Chante Luna and the Commemoration of Actual Events

Abstract

On the first of January in 1891, a train departed Brownsville, Texas, on its way to Point Isabel on the Gulf Coast, with a large shipment of gold and silver. At a point known as Loma Trozada, where the narrow-gauge track passed through a small incline, this train was derailed by a gang of robbers who then locked the passengers in a boxcar and made off with the loot. It became clear that the leader of this gang of Robbers was a Texas-Mexican named Jose Mosqueda, who was eventually brought to justice and sentenced to life in prison.