Flores Daniel Gang
Encyclopedia
Flores Daniel Gang, was an outlaw gang also known as "las Manillas" (the Handcuffs), throughout Southern California
during 1856-1857. It was led by Californio
's and Pancho Daniel
. Contemporary newspaper accounts of las Manillas all reported that the leader of las Manillas was originally Pancho Daniel
, but that Juan Flores
assumed the leadership role after Daniel was injured in the Barton ambush. According to the contemporary account of Harris Newmark
, Flores had been sent to prison for horse-stealing and was just another member of the gang.
, Juan Sepúlveda
and Tomas Avila Sanchez
all of whom later participated in the capture of Flores.
and a posse of Deputies William H. Little, Charles K. Baker, Charles T. Daly and three other well-armed men, set out to capture the gang. The posse headed south, resting for the night, before stopping for breakfast at the main house of the Rancho San Joaquin
southwest of the present-day Santa Ana
. Don José Antonio Andres Sepúlveda, the ranch owner warned the men that they were extremely outnumbered and should get reinforcements before continuing their pursuit. However, Barton and his men ignored the warning and continued on.
After traveling a further 12 miles south, they were ambushed in the Barranco de los Alisos. Sheriff Barton, Constable Charles Baker, Deputy Charles Daly, and Constable William Little were shot and killed in the ambush or while escaping pursuit, the first lawmen in Los Angeles County to lose their lives in the line of duty. The other three men were able to escape pursuit to tell of the ambush. Within two hours, another posse was formed of some 60 men, who once again went after the outlaws. Under the leadership of James Thompson, who would later become Los Angeles County's new sheriff, the posse found the bodies of the four officers.
The bodies of the Sheriff and his posse were recovered by a special party sent out on horseback, escorting several wagons filled with coffins for the purpose and the bodies returned to the city. Harris Newmark described the reception of the bodies and the funeral:
ranchers, Manuel Cota the Temecula leader of 43 Luiseño scouts, the Monte Rangers former Texas Rangers
and members of the vigilante gang the "El Monte Boys". Posses from San Bernardino
and San Diego and Federal troops from Fort Tejon and San Diego also participated in the manhunt. A large group of the gang were discovered by the Luiseño scouts in their hideout in the Sierra de Santiago
. A posse led by the Californios Andres Pico
and Tomas Avila Sanchez
, surrounded and apprehended them, however Pancho Daniel and Flores himself managed to escape northward through the mountains. The Monte Rangers moving to cut off escapees, captured Flores and Pancho Daniel after a shootout, but they managed to free themselves and escape that night.
After eleven days on the run, Flores was brought in by a 120-man posse led by Andres Pico. With "practically every man, woman and child present in the pueblo", numbering an estimated 3,000 people, Flores was tried at a public meeting for murder, condemned by vote and hanged near the top of Fort Hill
in what would later be present-day downtown Los Angeles
on February 14, 1857; Addressing the crowd from the scaffold, he stated "he bore no malice, was dying justly, and that he hoped that those he had wronged would forgive him". When his execution was carried out, his noose being too short, Flores instead died from suffocation instead of having his neck broken as intended.
Meanwhile numbers ranging from fifty to seventy Mexican-Americans were arrested on having connections with Flores and between February 1857 and November 1858, eleven others suspected of being members of the Flores gang were lynched, mostly by the "El Monte Boys", two by Pio Pico. According to historian John Boessenecker, only four of these men were confirmed as members of the gang.
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
during 1856-1857. It was led by Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
's and Pancho Daniel
Pancho Daniel
Pancho Daniel was a Californio bandit, leader of the Flores Daniel Gang who was lynched in November 1858 while awaiting trial for his involvement in the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff James R. Barton....
. Contemporary newspaper accounts of las Manillas all reported that the leader of las Manillas was originally Pancho Daniel
Pancho Daniel
Pancho Daniel was a Californio bandit, leader of the Flores Daniel Gang who was lynched in November 1858 while awaiting trial for his involvement in the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff James R. Barton....
, but that Juan Flores
Juan Flores
Juan Flores was a 19th century Californio bandit who, with Pancho Daniel, led an outlaw gang known as "las Manillas" and later as the Flores Daniel Gang, throughout Southern California during 1856-1857...
assumed the leadership role after Daniel was injured in the Barton ambush. According to the contemporary account of Harris Newmark
Harris Newmark
Harris Newmark was a Prussian-American businessman, philanthropist, and historian. Born in Löbau in Province of Saxony Newmark emigrated to the United States in 1853, sailed from Europe to New York City to San Francisco, and finally settled in Los Angeles...
