The mission seemed to draw them together like a magnet.
In 1848, Mission San Miguel provided the scene, but it was the murders that were the catalyst for what came afterwards—not just in the next few days, but for the next 150 years.
William Reed was born in England. He followed the seaman's profession and eventually became a ship’s pilot. The sea took him halfway around the world to California. There, he left it forever, got married, and took up the safer vocation of gentleman ranchero.
Maria Antonia was the illegitimate daughter of Californio General Mariano Vallejo. Her distinguished lineage did not bring with it family recognition nor any share in its wealth or prestige. In marrying the Englishman Reed, she probably hoped to leave the confines of Mexicano social convention and settle into the safety and security of a family of her own.
By the mid-1840’s, the great Franciscan mission period in California was over. The 1820’s Mexican Revolution expelled the Spanish, and in the next two decades, the mission system was dismantled. The missions became nothing more than parish churches—some were converted into barns or saloons; others, like Mission San Miguel, were closed.
Reed bought the abandoned Mission San Miguel for his rancho. The old mission and buildings were not so run down that a little repair and reconstruction could not restore them to usefulness. At a very low cost, he ended up with a perfect already laid-out, built-up rancho. He moved his family into the mission, bought some sheep and started a herd.
The old mission had commercial opportunities as well. El Camino Real had once linked all the California missions. The padres no longer traveled El Camino Real. Now it was well-traveled by Mexican and American settlers.
For travelers, on the long, weary Camino Real trail between Salinas, 90 miles to the north, and San Luis Obispo, 40 miles south, old Mission San Miguel was a lonely but welcome stopping-off place. Reed offered them lodging, meals, and hay for their horses.
For William and Maria, the Mission rancho offered livelihood, safety, and security for raising their family and the hope for happiness to come.
In the late 1840’s, however, life in California was about to undergo a number of other changes-—some which had direct and tragic effects on Reed and his household. Most importantly, in 1848, gold was discovered in Coloma, near Sacramento.
Spawned by the discovery of gold, a kind of insanity—“gold fever"-spread throughout California: Workers left their jobs; sailors deserted their ships; lust and greed for gold became the ruling passions.
The discovery of gold also had fateful consequences for Reed, Maria, and their growing family—Maria was expecting her second child now.
Food supplies at the mining camps were scarce, so the prices the miners had to pay were high. Reed heard that livestock selling for a few pesos at the local market could be sold for far more in the gold regions. Recognizing a chance to turn his flock into the money he needed, Reed drove them to the mines, hoping to “make a killing.”
He did, and came back to San Miguel with what to him was a fortune--maybe as much as $1,000 in gold dust and nuggets. This “fortune” in gold, however, was ultimately to be the downfall of Reed and his entire household.
The discovery of gold had set other forces to work drawing danger to the Reed’s peaceful San Miguel Mission rancho.
At about the same time that Reed was returning from the goldfields, two other men began a crime spree. Later, at his trial, Joseph Lynch, a failed goldseeker, told how he had joined with two Americans and one Irishman to seek their fortune beyond the goldfields.
The violence started almost immediately when the Irishman murdered the two Americans for their gold. Lynch and the Irishman split the gold, bought two horses, and escaped to Mission Soledad. There they met three other deserters from a ship in Monterey, and an Indian named John. The six of them continued journeying south.
Traveling along El Camino Real, late afternoon of an early-December day, these desperados arrived at Mission San Miguel.
They had now all come to old Mission San Miguel--Reed, Maria Antonia, and the journeying desperados. The “stage” was set for a crime that even today would be shocking. Until well after the turn of the century, what was about to happen at the Mission San Miguel rancho would be remembered as the most horrifying crime in California history.
Arriving at the rancho, the desperados were relieved to find a place to rest, have a good meal, and fodder their horses. They had the gold stolen from the murdered goldseekers, but that was before gold became the medium of exchange in California. They told Reed they could only pay him in gold and asked if he could exchange their gold for pesos which they could more easily spend. Reed agreed.
However, Reed made the mistake of boasting to the desperados about his livestock sale and the hefty amount of gold it produced. He bragged that he had more gold than his son could lift.
All progressed normally. The financial transactions were made, and the travelers accepted Reed’s hospitality, enjoying a welcome meal and beds for the night.
The next day, the desperados arose, and, by late morning, made their departure south, leaving the rancho. As they traveled, they began to think more and more about what they had left behind. They knew that hidden somewhere in the old mission buildings was the “fortune” in gold Reed had bragged about. Now he also had the gold the desperadoes had traded him. The temptation was too much for them to resist.
Now, Mission San Miguel drew them back like a magnet.
The desperados turned around and rode back to the rancho. Surprised to see his recent visitors returned, but innocently unaware of danger, Reed went about his regular chores. The desperados bided their time, relaxing that evening with Reed as he occupied himself chopping wood. Reed laid down the axe, and turned to pile the wood up. One of the desperados, sensing the time had come to make his move, seized the axe and....
Visitors walking through the peaceful buildings at old Mission San Miguel today never suspect the terrible scene of violence once played out there.
Eleven members of a household were hideously slaughtered with an axe and knife. More shocking is the fact that the crime took place in this refuge normally thought of as secure from violence.
What happened next? It depends on the version of the story. The murders of Reed and his household were the start of more than one historical mystery. Lost gold somewhere along El Camino Real on California’s Central Coast is just one of the several mysteries surrounding this crime.
The crime was brutal slaughter. But it was by no means the end of the story. It was the beginning of the mysteries....
