Murder of María Magdalena Baca, 1741 (Part 2 of 2)

Bernardo de Bustamante indicated to Juan Paez Hurtado that Nerio Montoya, Magdalena Baca’s 12-year-old son, had reported the crime. Bernardo, Francisco Guerrero and Antonio Duran de Armijo, upon arriving at Magdalena’s home, found her deceased in her bed. Antonio, who had expertise as a surgeon (maestro de barbero), examined the body and concluded she had been strangled. He noted that her mouth appeared to have been covered by a cloth and that her eyes, ears and throat were black, and her tongue swollen, with no other signs of trauma on the rest of the body.

Paez Hurtado then questioned Nerio, who described the murder in vivid detail. He had been sleeping in the same bed with his mother when, sometime after midnight, he awoke to hear her screaming. He grabbed the hair of the attacker, which was tied back with a yellow ribbon, clearly visible from the light of a candle. He recognized the assailant as Francisco Xavier Anaya, alias “El Jasque,” a close friend of his stepfather, dressed in a black jacket. Francisco threw him against the bed and pinned him down against his mother. He heard his mother say, “Juan, don’t kill me, at least let me confess and kill me afterwards.” Another shadowy figure in the room, a woman dressed in a green skirt and covered by a cloak, looked on as the attack unfolded. Both intruders left the house together.

On the basis of Nerio’s testimony, Paez Hurtado opened an investigation, ordering Juan Joseph de Archuleta to arrest Francisco Xavier and place him in well-riveted irons. He assigned the squadron commander Lorenzo Griego and Juan Trujillo to accompany Archuleta in executing the arrest warrant. There is no record of an arrest warrant for Juan Márquez, but later in the case file it is clear that he was also imprisoned. Paez Hurtado took custody of Magdalena’s body and while covering it with a shroud, noted two bruises, six fingers long and two fingers wide, more black than purple, on the right buttock.

On February 27th, Paez Hurtado questioned Antonia, Magdalena’s twenty-five-year-old Indian servant. Antonia only spoke Spanish, as she had been raised in the household of Captain Diego Montoya. Antonia corroborated Juan’s verbal and physical abuse of his wife, recalling how on the 23rd of that month he had hit her with the broad side of his sword and might have killed her with it had Antonia not taken it away from him. She also recounted a pattern of neglect. Juan had brought some livestock up from the Rio Abajo, killing a goat for el Jasque and a ram for Manuela. When he received his soldier’s rations of corn, he gave a sack to el Jasque and the other three to Manuela. On Christmas Eve, Juan gave chocolate, soap and other gifts to Manuela rather than to his wife. Since Juan didn’t provide for his family, Magdalena maintained herself and her children by weaving ribbons and stockings. Magdalena lived in constant fear that her husband might kill her and often did not eat because of her preoccupation. At one point, Magdalena had confronted Manuela about the situation, but Manuela denied having anything to do with her husband, saying he was a pig and a rogue. Antonia implied that Manuela had induced Juan to move into the house where he and Magdalena lived. Just before the murder, Juan had thrown Antonia out of the house under the pretext that she was maliciously informing Magdalena about gossip, but she felt it was because she was Magdalena’s supporter and defender. Although her testimony did not directly implicate anyone in the murder, it was a damning assessment of Juan’s character and provided a motive for the crime.

Next, Paez Hurtado summoned Manuela’s servant, María, for questioning. He first attempted to establish the whereabouts of Francisco Xavier and Manuela on the night of the murder. María stated that Xavier was not at Manuela’s house that night as he had gone to see Manuel Casillas who was sick and had asked Xavier to treat him. She and Manuela had gone out to get firewood before sunset and had not left the house the rest of the evening. Juan de Leyba and Manuel Segura came to see Manuela that night and after they left, Manuela went to sleep while María went to the kitchen to make nixtamal.[1]

Paez Hurtado then questioned her about a large hole in the wall that he had discovered in the kitchen at Manuela’s house that had recently been sealed with adobe bricks and fresh mud. Upon breaking through the wall, he discovered that it led directly to the living room of the unoccupied house next door.

