Question

In fact, there was no justice at all for some Mexican Americans. Using pages 174 - 176, "Hanged as Suspects," describe the incident from the newspaper article from 1857 in California. Include relevant details.

Answer 1

The Mexican-American War of 1848 resulted in a victory of the Americans over the Mexicans and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico had to part with the territory of Alta California which was annexed by the USA. This event coincided with the beginning of the Californian Gold Rush.

Although the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised American citizenship to the Spanish-speaking people of California, these Californios had to face great injustice at the hands of Anglo-Americans who started flooding the territory during the Gold Rush. The Californios were acquainted with the latest methods of mining gold that they had successfully employed in their country. They taught these methods to the Anglo-Americans who soon attempted to displace the Spanish-speaking community through the use of violence.The American judicial system took no steps for the protection of the Hispanic community. Lynching of Mexicans in the mines were frequent and Mexican-Americans were barred from providing testimony in a court of law. The unfair lynching of a Mexican woman called Junaita received widespread attention.

The persecution of Mexican-Americans was not limited to the gold mines. The newspaper report "Hanged as Suspects", which was published in the El Clamor Publico newspaper in 1857, describes a ghastly event in which Mexican-Americans were persecuted in San Gabriel,California. The event is described below.

For a period of three months in the year 1857, a group of highway robbers who were suspected to be of Mexican descent had robbed innocent people in the outskirts of the city of San Gabriel, California.The authorities were reluctant to intervene because the victims could not provide any kind of evidence in support of their convictions. In such a scenario, a number of Anglo-American people formed a vigilante group to avenge the wrongdoings of the Mexican-American highwaymen. These vigilante groups were commonplace in mid-19th century California and they were known to be severe in their treatment of the Spanish-speaking Californios.

The group randomly captured Mexican-Americans in the vicinity of the Mission of San Gabriel and subjected them to humiliating interrogation.Two of these people, who were frightened when the leader of the vigilante group drew his pistol, began running away. One of them was shot down mercilessly while the other managed to hide himself in the rushes. The members of the Committee were in no mood to relent. They set fire to the marsh and soon the other man was dead. Death did not bring him relief. The corpse was dragged into the Mission of San Gabriel and then beheaded. In a show of unimaginable brutality, a dagger was thrust into the dead body. The severed head was kicked around and treated with great indignity. The mob rejoiced over this horrifying display.

To add insult to injury, another group of people arrived from a different place with two Californios who were suspected of being highwaymen. There was no sound basis for this assumption. The men had been arrested when they were going to work in the morning. The self-proclaimed judge who had decapitated the unfortunate Mexican appeared in the scene. He hanged the two Californios from a nearby tree without any trial whatsoever. Their corpses too were treated with great derision. The inanimate bodies were riddled with bullets and then mutilated with a knife. It is worth noting that the self-proclaimed judge was not a savage brute but a "civilized" Anglo-American. He was the Justice of the Peace of San Gabriel.

Later, two other Mexicans were found hanging from a tree and another was found with two bullets in his head. These events illustrate how the Mexican-Americans in California had to endure great injustice and were not even granted the opportunity of defending themselves in a fair trial.