records, would seem to be a very clear one, respecting which no blame could be imputed to Victoria; yet so bitter was the feeling against that official, that the execution has been almost uniformly regarded by Californians as a judicial murder, stamping Victoria as a blood-thirsty monster. The only reason for this strange belief, in addition to the popular feeling fostered by Vallejo and his friends, was the generally credited rumor that after Rubio's death an Indian confessed that he had committed the crime for which the innocent soldier had suffered. I am unable to say positively that this rumor, so confidently presented as truth by dozens of witnesses, was unfounded; but it may be noted that most persons speak indefinitely of the guilty Indian; that the few who venture on details of name, place, and date differ widely in such particulars; and finally that the later confession, if perfectly authentic, has no possible bearing on Victoria's action.[1]
Abel Stearns, an American but a naturalized citizen of Mexico, who had been in California since
- ↑ Besides being a partisan of Padrés in the general controversy, Vallejo had a personal grievance, arising from the fact that Victoria had condemned him to 8 days' arrest for insubordination in refusing to serve as fiscal in another case. Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 18-19. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 140-7, says that he as prosecuting attorney informed Victoria that the signatures of the witnesses against Rubio were forgeries; that he and Padrés offered to aid Rubio to escape, but he refused; that the execution was an outrage; and that the real culprit confessed the crime in 1833. Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 171, 183, iv. 81, regards the prosecution as a conspiracy against Rubio; and both he and Vallejo state that great reverses of fortune overtook Lieut Martinez at the time of Rubio's death, and were commonly regarded as divine punishments. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 165-72, gives some particulars, more pathetic than probable, of the execution, and tells us that 6 or 7 years later Vallejo at Sonoma learned that Roman, a neophyte of S. Rafael, had committed the crime, and sent Sergt Piña to shoot him. Gabriel Castro in 1876 gave one of my agents a narrative in which I put no confidence, with minute details of the arrest and confession of Roman at S. Francisco, where he died in prison of syphilis. Ignacio Cibrian also gave a somewhat different version. In the evidence it appeared that a little brother of the victims said that a fierce coyote had come and killed the children; and Amador, Mem., MS., 122-6, implies that Rubio's nickname of 'Coyote' was the main ground of his accusation. J. J. Vallejo, Remin., MS., 112, tells us that Victoria was moved by the counsels of the padres and by his hatred of Padrés, who protected Rubio. The versions of Pinto, Pico, Weeks, Torre, and Galindo need no special notice. None doubt that Rubio was the victim of Victoria's oppression.
