Augustine Chacon
Augustine Chacon (* 1861 in the Mexican state of Sonora , † 1902 in Solomonville, Arizona ), also known by the nickname El Peludo ( Spanish for the hairy one ) because of his hairy chest , was a Mexican bandit and folk hero in the Wild West who made his Crimes mostly committed on US territory and then withdrew to his ranch in Mexico before prosecution .
Life
Chacon first came to Morenci , Arizona in the late 1880s , where he had a regular job, but at the same time formed a gang from some of his Mexican compatriots living there, which mainly specialized in cattle theft and armed robbery.
After he murdered Deputy Sheriff Pablo Salcido in Morenci in 1896, he was pursued by a search party and arrested before the Mexican border . In the subsequent trial, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging . However, many of the poor Mexicans who worked in the nearby mines saw Chacon as a sort of Robin Hood and were determined to help him escape. For this purpose, a young and attractive Mexican woman brought him a Bible with a small saw hidden in it. With this he sawed up the bars of his cell window. To drown out the noises, his cell mates, all of them mariachi , made loud music for hours every day. When the bars were cut through, the young woman persuaded the prison guard on duty that night with a promising smile to take a walk together during the night, during which Chacon fled unnoticed.
The Arizona ranger Captain Burton C. Mossman was determined to arrest the convict. With the help of former law enforcement officers Burt Alvord and Billy Stiles, Mossman managed to locate Chacon in Mexico and lure him into a trap. Mossman arranged a meeting with Chacon on the pretext of stealing cattle together. He arrested Chacon and took him back to the States, where he was hanged in Solomonville, Arizona, in late 1902.
The fact that Mossman himself acted illegally in this operation because he had no authority to arrest people on Mexican territory led to massive protests by the Mexican government.
Chacon's life in film
Chacon's life inspired the film director Franklin Adreon to write an episode of the same name (called Augustine Chacon ) in the 39-part western series Railway Detective Matt Clark, shot in 1954 and 1955 .
References and comments
- ^ A b c Nancy E. Brown: Augustine “Peludo” Chacon (English; article from February 4, 2008)
- ↑ Nancy E. Brown cites November 21, 1902 as the date of death, while the execution, according to Marshall Trimble's report, is said to have taken place in December 1902 (see individual records 1 and 3).
- ↑ a b c Marshall Trimble: The Escape of Augustine Chacon (English; article from September 12, 2016)
- ↑ Kathy Weiser-Alexander: Augustin Chacon - Vicious Killer (English; article from August 2017)
- ^ Railway detective Matt Clark: Augustine Chacon in the database of IMDb
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chacon, Augustine |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Peludo (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | mexican bandit |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sonora , Mexico |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1902 |
| Place of death | Solomonville, Arizona , United States |