notable statement to make in his scrapbooks, which now reside at the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley, about Moreno:

No courts and juries may have charity for one they believe to be a criminal.  But, charity is a Heavenly feeling that cannot approve iniquity.  We may lament the fate of one who has forfeited the noble privileges of the citizen.  While we pity him in his fallen condition, we must not forget, that the interests of society need also our sympathy and our care and that they depend, for their preservation, less even upon the character of our laws, than upon the fidelity with which they are administered.

When Hayes imposed sentence on the convicted man, the judge recorded in his diary on the 5th that "he took the sentence with perfect composure."

Atanacio Moreno's registration at San Quentin State Prison, 10 April 1854.  Retrieved from Ancestry.com

On the 10th, Moreno arrived at San Quentin and was registered as prisoner 362.  The 24-year old convict listed himself as a merchant, though one indication of his other profession was indicated by the fact that he had a "scar on right leg from Gun Shot."

Yet, Moreno proved to be a model prisoner in what was nothing less than a hellhole.  In his 1859 state of the state address to the legislature, Governor John Weller had much to say about San Quentin, in terms that are not much different than what is often sad today about California's penal system and large prison popluation.

First, he noted there were nearly 600 prisoners in a facility that was built to hold half or less, stating that  "until additional buildings are provided, so as to separate these convicts and classify them, that institution must stand a disgrace to the State—a disgrace to humanity."  Moreover, he continued,

Unless something is done speedily to provide for the accommodation of this army of convicts, the Executive may be compelled to pardon some of them, with a view to their transportation beyond the State.  The law of self-preservation may compel me to throw them upon other communities.

As for pardons, Weller stated that "these petitions are oftentimes numerously signed by respectable citizens, and occasionally pressed by the streaming tears of broken-hearted kindred."  He added that he turned down 20 such cases in the past year, as well as all four of the petitions for commutations of death sentences.  Although not required to, the governor stated his reasons for using his power of the pardon, highlighting "the record in each case, closely examined, and the facts, rather than the character or number of the petitioners . . . I have neither stopped to count the number or consult public sentiment."

In these lights, Weller decided to pardon Moreno in May 1858, noting that

during that time [of incarceration--about 4 years] the officers certify that he had behaved with great propriety, and given evidence of reformation.  His conduct, prior to conviction, was bad.  I therefore pardon him, however, upon the express conditions 1. That he be placed on a vessel immediately bound for Mexico, and never return to this State. 2.  That if he land in California after he is placed on the vessel, he shall forfeit all the privileges and immunities conferred by the pardon. 3. That his friends shall execute and deliver a satisfactory bond in the sum of $3000, for the performance of these conditions . . .

The governor also noted that the petitioners claimed that the "term of conviction being extraordinary, for such an offence.  That the time of conviction was at a period when prejudice ran high, and sentences were no commensurate with offences."  It was also stated that Moreno was only 20 when sent up to prison (again, his registration shows him as 24), but that "his confinement, which has already lasted four years is, in the opinion of your petitioners, reason sufficient for the exercise of Executive clemency."

The petitioners included two trial jurors, R.D. Sheldon and Antonio Franco Coronel, Los Angeles mayor in 1853 and later a legislator and state treasurer, as well as Sanford Lyon, J.W. Halsey, Timothy Wolfskill and Francisco P. Ramirez, then proprietor of El Clamor Público, Los Angeles' Spanish-language newspaper.  Judge Hayes wrote in his diary that Moreno's mother started the petition and perhaps she lobbied for it from Mexico and had parties in Los Angeles take up her cause.

Yet, within five years of his pardon, presuming he did go to Mexico as ordered by Weller, Moreno made his way back to Los Angeles.  If his "propriety" and "evidence of reformation", as cited by the governor, were legitimate, they were not long lasting.

On 5 December 1863, during a flurry of criminal activity and a corresponding "cleaning of the calaboose" by vigilantes, who hung several men during November and December, Moreno was tried and convicted in the Court of Sessions (renamed the County Court the following year) on a charge of grand larceny for stealing a horse from Jesse Stark.  He received a sentence of ten years at San Quentin and checked in there on the 11th as prisoner 2651.  Notably, he was listed as being 39 years old, though if his age during his first term was correct, he should have been 33.

