In the spring of 1852, California's gold country had one name on its lips,

Waukeen. The bandit, Waukeen Murietta, and his gang of cutthroats

had been marauding the countryside for a solid year.

In that time, they had collected tens of thousands of dollars

worth of gold and horses, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. What's more, it was rumored that many of the people who had found

themselves dispatched by Waukeen were not when they did not recognize him. He wasn't just robbing, he was hunting. But recognizing

Waukein Murietta was no easy thing. The bandit prided himself on being a master of disguise. His first

biographer, John Yellowbird Roland Ridge, explained that while pillaging mining camps and robbing the highways

quote he had worn different disguises and was actually disguised the most when he

showed his real features no man who'd met him on the highway would

be apt to recognize him in the cities. He frequently stood very unconcernedly in

a crowd and listened to long and earnest conversations in relation to himself and

laughed in his sleeve at the many conjectures that were made as to his whereabouts and

intentions and quote. whereabouts and

The most famous bandit in California was also a mystery.

He could move undetected through busy towns and quietly laughed to himself as people gossiped about his latest exploits. By 1852, this kind of anonymity was essential if Waquin Murietta was going to stay alive.

By this point there was a bounty on his head and many men were keen to collect it. But we're told that the fearless Waukeen scoffed at this.

Roland Ridge tells us that the first time Murrieta came across a poster advertising a $5,000 bounty,

he grabbed a pencil and wrote underneath it, quote,

I will give 10,000, end quote,

and signed it, Joaquin.

This was Murietta's style, or at least this was the mythical Murrieta's style.

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