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The Rise of Tiburcio
Tiburcio may not have frequented El Dorado St. that much - if ever, but his name was certainly in the newspapers, and El Dorado's sporting men and women avidly followed his adventures therein. Once more I defer to a restaurant placemat for my text (WAVES Smokehouse and Saloon):

""California's Most Wanted Man," Tiburcio Vasquez, was born in Monterey, August 11, 1835. His incredibly good looks and seductive personality made him quite the ladies man of that era. His retaliation in response to the actions against his people made him a hero to the Mexicans. Because of his "outlaw" actions and his massive sex appeal, Tiburcio Vasquez was certainly California's Most Wanted Man." (Ok, this paragraph may be just a tad over the top.)

When California was ceded to the U.S. following the Mexican American War, and as the Americanos began to take over, the original Californians began to whisper their discontent over their mistreatment and disregard of their human rights. Not Tiburcio - he was outraged! He rustled, robbed and even murdered for most of his adult life, trying to raise enough money to recruit enough arms and men to revolutionize Southern California and take back his people's land!"
These are mighty fine motives, and perhaps true, but it has also been reported he had a "propensity" for evil. As a youth he was described as a "pale, wild and harum-scarum boy."

"Tiburcio's tragic mistake was romancing Rosaria Leiva, the wife of fellow gang member Abdon Leiva. He certainly didn't have to. He had lovers in every town he traveled through. By 1874, after eluding the law for years, the price on Tiburcio's head had risen to $8000."

"Obviously fearing capture, and with hatred toward Tiburcio increasing. Abdon turned himself in and supplied the government with information on all of the secret hideout the Vasquez Gang used, spanning from Salinas to San Diego."

Joel Parker, intellectual vagabond and seer, adds,
"I don't think Tiburcio was like Don Diego, the folk hero bandito - Elfego Baca's alter ego - AKA "Zorro," the noble do-gooder of Spanish Old California who revolted against the rule of newcomer Yankees."

"Tiburcio was not a robin hood-like hero who gave to the poor; he was the outlaw who kept all his booty, and murdered his victims (especially Yanquis, but he was by no means alone among Californios who detested the Anglos [showing up in numbers with the 1849 Gold Rush & staying]) and was an altogether bad hombre."

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