The Unsurprising Murderer
Recently my Dad gave me a bunch of old family records of mostly dead ancestors. They were documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses, passports, visas, death announcements, and even some divorce papers. While I was simply skimming through them, I found this one:
It reads:
“Dear Sir: The records of this bureau show that the bearer, Nicholas Rocha, was arrested by this department April 23, 1926 for robbery by assault and transferred to Sheriff Beavers, Lamar, Colorado, April 28th, 1926. This charge was later changed to murder. Our files do not show the disposition of this case.”
Nicholas Rocha is my great-grandfather–my fathers’ mothers’ father. He was the one who slept on ant hills when immigrating to the United States (click here to read). I wasn’t all that surprised by this document for a few reasons and I did vaguely remember hearing something about this before. I couldn’t remember the full story so I texted my Dad and sent him the picture.
Me: Looking through those records lol
My Dad: That is the original document, I thought you might like that one.
Me: That one is fun.
I would like to highlight that my Dad thought I’d find a record about my great-grandfather being a murderer interesting. He was right, I did really find it fascinating–but it still screams Addams Family.
After no explanation came, I texted my Dad again a bit later.
Me: Do you know what had happened?
My Dad: About what?
The murder, Dad. The murder.
Before my great abuelo Nicholas was with my great abuela Andrea, he had been married to a woman named Maria. Apparently, Nicholas caught Maria cheating on him and subsequently beat and robbed the man she was cheating on him with. It’s unclear if Nicholas killed the man outright or if he died later from his injuries but either way, the charge was upped from robbery by assault to murder.
My Dad thinks that if Nicholas spent any time in jail at all, it wouldn’t have been long. In the 1920s, killing a man that was sleeping with your wife didn’t exactly carry harsh penalties most of the time. Very much “a murder but not a crime” mentality.
This story doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me though. Nicholas was not known for being a nice man. It seemed his main source of inspiration came from El Borracho in Lotería. A mean drunk. Eventually, he found Jesus through the Jehovah’s Witnesses and stopped drinking. But that didn’t stop him from being mean. He became one of those people who stood on the street corner and yelled at those walking by about how they were going to hell. With or without Jesus & with or without alcohol, I don’t hear many kind words about him. They say you’re not supposed to talk ill of the dead–but who better to speak ill of? What are they going to do about it? (Note: This logic does not apply to brujas).
But I don’t hide this story. I’m the great-granddaughter of Nicholas Rocha– a drunk, mean, born-again & then still mean murderer. Whether I want to be or not, I’m related to him and he’s a part of my family’s story. I’m not saying I have to find inspiration from problematic family members or even like them. Nicholas is not an inspiration, but rather a cautionary tale. Isn’t it something when your decedents aren’t surprised that you were a murderer?
My great abuela Libby (allegedly) hexing my great abuelo Chico for cheating on her doesn’t seem so bad now does it? (Click here to read)