User:Asiaticus/sandbox/Three Fingered Jack (California outlaw)

Three Fingered Jack was the nickname given to one of the outlaws killed at the Battle of the Cantua, while resisting arrest by the California Rangers during their shootout with what they believed were members of the Five Joaquin Gang at Murrieta Spring at the Arroyo Cantua on July 25, 1853. One man they killed shooting him in the head, was one that was distinguished by a missing finger. One of the two men captured in the incident may have identified the dead man as Tres Dedos (Three Fingers). They cut off the hand and his head and with the head of another man they killed, believed to be Joaquin Murrieta, they rode with the heads and hand to Fort Miller in the summer heat. Three Fingered Jack's head, shot through in the fight had rotted rapidly in the summer heat of the San Joaquin Valley and could not be preserved in alcohol as the other head and Jack's hand were. The Rangers later claimed that his real name was Manuel Garcia.

References

• Frank F. Latta, Joaquin Murrieta and His Horse Gangs, Bear State Books. Santa Cruz, California. 1980. xv,685 pages. Illustrated with numerous photos. Index. Photographic front end-papers.
• Seacrest, Man from the Rio Grande

Category:Criminals from California]] Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States]] Category:People of the California Gold Rush]] Category:Year of birth uncertain]] Category:1853 deaths]] Category:Outlaws of the American Old West]] Category:Five Joaquins Gang]]