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Juan Flores: a black sheep and horse stealerIn 1857, San Juan Capistrano marked the beginning of the final chapter for one of California’s most heinous outlaws, one Juan Flores, the leader of his notorious band, the Manilas (shackles). He was the black sheep of a prominent family in Santa Barbara who at an early age formed a band of violent desperados and landed in San Quentin for horse stealing. He was 21 when he escaped.Flores quickly got his band back together and the stories vary as to whether they were from eleven to as high as a hundred. But the lesser number is what probably ventured into San Juan and began a short reign of terror on the township.It started out innocently enough when Flores and two others ventured into Michael Krazewski’s store to look at goods. One of them picked up a pistol and took it outside to try it out. Suddenly they all rode off without paying. Krazewski rode after and met one of them who rode back with him allegedly to take care of the matter. Two minutes later the entire gang rode back and broke into Krazewski’s store while he hid out in a large basket. Taking what they wanted, the rest of the goods were thrown out into the street. Not finding the store owner they left, much to the relief of the town.A little while later they rode back quietly and headed to theOLD SAN JUANDon TryonThomas Burruel adobe that was where today’s Historic Town Center is located. A young girl known as Chola Martina lived there and reportedly was Flores’s sweetheart. At dusk, he had Martina go over to George Pflugardt’s store to allegedly get back her reboza which she had pawned. One room was a bar and another a store with an arsenal that Flores wanted to raid. Chola Martina stood in the doorway while George went for the shawl and lit a cigarrito as a signal for the gang to move in. They ran in with guns firing and shot poor George. They then demanded an employee to fix them some dinner and sat down and ate while Pflugardt’s blood drained from his body.After this the bandits raided several stores and threw much of the goods not wanted into the street and terrorized the town for hours. Many families had fled to the Mission where Juan Forster gave them shelter until things subsided.Meantime Forster sent riders to Los Angeles to get Sheriff Jim Barton and a posse to apprehend Flores and his band. Later, the band finally left and headed north. After organizing a posse, Barton headed south but stopped at the Jose Sepulveda ranch where he was warned that Flores and his partners were well-armed and dangerous. About 15 miles north of town they saw a lone rider approaching, and never thinking of a trap, suddenly found themselves surrounded. A gun fight broke out and quickly Barton and most of his posse were slain. Luckily three survived and quickly rode back to Los Angeles.One group of 40 riders took off to find the band while another fourteen searched for the bodies. The grisly remains were brought back. Everyone was so incensed at the treatment of the bodies that two posses were created, one called the Monte Company (Yankees) and the Californios Company led by Andres Pico.Meanwhile, Flores and his men were so emboldened that they returned to Capistrano and surrounded the Forster home in the Mission and demanded that a Henry Charles be given to them. Forster refused and the band was unwilling to storm the home. Instead, they invaded Manuel Garcias’ store and stole $24 in goods and left.See TRYON, page 10
Newspaper Details
Capistrano Valley News
Capistrano Valley, California, US
Thu, Oct 16, 2003
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Danny S.
USA 25 Mar 2022
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