, Flores had been sent to prison for horse-stealing and was just another member of the gang.
las Manillas
After leaving prison, Juan Flores joined with Pancho Daniel and a dozen or so ranch hands, miners and other Angelinos such as Anastasio García, Jesus Espinosa, Andrés Fontes, Chino Varelas, Faustino García, Juan Cartabo and "One-eyed" Piguinino among others. Subsequently, Daniel, Flores and their "los Manilas" gained a following among the Mexican-American population in the San Luis Obispo and San Juan Capistrano areas with his numbers growing to fifty men. One of the largest gangs in the state, "los Manilas" terrorized the San Luis Obispo County and Los Angeles County for the next two years, primarily stealing horses and cattle to sell in Mexico and conducted raids against American settlers homesteads in the area committing armed robbery and murder. Due in part to attention by newspapers, opposition to what became known as the "Flores Revolution" began to take form by public officials and law enforcement as well as upper-class Californios such as Andrés PicoAndrés Pico
Andrés Pico was a Californio who became a successful rancher, served as a military commander during the Mexican-American War; and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state, when he was also commissioned as a brigadier general in the state militia.-Early...
, Juan Sepúlveda
Juan Sepulveda
Juan Sepulveda was an early California politician and pioneer in Los Angeles.Juan Capistrano Sepulveda was a son of Jose Dolores Sepulveda . He served on the third Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1854 for the 3rd District. The County Supervisors in 1854 were David W. Alexander,...
and Tomas Avila Sanchez
Tomas Avila Sanchez
Tomas Avila Sanchez , Californio soldier and public official. He served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and served as Los Angeles County Sheriff.-Biography:...
all of whom later participated in the capture of Flores.
Raid on San Juan Capistrano
In late-December 1856 or early-January 1857, Flores attempted to pursue and rob a wagon traveling from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano. Missing the wagon somewhere on the road, Flores instead led a group of outlaws on a raid against San Juan Capistrano looting the shop of a local Russian-Polish merchant Michael Krazewski. Wounding a store assistant, they carried nearly all the goods in the store on two horses promising to return to the town. The next day, Flores made another raid on the town in which German shopkeeper George Pflugardt was murdered and several stores were looted. They had been after an informant who had previously testified against him for horse stealing years earlier and, when the man was able to escape before their arrival, they proceeded to loot the town and spent the night "in drunken revelry" until leaving sometime around 2:00 am.Barton Ambush
On January 22, 1857, after authorities in Los Angeles were alerted of the incident, Sheriff James R. BartonJames R. Barton
James R. Barton was the second sheriff of Los Angeles County, California, and the first to die in office, in the line of duty.Barton was born in Howard County, Missouri, emigrated to Mexico in 1841 and moved to Los Angeles in 1843. He served in the Mexican-American War. A carpenter, he was the...
and a posse of Deputies William H. Little, Charles K. Baker, Charles T. Daly and three other well-armed men, set out to capture the gang. The posse headed south, resting for the night, before stopping for breakfast at the main house of the Rancho San Joaquin
Rancho San Joaquin
Rancho San Joaquin, the combined Rancho Cienega de las Ranas and Rancho Bolsa de San Joaquin, was a Mexican land grant in present day Orange County, California given to José Antonio Andres Sepúlveda...
southwest of the present-day Santa Ana
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
. Don José Antonio Andres Sepúlveda, the ranch owner warned the men that they were extremely outnumbered and should get reinforcements before continuing their pursuit. However, Barton and his men ignored the warning and continued on.
After traveling a further 12 miles south, they were ambushed in the Barranco de los Alisos. Sheriff Barton, Constable Charles Baker, Deputy Charles Daly, and Constable William Little were shot and killed in the ambush or while escaping pursuit, the first lawmen in Los Angeles County to lose their lives in the line of duty. The other three men were able to escape pursuit to tell of the ambush. Within two hours, another posse was formed of some 60 men, who once again went after the outlaws. Under the leadership of James Thompson, who would later become Los Angeles County's new sheriff, the posse found the bodies of the four officers.
The bodies of the Sheriff and his posse were recovered by a special party sent out on horseback, escorting several wagons filled with coffins for the purpose and the bodies returned to the city. Harris Newmark described the reception of the bodies and the funeral:
- ... when the remains were received in Los Angeles on Sunday about noon, the city at once went into mourning. All business was suspended, and the impressive burial ceremonies, conducted on Monday, were attended by the citizens en masse.
Pursuit, Capture and deaths of Gang members
Barton's death caused a backlash against outlaw violence in the region. Members of Flores' gang were hunted down in Los Angeles and authorities organized a Los Angeles posse that included 51 American merchants and CalifornioCalifornio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
ranchers, Manuel Cota the Temecula leader of 43 Luiseño scouts, the Monte Rangers former Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
and members of the vigilante gang the "El Monte Boys". Posses from San Bernardino
San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California is a large city in the Inland Empire Metropolitan Area of Southern California.San Bernardino may also refer to:-Landforms:*San Bernardino , a torrent that flows through the Italian province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola...
and San Diego and Federal troops from Fort Tejon and San Diego also participated in the manhunt. A large group of the gang were discovered by the Luiseño scouts in their hideout in the Sierra de Santiago
Santa Ana Mountains
The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 36 mi southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.- Geography :The range starts in the...
. A posse led by the Californios Andres Pico
Andrés Pico
Andrés Pico was a Californio who became a successful rancher, served as a military commander during the Mexican-American War; and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state, when he was also commissioned as a brigadier general in the state militia.-Early...
and Tomas Avila Sanchez
Tomas Avila Sanchez
Tomas Avila Sanchez , Californio soldier and public official. He served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and served as Los Angeles County Sheriff.-Biography:...
