The Trial of Indian Joe: Race and Justice in the Nineteenth-Century West

by Clare V. McKanna Jr.

Book Overview

On the night of 16 October 1892, a double homicide occurred on Otay Mesa in San Diego County near the Mexican border. The two victims were an elderly couple, John and Wilhelmina Geyser, who lived on a farm on the edge of the mesa. Within minutes of discovering the crime, neighbors subdued and tied up the alleged killer, Jos Gabriel, a sixty-year-old itinerant Native American handyman from El Rosario, California, who worked for the couple. Since Gabriel was apprehended at the scene, most presumed his guilt. The local press, prosecutors, witnesses, and jurors called him by the epithet "Indian Joe." The sensational murder trial of Gabriel highlights the legal injustices committed against Native Americans in the nineteenth century. During this time, California Native Americans could not vote or serve on juries, so from the outset Gabriel was unlikely to receive a fair trial. No motive for murder was established, and the evidence against Gabriel was inconclusive. Nonetheless, the case went forward. Drawing on court testimony and newspaper accounts, Clare V. McKanna Jr. traces the murder trial: the handling of the case by the prosecution, the defense, the jury, and the judge; an examination of the crime scene; and the imaging of "Indian Joe." Through his considerable research, McKanna sheds light on a dark time in the American legal system.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803222564
• ISBN13: 9780803222564
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

GOOD HISTORICAL, LEGAL READ

Mckanna does a nice job of recreating the murder trial of Jose Gabriel, aka Indian Joe. Through necessity, he had to discuss the cultural and political climate of California in 1892 in Otay, and how Jose was definitely not judged by a jury (all white) of his peers. The entire justice system was flawed from the judge to the defense attorney, and of course, the jurors who kept interrupting the trial by asking inane questions in the middle of the sessions. I also believe one of the more significant barriers to a fair trial, was that the trial was conducted in English with questionable Spanish translations, and never in Jose's native language. He also didn't understand the court process from the time of his arrest to the climax of ending up in Death Row. This is good reading for students as how America has fared and moved on to a more fair and equitable justice system. Progress is being made. A good review and accounting by the author. Recommended. However, we will always wonder how the other two Indians were involved, or were they?

Frontier Justice

Here's a gem of a book. McKanna skillfully examines a nineteenth century murder case that resulted in the conviction of a poorly defended Native American in San Diego County. From a messy crime scene that would make a modern "CSI" team cringe to an almost comical court case, McKanna shows that the conviction of "Indian Joe" was perhaps inevitable given the racist nature of the local citizenry and judicial system. In 1893, José Gabriel would become the first man executed at San Quentin. Expertly researched by using court records and newspaper accounts, this book is also a highly readable and sobering comment on American justice.