Moreno's second registration at San Quentin, 11 December 1863.  Also from Ancestry.com.

While Horace Bell wrote that Moreno was again pardoned in 1867, this was not true.  His second San Quentin registration shows that Moreno was discharged in February 1872, after serving a little over 8 years.

Not long after Moreno's release from his second stint in prison, Star publisher Benjamin C. Truman wrote of early Los Angeles crimes and told a version of the Moreno story that may have been fed to him by Bell or vice-versa.  As reprinted in an 1889 Los Angeles County history, Truman's version stated that "Luis Bulvia [Burgos]" was a lieutenant of Murrieta, who drifted south after Joaquin was killed and brought "a remnant of Murrietta's gang."  In Los Angeles, then "they were joined by Atanacio Moreno, a bankrupt merchant, who in the reorganization of the party was elected captain, Senati being a member of the same."

Truman repeated the story of the migrant prostitutes and their party, though he wrote that it was in 1854, which would square with the Lelong incident.  In Truman's telling, though, "Moreno, with his gang, numbering eighteen men, swopped down upon the scene . . . and relieved every man and woman of all the valuables they had about them."  They then proceeded to Lelong's house "and robbed it of the most thorough and systematic manner; after which they committed an outrage too horrible for recital."

Truman added more robberies of "several houses" and claimed the gang "carried off a number of Mexican girls," incidents not stated at the time.  Then "a deputy city marshal" was killed by "Senati" and a $1500 reward offered for the murderer, dead or alive.  Later, the city jailer was greeted by Moreno with the dead bodies of "Bulvia" and "Senati," though again, the reports in the paper stated that it was another man who delivered the corpses.

But, then, after Moreno received the reward, this account continued, Moreno "was the lion of the town, and lived royally upon his blood-money."  When he went to the store of Charles Ducommun, however,and tried to sell Lelong's watch, the merchant went to the Los Angeles Rangers and Moreno was arrested by Marshal William Getman.

Truman then offered details not previously reported about how Moreno killed Burgos and Senate, stating that "he and Senati were left along in camp, all the other members of the gang having left on a scout.  While Senati was cleaning his saddle, Moreno blew his brains out."  Before Moreno could get Senate's corpse ready for transport to Los Angeles, Burgos heard the short and "returned to camp and asked the meaning of it.  Moreno told him that Senati's pistol had gone off accidentally."  When Burgos asked where Senate was and Moreno informed him that Senate was asleep, Burgos lifted a blanket covering the dead man's face, at which "Moreno completed his murderous work by plunging a sword blade through his heart!"

Another interesting tidbit offered in the 1889 history was that "the bodies of Senati and Bulvia were buried on Mariposa Hill, where they were disinterred in 1886 when exacavations were made for the present county jail.  Their bones were carted to the city's dumping grounds."

Horace Bell, however, claimed that Moreno was "tempted by cupidity," whatever that means, and that Senate was killed first by the sword and then Burgos shot.  The noise brought three other gang members to the camp were they were "treacherously murdered in detail," though Bell left out those details!  He also claimed that Moreno confessed to being the captain of the bandit band, with Senate and Burgos being his lieutenants and that he led the raids on the brothel and the home of the Lelongs.  Moreover, Bell asserted that Moreno attempted an escape from San Quentin with a San Francisco forger "but disgracefully failed, and [they] were severely punished."

Not only are these statements totally uncorroborated or false--Governor Weller's pardon makes it clear that Moreno was well-behaved while behind bars at San Quentin.  If there had been any escape attempt in 1855, a pardon three years or less from then would clearly have been impossible.  And, of course, Bell's assertion that Moreno received a second pardon in 1867 is another indication of how Bell's talent for a good story has to be measured by what else can be learned about the stories!

As for Moreno, he disappeared after his second release from prison in early 1872 and was lost to history, but his tale is one of the more interesting ones in a fascinating era of early American-era Los Angeles' criminal justice history.