Causa criminal — the poisoning of Fr. Pedro Panto by his Indian cook Nazario (Mission San Diego). Cabo Antonio Guillén & Sgt. Mariano Mercado noticed the friar's soup tasted bitter (16 Nov); Panto vomited badly. Nazario confessed he'd carried a poison herb ('escoba amarga') for days and put it in the soup because Panto flogged him relentlessly — by his account 50 + 24 + 25 + 25 lashes over 15–16 Nov (200+ in two days 'sin dar graves motivos') — 'por ver si de este modo descansaba yo y los demás indios de la Misión'; testified 'ningún indio de la Misión lo quiere, ni menos los gentiles; y al Padre Sánchez tanto lo quieren los cristianos como los gentiles.' Defensor Pico: the herb wasn't lethal, Nazario 'un indio bruto,' driven by desperation. Fiscal Carrillo finds him not deserving of execution — asks 8 months' presidio at San Diego 'para escarmiento de los demás.' A landmark primary source on mission corporal punishment & indigenous resistance. Orig. pp.101–29
| Date | 1811-12-18 (events Nov 1811) (exact) |
|---|---|
| From | Cadete Domingo Carrillo (juez fiscal; escribano Sgt. Joaquín Arce[?]); defensor Sgt. José Mª Pico |
| Place | San Diego |
| Series | Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military) |
| Tomo | XL–LII (volume range; this entry is not resolved to one tomo) |
| Original tomo page | pp.101–29 |
| Savage copy page | 191–196 |
| Scan leaf | n190–n195 |
| Document type | verbatim transcription |
| Source | verbatim transcription |
Read this leaf on the Internet Archive ↗ · leaf n190–n195
Cadete Domingo Carrillo (juez fiscal; escribano Sgt. Joaquín Arce[?]); defensor Sgt. José Mª Pico, San Diego, 1811-12-18 (events Nov 1811), Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military), XL–LII, pp.101–29, Archives of California, C-A 17, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. [the tomo is given as the volume’s full range: this entry has not been resolved to a single tomo within XL–LII]Cite the document by series, tomo and original tomo page, as the literature does; the C-A number locates it in the repository. To cite this catalogue entry itself, use https://archivesofcalifornia.com/record/ca17/ca17-d245.html