“Who asked for the wall to be opened? Was it for the purpose of hiding Juan Márquez in case anyone went looking for him, given all the rumors of his illicit relationship with Manuela?” María explained that she herself had broken the wall because one day she saw through an existing opening between the two homes a pot and a cazuela in the empty house. The hole was too small for María to fit through, so she asked a boy named Joseph to go inside and retrieve the items. However, they discovered the cazuela was also too large to fit through the hole and couldn’t be taken out until someone came later with the key to the house.

Given her obfuscation, Paez Hurtado’s questioning became more direct. He asked about another time that a search party had attempted to locate Juan at Manuela’s house. One night, Bernardo de Bustamante, Miguel Ortiz and Cayetano Lobato had searched the house while Magdalena Baca stood outside the window to Manuela’s bedroom, but they did not find him. Paez Hurtado asked if Juan had entered through the hole in the wall to hide inside the other house, and if on another occasion, María came to Father Santiago one day bleeding from her mouth because Juan had kicked her for not wanting to summon Manuela at his request. María responded that Juan had not entered Manuela’s house ever since he had assaulted her.

To counter María’s statement, Paez Hurtado brought in his servant, Isabel, for questioning. “What day did you see Juan Márquez come out of Manuela’s house?”

“On Saturday, the 18th of the present month. That day, very early in the morning from the street, I looked toward Manuela’s house and saw María leaning against the door, covered with a blanket, looking from side to side. Then Juan left the house, and catching up with me at the Rio Chiquito, he told me, ‘Hija, for your own good, don’t tell anyone that you saw me leave Manuela’s house.’” Paez Hurtado concluded that María’s statement had been entirely false.

On March 1st, Magdalena’s older son Cristóbal Manuel Montoya, age sixteen, filed a formal complaint against his stepfather Juan Márquez, Francisco Xavier and Manuela Abeyta. He recounted how, years ago when the family was still living in the Barrio Analco, Juan had attempted to strangle his mother one night and would have succeeded if he and his siblings hadn’t woken up. He also accused Francisco Xavier and Manuela of being the root cause of Juan’s ill treatment of his mother and of cooperating in her death. The statement was signed by Cristóbal’s cousin, José Baca.

Paez Hurtado reached a preliminary conclusion in the matter, issuing a writ sometime in March or early April (a page is missing so the exact date is uncertain). He found that by all indications, Juan Márquez, Francisco Xavier (both in prison) and Manuela Abeyta, were responsible for the death of Magdalena Baca. He sentenced Manuela to banishment from Santa Fe, at least 12 leagues distance, for the duration of Governor Mendoza’s term. If she failed to abide by the ruling, she would be imprisoned for six months. He did not yet issue a sentence for Juan and Xavier while he gathered additional evidence.

On April 10th, Paez Hurtado questioned Francisco Xavier, noting that he was a 28-year-old mestizo mason (albañil) married to Pascuala Rivas. Xavier denied having committed the murder, claiming that he never had his hair tied up in a yellow ribbon and that on the night of the murder he had been at the home of Francisco Valdez. Manuela Garduño, wife of Joseph Herrera, and Francisco’s brother-in-law Manuel Benavides had also been there. At 8 o’clock, Xavier and Manuel accompanied Manuela to her house. Because it was so late, they both spent the rest of the night there. Paez Hurtado then inquired into Xavier’s demeanor when he had been taken to the crime scene, asking why he had trembled so much when his feet were measured against the footprints that had been found alongside Magdalena’s house. Xavier explained that it was because he was tied from behind and since Juan de Santiesteban had held him by one foot, the other soldier had to support him so he wouldn’t fall. Lastly, Paez Hurtado questioned Xavier regarding another attempt on Magdalena’s life, asking him who had given him the wine that he had once taken to her house. As soon as she had drunk it, she began vomiting and was on the point of dying. Xavier denied ever having taken wine to Magdalena, even though her servant Antonia, who was brought in once again to testify, confirmed that he had in fact brought it in a red jar.

To corroborate Xavier’s alibi, Paez Hurtado questioned Manuela Garduño (19) and Manuel Benavides (20). They both confirmed Xavier’s story. Manuela said that because she lived outside of town, they had both gone to drop her off at home and had stayed up late chatting while she sewed. She convinced them both to stay the night since it was so late and the following morning, Manuel went home and Xavier went to church.

