The Bandit

By Fred Klein

A rider came through the nightly mist up the deer path to the hillside campsite. An armed guard challenged the rider. 

“Stop, who are you?”

“I am Miquel from Anaheim. I seek the great bandit, Pedro Ortez,” said Miquel.

The guard replied, “Why do you seek him?”

“I have a message from Maria.”

“He is by the fire. Pedro is the short one, and Jose is the tall one.”

Pedro Ortez sat looking at the campfire in the hills above Rancho San Peralta with his partner, Jose Sanchez. The smoke was bothering his eyes, so he turned away. These two were leaders of the Ortez-Sanchez Gang of bandits that frequented the Northern California and the Southern California areas. 

The rider approached, so Pedro pulled out his pistol. He asks,

“What do you want?”

“Maria said she will meet you outside of town tomorrow, and all looks well,” said Miquel.

The rider left and rode back down the hill.

“So, what time shall we attack Anaheim?” said Pancho. 

“Tomorrow after my girl, Maria, lets me know which stores are best to plunder,” replied Juan. 

“I have heard that Anaheim is rich from supplying the cattle to San Francisco for the gold miners.”

“The Americanos steal our land and its gold and accuse us of being thieves. I was from a well-known family, but the Americanos looked down on us, and they accused me of being a horse thief when I was young and sent me to jail. So, I had to become a bandit.”

“We will show them tomorrow. We will show no mercy!”

The next morning, Pedro and Jose rode toward Anaheim with twenty other gang members. They met up with Maria. The town was small, with few buildings aside from the stores on the main street. There was no sheriff in the town, only a group of vigilantes.

“The stores of an Austrian man and a German man are rich with gold coins and supplies; I will lead you to them,” said Maria.

“Thank you, my sweet one. You are always a great help to me,” said Pedro.

They forced their way into the Austrian man’s butcher shop and put a Colt revolver into his face.

Surrender your gold and goods to me, or we will shoot,” demands Juan.

A store assistant grabbed for a rifle, and Juan wounded him.

“The next time, I will kill,” says Juan. 

Chola and Juan’s men emptied out the store of its gold coins and large amounts of butchered beef. They rode their horses and pack mules with the plunder to their camp in the hills near Santiago Creek. The next day, they rode back into Anaheim and attacked the German man’s hardware store. They confronted the store owner with a pistol.

“Give me your gold and supplies, or I shoot,” yelled Juan.

The owner pulled out a pistol and fired at Pedro. Then Pedro shot and killed him. They emptied out that store of its guns, ammunition, and nearby stores of their wares. Then they ransacked the town. They got drunk and attacked anyone near them in town. Finally, they left the next day and rode off into the hills. When riders from Anaheim reached Los Angeles with the news, the whole town was incensed. The two riders had different stories of what had happened. Either the gang had six or ten men, were heavily or lightly armed, and they robbed a store or burned the town. The only thing they agreed on was that the leader wore black leather, a black hat, and a had black horse.

“We have got to do something; these Californios are getting out of hand. We have got to kill these bandits,” said the town leader.

Sheriff Smith addressed the crowd and said, 

“I will lead a posse to apprehend these bandits.” 

Smith gathered six deputies and headed southeast toward Anaheim. They spent the night at the hacienda of Don Pablo Peralta, who owned the Rancho Peralta.

“You do not have enough men to confront the Ortez-Sanchez Gang,” said Peralta

“Are you trying to protect these bandits? We have enough good men to take down any gang,” said Smith.

“They have at least twenty or more men,” said Peralta

“And most of them will flee once they know we are on their trail,” replied Smith.

The next day, Maria, who worked at the Peralta ranch, warned Pedro that the posse was nearby. 

She said, “The sheriff is overconfident and only brought six men with him.”

The gang ambushed the posse several miles out of Peralta ranch. The bandits hid behind rocks and fired on the posse, killing Smith and four of his deputies. Two barely escaped on horseback to Los Angeles. 

Pedro stood over the body of Smith and yelled, 

“So, you thought you could defeat Ortez with only seven men. Even with a hundred, you could not capture me.” 

Pedro went back to his camp in the hills to enjoy his riches. 

When the survivors of the posse got back to Los Angeles, there was a great uproar. 

“How could bandits defeat a posse of seven men? Ortez must have spies and confederates in the Californio community,” screamed the excited crowds. 

The Vigilantes arrested many Californios. This time, vigilantes from Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Bernardino gathered together to make a large posse. To combat accusations and violence against the Californios, Pablo Peralta and Tomas Vincente, wealthy landowners, and their vaqueros joined the posse with the others. Now, over one hundred men were after the Ortez-Sanchez Gang. 

This time, the gang had no advanced warning about the new posse. The posse caught up with the gang at their Santiago Hills hideout. 

Peralta said, “Surrender your weapons; you are surrounded.”

Ortez said, “Never!”

A gunfight occurred for most of an hour. It looked hopeless for the bandits. Meanwhile, Sanchez said to Ortez, 

“While they are firing at our camp, we can escape northward through the mountains.”  

They left their men and took off through the mountains. Eventually, the few surviving gang members who were not already dead surrendered. 

Questioning the survivors, Peralta asked, 

Where are Ortez and Sanchez?”

“They left us during the fighting. That way,” he said, pointing north.

The Anaheim posse then headed them off in the mountains and captured the two bandit leaders. The bandits were taken to a small house and tied up. A guard was posted at the entrance. 

Ortez whispered to Sanchez, “I have a small blade that they did not find. I will cut the ropes, and we can escape in the evening.”

 They knifed the guard and crept out into the woods undetected.

The Anaheim group was made to look foolish, so they arrested eighty-three local Californios and accused them of being accomplices, and many were lynched. Maria was also arrested.

This time, Peralta raised a posse of over one hundred thirty, and finally, the two bandit leaders were apprehended near San Diego.

Both bandits were given a lengthy trial, but the outcome was preordained. Many vigilantes accused the two of leaders of leading an insurrection against American Rule and that all Californios should be on trial. Pico and Sanchez had to assure authorities that this was not the case and even appeal to the governor to calm things down and avoid another war. Both were found guilty of theft and murder. Ortez was hanged on November 28, 1860, and Sanchez was hanged on November 29, 1860.

At his hanging, Flores spoke his last words, “I was made a criminal by you Americanos, and you got what you expected of me!”

Then the trap door opened, and the rope pulled taut.

To the Americanos, Pedro Ortez was a typical outlaw of the gold rush era. To the Californios, he was considered a local hero who was fighting against the oppression of the Americanos.

Fred Klein is the author of the novel Memoirs of a Road Warrior. He is a member of the Southern California Writers Association, OC Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. His short stories have been published in various journals. You can see his website at humorousbook.wordpress.com.