Harry Love (lawman)

Harry Love (1810 – June 29, 1868) was the head of California's first state-wide law enforcement agency, the California Rangers, and became famous for allegedly killing the notorious bandit Joaquin Murrieta. The California Rangers were also considered to be part of California's early state militia, the predecessor to the current California Army National Guard, with Love holding the rank of Captain within the state.

Early life and career
Love was born in Vermont and left home at an early age to become a sailor, but eventually joined the U.S. Army, volunteering to fight in the Mexican-American War in 1846 in Texas. He was also a scout, an army express rider, and led an exploration on the Rio Grande.

In 1850 during the California Gold Rush, Love came to California to seek his fortune but was unsuccessful. Instead, he became a Deputy Sheriff in Santa Barbara, California, and also worked as a bounty hunter, capturing Pedro Gonzalez, a member of Murrieta's gang who had been accused of murder, in June 1852. With his reputation from the war and this success under his belt, Love was named as the commander of the California Rangers. The unit was created on May 11, 1853 by Governor John Bigler specifically to capture or kill the "Five Joaquins" gang, who had been identified as being responsible for over 20 murders in California's Gold Country.

On July 25, 1853, Love and 20 of the Rangers encountered a group of men near Panoche Pass in San Benito County, about 100 miles (160 km) away from the Mother Lode and 50 miles (80 km) away from Monterey. A confrontation occurred and two of the men were killed. It was claimed that one of the dead men was Murrieta and the other Manuel Garcia (known as "Three-Fingered Jack"), Murrieta's right-hand man. The Rangers cut off the heads of both men as well as Garcia's hand as proof. Murrieta's head and the hand were preserved in brandy, but Garcia's head was not and it decayed, forcing them to bury it at Fort Miller, near Millerton.

The jars were displayed in Mariposa, Stockton and San Francisco and traveled throughout California, where spectators could, for $1, see the remains. Seventeen people, including a priest, signed affidavits identifying the remains as Murrieta's and Love and his Rangers received the reward money. However, a young woman claiming to be Murrieta's sister said she did not recognize the head and argued that it could not be his since it did not have a characteristic scar on it. Additionally, numerous sightings of Murrieta were reported after his reported death. Many people criticized Love for showing the remains in large cities far from the mining camps, where Joaquin might have been recognized. It has even been claimed that Love and his Rangers killed some innocent men and made up the story of the capture of Murrieta to claim the reward money. Doubts about Murrieta's capture followed Love for the rest of his life. The head was eventually lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Later life
Having accomplished its mission, the California Rangers were disbanded and Love purchased a large tract of land near Boulder Creek, California, in Santa Cruz County, along the creek that bears his name today. In 1854 he married his neighbor, the widow Mary Bennett. Mary had also lost a son, killed in a gunfight by a son of Isaac Graham, a pioneer of that area. Love's marriage to Mary Bennett was rough and she soon moved away to Santa Clara. They reconciled and separated several times until 1866, when she sued for divorce, but lost.

However, by the following year, fires, floods, and squatters had destroyed Love's property, leaving him homeless and in debt. He moved to his wife's ranch and lived in a house that she had built for him. She never let him live with her, however, and he plotted to kill her bodyguard, who had been preventing Love from seeing his wife.

On June 29, 1868, Love sat on the porch of his wife's house in Santa Clara, where he was not allowed. When Mary and the bodyguard arrived, a gunfight broke out and Love was shot in the arm. Doctors attempted to save his life by amputating his arm, but he still died.

Love was buried in an unmarked grave in what is now Mission City Memorial Park. In 2003 members of E Clampus Vitus laid a headstone for him.

Headstone
Harry Love's monument is located at the Mission City Memorial Park, 420 N Winchester Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95050 and includes the following:

HERE LIES CAPTAIN HARRY LOVE, WHO WITH A TROOP OF TWENTY OTHERS, ON JULY 25, 1853 ALLEGEDLY KILLED BANDITS JOAQUIN MURRIETTA AND THREE FINGERED JACK NEAR ARROYO DE CANTUA, FRESNO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. BORN IN VERMONT, LOVE FIRST VISITED ALTA CALIFORNIA AS A SEAMAN IN 1839. HE SERVED IN THE MEXICAN WAR OF 1846 AND LATER AS AN ARMY EXPRESS RIDER AND EXPLORER OF THE RIO GRANDE. LOVE ARRIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO IN DECEMBER OF 1850 AND TOOK RESIDENCE IN MARIPOSA COUNTY. HE WAS COMMISSIONED AS CAPTAIN OF THE CALIFORNIA RANGERS ON MAY 28, 1853 AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR MARRIED MARY McSWAIN BENNETT OF SANTA CLARA. CAPTAIN HARRY LOVE DIED IN THE MISSION CITY ON JUNE 29, 1868 FROM A WOUND RECEIVED IN A GUNFIGHT WITH AN EMPLOYEE OF HIS THEN ESTRANGED WIFE.

ERECTED JUNE 29, 2003 BY MOUNTAIN CHARLIE CHAPTER #1850 & JOAQUIN MURRIETA CHAPTER #13, E CLAMPUS VITUS.

In popular culture
The 1998 film The Mask of Zorro depicts a fictionalized account of Love's capture of the Murrieta gang. Here a character named Harrison Love (Matt Letscher) leads a party of California State Rangers who shoot down two notorious bandits Joaquin Murrieta (who is killed) and "Three-Fingered Jack" (who survives). In the film, after Joaquin's death, his (fictional) brother, Alejandro (Antonio Banderas), becomes the new Zorro and later kills Captain Love in revenge. As he did in the movie, the actual Harry Love preserved Murrieta's head in a large, alcohol-filled glass jar.