In the meantime, Magdalena’s family filed additional complaints. Her brother Antonio Baca asked for justice for the murder of his sister by Juan Márquez, Xavier de Anaya and Manuela Abeyta. He also complained that Juan Márquez had attempted to bribe his nephew Cristóbal so that Nerio would recant his testimony. José Baca reiterated his support for his uncle’s complaint.

Paez Hurtado summoned Cristóbal and Nerio again to confirm Antonio’s allegations. Cristóbal stated that on March 19th he had been seated outside the guardhouse when Agustín de Archibeque told him that Juan Márquez wanted to speak to him. Diego Domingo Baca took him to where Juan was being held, and Juan asked him to rescind his complaint. He told him to tell his brother Nerio to say that it was “El Jasque” who had strangled his mother and that after he got out of prison, he would watch out for them for the rest of their lives. Juan also gave him an old hat and some cordovan shoes as a bribe. Cristóbal affirmed that not only did he not rescind his first complaint, but he denounced Juan Márquez once more, along with the rest who participated in the death of his mother. Nerio confirmed that his brother had not asked him to drop his complaint against Juan.

The last piece of evidence Paez Hurtado sought to gather was Juan’s whereabouts on the night of the murder. He summoned Juan, who stated that on the night of the 21-22 of February, he was on guard at the presidio stables. He denied murdering Magdalena or attempting to strangle her when they lived in Barrio Analco, saying his squadron captain Cristóbal Martín could place him at the stables on the night of the murder. He also denied trying to suborn the testimony of Nerio Montoya or having entered Manuela’s house after being prohibited from doing so.

Paez Hurtado then questioned other soldiers at the presidio, including Gerónimo de Esquibel (26), Juan Felipe de Rivera (46) and Cristóbal Martín (40). Gerónimo confirmed that Juan was in the presidio stable on the 21st with a dappled gray horse, which was saddled, in addition to the one that he was riding. Juan Felipe stated that the dappled gray horse was his and that he had traded horses with Márquez that day as Márquez’s horses were too thin to make the journey from the stable to town. Cristóbal was asked if Juan had been missing from the stables at any point that night. He affirmed that Márquez had been there all night, noting that because they had received word that some Comanches were approaching the area, they had carefully watched the stables all night long.

After reviewing all the evidence and testimony, Governor Mendoza pronounced his judgment on May 13, 1741. In light of the fact that the sole eyewitness to the murder was a minor who was unable to testify under oath and in the absence of any other concrete evidence of the perpetrator of the crime, while recognizing the gravity of the charges, the governor sentenced Juan Márquez to be discharged from the presidio and banished from New Mexico for four years. Francisco Xavier, alias “El Jasque” was sentenced to four years of banishment to the Pueblo Nuevo de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, which was in the place known as Tomé Domínguez. If either one violated the order, he would be imprisoned for two years.

The sentence was likely of little comfort to the Baca family and the Montoya children, but life went on. Cristóbal and Nerio moved to Albuquerque to live with their cousin José Baca, as they appear there on the 1750 Census. Francisco Xavier Anaya and his wife Pascuala Rivas also were living with their children in Albuquerque on the 1750 Census. It is unclear whether Manuela Abeyta ever returned to Santa Fe, as she does not appear there on the 1750 Census. A Manuela de Beytia appears on the census that year in the town of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río del Norte Arriba (present-day Los Luceros) and could very well  be the same Manuela from this story. It is also unknown where Juan Márquez relocated to, or if he ever returned to New Mexico.

Based on the evidence, who do you think killed Magdalena Baca? Select your option in the poll below.

Who killed Magdalena Baca?

• Juan Márquez (her husband)
• Francisco Xavier de Anaya "El Jasque"
• Someone else

Note: All the information in this story can be found in New Mexico, U.S., Civil Records of New Spain, 1621-1821, 1741-1745: Twitchell 437-471 (Serial 10111), No. 437, available at Ancestry.com

[1] Corn cooked in alkalized water, which is used to make tortillas after grinding.