, surrounded and apprehended them, however Pancho Daniel and Flores himself managed to escape northward through the mountains. The Monte Rangers moving to cut off escapees, captured Flores and Pancho Daniel after a shootout, but they managed to free themselves and escape that night.
After eleven days on the run, Flores was brought in by a 120-man posse led by Andres Pico. With "practically every man, woman and child present in the pueblo", numbering an estimated 3,000 people, Flores was tried at a public meeting for murder, condemned by vote and hanged near the top of Fort Hill
Fort Hill
Fort Hill is a hill overlooking downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, where military fortifications were built during the American Civil War to protect the city and its pro-Union state government....
in what would later be present-day downtown Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on February 14, 1857; Addressing the crowd from the scaffold, he stated "he bore no malice, was dying justly, and that he hoped that those he had wronged would forgive him". When his execution was carried out, his noose being too short, Flores instead died from suffocation instead of having his neck broken as intended.
Meanwhile numbers ranging from fifty to seventy Mexican-Americans were arrested on having connections with Flores and between February 1857 and November 1858, eleven others suspected of being members of the Flores gang were lynched, mostly by the "El Monte Boys", two by Pio Pico. According to historian John Boessenecker, only four of these men were confirmed as members of the gang.
Members of the Gang and their fate
According to Harris Newmark, practically all of the band, were eventually captured. In all, some fifty-two culprits were brought to Los Angeles and lodged in jail. Of that number eleven were lynched or legally hung.- Juan Flores, According to Newmark, was twenty-one years of age at the time of his death in 1857. In 1856, he had been sent to prison for horse-stealing. He was just another member of the gang and was caught on the top of a peak in the Santiago range, according to Newmark. Condemned by vote at a public meeting, Juan Flores was hanged on February 14th, 1857, in Los Angeles up on Fort HillFort HillFort Hill is a hill overlooking downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, where military fortifications were built during the American Civil War to protect the city and its pro-Union state government....
. Subsequently Flores has been proposed as having a more prominent role in the gang. According to Horace Bell, Flores was the leader of the gang and Daniel his lieutenant.
- Silvas, Captured by Andres Pico and his party after a hard fight along with Ardillero, and hung on a tree, at the spot where they had tried to assassinate Pico and his companions, according to Newmark.
- Ardillero, hung along with Silvas by Andres Pico and his party.
- Miguel Blanco, who had stabbed the militiaman, Captain W. W. Twist, in order to rob him of a thousand dollars, was also condemned by vote at a public meeting, and hanged in Los Angeles at the same time that Flores was executed.
- Jesus Espinosa, according to Newmark, member of the band, for a while with Lopez, eluded their pursuers but both were caught at San Buenaventura and on the following morning, Espinosa was lynched.
- Lopez, according to Newmark, member of the band, for a while with Espinosa, eluded their pursuers but both were caught at San BuenaventuraSan BuenaventuraSan Buenaventura is a town and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila.It is located at , in the state's central region .There were 19,986 inhabitants in 2000.-External links:*...
. However, unlike Espinoza, Lopez escaped and eluded pursuit until February 16th when he was recaptured and lynched.
- Luciano Tapía, Condemned by vote at a public meeting, executed in Los Angeles February 16th, 1857. According to Newmark, "Tapía's case was rather regrettable, for he had been a respectable laborer at San Luis Obispo until Flores, meeting him, persuaded him to abandon honest work. Tapía came to Los Angeles, joined the robber band and was one of those who helped to kill Sheriff Barton."
- Thomas King, Condemned by vote at a public meeting, executed in Los Angeles with Luciano Tapia, February 16th, 1857, according to Newmark.
- According to Newmark, three or four of Daniels's and Flores's band were captured and lynched in Little San Gabriel by a posse led by Deputy Sheriff J. F. Burns.
- Pancho Daniel managed to escape to the north, and was eventually captured in Santa Clara CountySanta Clara County, CaliforniaSanta Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, in January 1858, and brought to Los Angeles to await trial. On 30 November 1858, a group of citizens of Los Angeles County gathered at the Los Angeles jail where Daniel was being held, dissatisfied with the delay in bringing Daniel to justice. Obtaining the keys from the jail keeper by force, some individuals brought Daniel out and hanged him from the cross beam of the jail gate. At the inquest, the judge returned a verdict of 'death from strangulation, by a crowd of persons to the jury unknown'.
- Andrés Fontes, The last surviving member of the Flores Daniel Gang, was believed to have instigated the events leading to the shooting death of Barton and his party due to a personal disagreement with Sheriff Barton. Fontes was reportedly killed in Baja CaliforniaBaja California PeninsulaThe Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
by its military frontier governor Feliciano Ruiz de Esparza along with Salomon PicoSalomon PicoSalomon Maria Simeon Pico was a Californio, the cousin of Pío Pico, who led a bandit band in the early years of the California Gold Rush in the counties of the central coast of California. Considered by Mexicans as a patriot who opposed the American conquest of Alta California from Mexico and...
and thirteen other men wanted in California.