Gregorio Cortez
Gregorio Cortez Lira (born June 22, 1875 near Matamoros, Tamaulipas—February 28, 1916) was a Mexican American who became a hero to some Mexican American Texans and a symbol of the willingness to fight for equal rights.
Background
Cortez's parents were itinerant laborers who brought their family to Manor, Texas (near Austin) in 1887. That year, his brother Romaldo was charged with horse theft but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Another brother, Tomás, was also charged in a separate horse-theft incident, but received a pardon from Texas governor Lawrence Ross. Nevertheless, Tomás Cortez served time in the state penitentiary in the 1900s. The oral historian Richard Mertz discovered that he may have been involved in horse theft (a crime equivalent to today's grand theft auto) with members of his family during the 1880s. In 1889 he began working as a farmhand in various Texas counties, becoming familiar with much of the area. In 1890 he was wed, and the couple had four children. His wife divorced him in 1903, alleging he abused and intimidated her. He remarried the next year and again in 1916. It is known that he spoke English and owned horses.
The Incident
On June 12, 1901, while investigating a horse theft, Karnes County sheriff W.T. "Brack" Morris went to the Thulemeyer ranch outside of Kenedy, where Gregorio and Romaldo Cortez were tenant maize farmers, after learning that Gregorio had acquired a mare from a Mexican Kenedy resident by way of trade. After misunderstandings between Morris and the Cortez brothers resulting from poor translation by a deputy, Morris shot and wounded Romaldo, prompting Gregorio to shoot and kill Morris.[citation needed]
Flight and Capture
Cortez, now a fugitive from the law, spent ten days on the lam, repeatedly evading authorities (including the Texas Rangers), and at times aided by compatriots. During his flight, Texas newspapers were highly critical of Cortez, some lamenting that he hadn't been lynched. Popular hatred for Cortez among Anglos provoked violence against Mexican communities in Gonzales, Refugio, Hays, and other counties. Cortez was finally apprehended on June 22, 1901, when an acquaintance turned him in.
Trial, Conviction, and Exoneration
Immediately following Cortez's capture, his supporters began forming organizations to publicize the case and raise money for his defense. At his first trial (in Gonzales), he was sentenced to fifty years' imprisonment for second-degree murder. While appeals were being denied, a lynch mob of three hundred attempted to hang him. He was also tried and convicted in Karnes City and Pleasanton. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned all the verdicts. His last trial was in Corpus Christi in 1904, after which he began serving a life sentence. Efforts to have him pardoned began with his incarceration and finally succeeded in 1913, when governor Oscar Colquitt issued him a conditional pardon.
Post-prison Life and Death
Upon his release, he thanked those who worked for his freedom, joining the Huertist forces of the Mexican Revolution in Nuevo Laredo. Shortly after remarrying for the fourth time, he died of pneumonia.
The Legend
Like many folk heroes who have acquired legendary status, many of the facts about his life have been obscured by time, embellishments, and the variation inherent in oral histories. According to legend, he was an excellent marksman and had a way with animals that allowed him to track and find them with uncommon aplomb, qualities which alleged to have helped him evade law enforcement. Legend also ascribes to him the values of respectfulness, temperance, and obedience, which are contrasted with his brother's laziness, disrespectfulness, and short temper. (In some versions of the story, his brother is called "Ramón".) Legends also dramatize his many narrow escapes, his humiliation of the Texas Rangers, and his impassioned courtroom pleas to simply be tried by the law of the land rather than prejudicially because of racist attitudes.
In Song, Literature, and Film
The story of Cortez was popularized and disseminated through various ballads called El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez, starting as early as 1901. Writing in the 1950's, folklorist Américo Paredes exposed a wider audience to the legend with his With His Pistol In His Hand, originally published in 1958. The work angered a Texas Ranger who threatened to shoot Paredes. The legend was turned into the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, starring Edward James Olmos, in 1982.[1]
Sources
Paredes, Américo. With His Pistol In His Hand (1958). Austin: University of Texas Press.
See also
External links
- CORTEZ LIRA, GREGORIO from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Has the lyrics to the corrido and their translation into English
- Karnes County, TX has a short article about Gregorio Cortez and the episode