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Memoir 1, Page 126, Murrell and Joaquin

"With the same propriety, Murrell or Joaquin might have compelled honest men to perform their bloody deeds"

John A. Murrell (1806-1844) operated around the Mississippi River and was known for stealing horses and slaves. In 1835, a likely fictitious pamphlet was released that claimed Murrell was among a group of highwayman and Northern abolitionists who were planning a slave insurrection. This account sparked nervousness among slaveholders, leading in some places to hangings of suspected slaves and white sympathizers.

Joaquin Murrieta (1829-1853) was a Mexican patriot active in horse trading and banditry in California during the gold rush of the 1850s. As with Murrell, much of the legend surrounding Murrieta is a point of debate. Some sources say that his actions against the white and Chinese settlers of the West were acts of revenge aimed at those who had beaten him and raped his wife during their stay at a Californian gold mining camp; however, other sources suggest that he was motivated by the loss and growing white domination of a previously Mexican territory.