The Truth: A Marked Man

THE TRUTH: A MARKED MAN

Yes, there was all this rabid sentiment about anyone wanting to claim a land title, over what Fagan calls, "the good old titles." But besides that, the story of Becerra's fate is complicated. Yes, there was rabid anti-Mexican sentiment after the Mexican American War. The county was in disarray.
Yes, they actually held town hall events to vent their hatred and frustration against anyone trying to supersede their land claims. But more than that, I believe it was more complicated, far more complicated when it came to Manuel Becerra.
If you've been following my posts, James Power detested him and spread his dislike amongst others in the county, especially the prominent ranching families. I do think Becerra was marked from the beginning.
I firmly believe Power spread his dislike of him to O'Connor and others. But again, Becerra was an untouchable, he had to much clout. All they knew throughout the 1830's, 40's was that somewhere out in Refugio he reputedly had land.
Remember it was free-range, no fences, and animals could go grazing from tract to tract. O'Connor hadn't gathered steam and momentum yet. However, on that fateful day, June 6th, 1848, when he came to have the land legitimized in the books, he failed to read the sentiment out there.
By then O'Connor had become County Commissioner and was alerted perhaps as to where the property was located. RecalL the clip from "There Will be Blood." He was Daniel Day-Lewis incarnate, except not in oil, but in land.
Becerra's grant was officially converted into the books 3 months later on Sept. 6th, 1848.
The Segundo copy was never transmitted to the general land office. They did not want the land grant making it to the glo maps. It would have required O'Connor to deal with Becerra's on a level-playing field. It was not going to happen.
Mark




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