San Juan Capistrano Outlaw

Probably the most notorious aspects of the Old West were the frequent occurrences of banditry and violence, carried out by outlaws and cattle rustlers who thrived in an era of relative lawlessness, all made possible by life out on the frontier. Throughout the Mexican period, and well into statehood, small towns throughout California fell prey to a host of colorful thieves and bandits, out to make trouble and a quick buck. San Juan Capistrano was no different.

The most infamous incident to occur here in San Juan Capistrano is known as the “Juan Flores Uprising” of January 1857, when a young horse thief, recently escaped from prison, raided the town and brought it to a standstill.

Continuous robberies and harassments by bands of outlaws caused some of the biggest problems for western settlers, but it is tough to pinpoint exactly what motivated them. Precitos Canyon Hangman's Tree offers a few possible explanations, most stemming from the arrival of white settlers who typically treated the native-born Californios with racial disdain:

“The Californio outlaws might have believed they were avenging the conquest of California by not only lashing out against the gringos who had forced their way into their culture, but also against the rancheros who had let the gringos in without a fight. Or the creation of the bandit class might have been the result of the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and the lack of social and economic mobility. Perhaps it had something to do with the reassertion of masculinity by men who had been forced into peonage, whose women were coveted by gringos in a place where white women were scarce, and who needed an identity of their own.”

All seem to be plausible explanations and it was probably varying degrees of each of these factors that gave rise to the bandits.

What we know for certain about Juan Flores’ origins is that he was born in Santa Barbara in 1835 to a family that was well respected by the community. While it is unsure what exactly drove Flores to a life of crime, Chris Enss asserts in Outlaw Tales of California, that the Flores’ were probably a family of struggling farmers and that Juan aspired to a life of greater affluence. Moreover, “he was not opposed to achieving his goal illegally either.”

By the time he was just 20-years-old, Flores was sent to San Quentin Prison in 1855 for horse theft. The following year, after one botched escape attempt, Flores and a handful of other inmates successfully broke out of the prison, fleeing on a boat at the nearby wharf. A free man, Flores hid out in San Luis Obispo where he began assembling a gang to rob and plunder with him. It was around this time that Andres Fontes fell in with Flores, often thought of as the most feared of Flores’ recruits. Flores’ gang was known as Las Manillas, or “The Prison Shackles,” with many accounts numbering the full group at about 50 men, though Flores often traveled in smaller packs.

The trouble in San Juan Capistrano began one January day when Flores and two of his men entered the store of Polish resident, Michael Kraszewski, located right off of . After casually browsing through the store, Flores and his men took off with a pistol that they hadn’t paid for. Shortly thereafter, Flores and his full gang entered the town, where they proceeded to raid Kraszewski’s store and then escape with a bundle of stolen goods.

Hours later, it seemed as though the episode had finally subsided. But as night fell, a gunshot rang through the air and the body of shopkeeper George Pflugardt hit the ground. Flores and his men then ransacked the fallen man’s store, dragging piles of goods into the streets. News of the killing and the return of Juan Flores quickly spread through the town.

Maybe it was fate, or perhaps Flores had been tipped to his presence earlier, but Garnet Hardy also happened to be in San Juan Capistrano at this time. Hardy had previously testified against Flores for his part in the horse theft case, and had a hand in sending the bandit to San Quentin. Certainly, Flores was thirsty for revenge, and now Hardy was just down the street, hiding out at the mission estate of .

Forster helped Hardy escape out into the night, and word of the Flores attack reached Los Angeles Sheriff James Barton, who quickly formed a posse to go after the outlaw. Interestingly enough, Barton and the bandit, Andres Fontes had a history with one another. Enss notes that Fontes and Barton had been involved in a love triangle over the same girl, and Fontes claimed it was because of this dispute that Barton had Fontes sent to jail for two years for allegedly stealing a horse. Like Flores, Fontes also had a score to settle.

As the Barton posse was approaching San Juan Capistrano, they suddenly found themselves ambushed by the Manillas gang. Both parties drew their weapons and fired. When the dust settled, three outlaws had been killed along with Barton and three of his posse. News of the deaths got back to Los Angeles, shocking the town. A prominent Los Angeles landowner, General Andrés Pico (brother to Pío Pico and brother-in-law of Juan Forster), put together a posse of more than 50 men, including Mexicans, Americans, and Native Americans drawn from all over Southern California.

Indian trackers spotted Flores’ camp around Saddleback Mountain, but as the posse drew nearer, bursts of gunfire between the two groups provided enough cover for Flores, Fontes, and a few others to escape into the mountains.

Flores and the others who got away were found on Feb. 1, but before reinforcements could arrive to transport the men to Los Angeles, where they could be tried and imprisoned, Flores was able to break free of his restraints and once again fled for the hills. Enraged, Pico ordered the immediate execution of the bandits that Flores had been caught with. Then Pico gathered a posse of over one hundred men, one of the era’s largest ever assembled and by the following day, Flores was found and captured in the Simi Valley. Then on Valentine’s Day 1857, after an informal trial had found him guilty of murder and theft, he was hanged publicly before an angry mob that was eager for justice.

The fallout from the attacks eventually calmed down in San Juan Capistrano, but the Juan Flores Uprising left an indelible mark on the town. Pamela Gibson cites a local historian who wrote that from then on, the town had “one good murder a year.”

Today, two historical landmarks remain as a memory of the infamous episode. The first is “Barton Mound” located off the I-405 freeway near the Irvine Spectrum and marks the spot where the Los Angeles sheriff and his posse were ambushed while trying to catch up to Flores. The other is “Flores Peak”, part of Modjeska Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains, signifying the campsite where Juan and Las Manillas originally hid after ambushing the sheriff and fleeing from San Juan Capistrano.

Further reading: Pamela Hallan-Gibson’s Two Hundred Years in San Juan Capistrano and Chris Enss’ Outlaw Tales of California: True Stories of the Golden State’s Most Infamous Crooks, Culprits, and Cutthroats