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They came for her in a wagon. She climbed up and sat on a box made of cypress planks that had been nailed together that morning. The wagon was pulled by oxen and people of the town walked behind. They were quiet -- the only noise was the creaking of the wagon. They didn't have far to go, less than 1,000 yards from the courthouse. The wagon stopped under a mesquite by the river. The people watched as a new hemp rope was placed around her neck. She was wearing a borrowed dress and a woman in town had fixed her hair. She showed no sign of fear. The people watched her, not talking. That was Friday, Nov. 13, 1863 -- the day they hanged Chipita Rodriguez in old San Patricio. She had been tried, sentenced, and the sentence was about to be carried out, but many believed her to be innocent. There was plenty of room for reasonable doubt. "Chipita" was a nickname derived from Josefa. Her father Pedro Rodriguez, on the wrong side of Santa Anna, brought her from Mexico. He joined Texas forces and was killed in the fighting. She took up with a drifter and bore him a son. He left her and took the boy -- so the story goes. She settled down in a shack on the Aransas River and it became a stopping place for travelers, where they could get a meal and sleep on the porch. A horse trader named John Savage stayed the night of Aug. 23. He disappeared. Two servants from the Welder ranch, washing clothes in the river, found his body in a burlap bag. His head had been split with an axe. Sheriff "Pole" Means went to Chipita's. There was blood on her porch -- chicken blood, she said. Chipita and her hired man, Juan Silvera, a halfwit, were arrested. Chipita would say nothing. With prodding by the sheriff, Juan said he helped Chipita dump the body in the river. The trial was quick. The prosecutor was John S. Givens (no relation). The judge was Benjamin F. Neal (he was the first mayor of Corpus Christi). The trial was also irregular. Sheriff Means served on the grand jury that indicted her. There was no jury panel for the trial -- people were rounded up off the streets. Four members of the jury had been indicted for felonies, one for murder. The trial jury foreman was a close associate of the sheriff's. The motive for the killing was supposed to be robbery but the horse trader's $600 in gold was found in his saddlebags, untouched. And Chipita would not help in her own defense. The trial lasted the morning and the jury brought back a verdict by noon. Silvera was found guilty of second-degree murder and she was found guilty of first-degree murder. The jury urged clemency for Chipita, but Judge Neal did not agree and ordered her to be hanged on Nov. 13. The trial records were burned in a fire in 1889. What little survived suggests the evidence was not carefully considered. The case was circumstantial, with no witnesses and no motive. Why Chipita would not help in her defense is a mystery. The legend holds that she saw the killer that night -- and recognized him as her long-lost son. It was a bad day's work. It looks now like Chipita was found guilty based on who she was, rather than what she did. Had she not been a "Mexican" (the term used for her at the time), there would not have been enough evidence to indict, much less convict. The Corpus Christi paper, The Ranchero, expressed the sentiment: "Mexicans should not have the same rights in this state as Americans." It complimented the judge and jury for finding Chipita guilty and said, "We are decidedly pleased with our neighbors in San Patricio." But in San Patricio, they weren't much pleased with themselves. Prominent citizens urged the sheriff not to carry out the sentence and, the day before the hanging, he left town, leaving the hangman to do the job alone. When he arrived, he tried to borrow a wagon, was turned down, and was forced to confiscate it. At the hanging tree, there was a faint murmur when the wagon moved forward, the rope jerked, and Chipita dropped, her feet inches from the ground. The oxen moved so slow, and her body was so frail, that the fall didn't break her neck. It took a long time for her to strangle to death. A woman watching fainted. A young boy ran away, crying. A man turned his back and said, "I've had enough of this." The hangman cut her down and buried her in the cypress coffin at the foot of a mesquite and that ended the earthly existence of Chipita Rodriguez. Her ghost, they say, lives on. So does the legend. Sources: Caller-Times Archives; The Ranchero , 1863; "Shadows on the Nueces" by Rachel Bluntzer Hebert; Texas Parade article , September, 1962, by Ruel McDaniel; "History of San Patricio County" by Keith Guthrie; and "Legendary Ladies of Texas" by Marylyn Underwood. (Murphy Givens can be reached by e-mail at murphyg@caller.com or by phone, 886-4315.) Front Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web |