The friar was successful in his labors until he endeavored to enlarge the sphere of his influence, when the jealousy, or possibly the cupidity, of the Indians led them to kill him, rather than permit the transference to some other tribe of the blessings which he had brought to them.[1]
Friar Juan de la Cruz is not mentioned by Castañeda nor by Jaramillo, but Mendieta and Mota Padilla are very clear in their accounts of him. He was an older man than the others, and had been engaged in missionary work among the natives of the Jalisco country before he joined this expedition. Coronado left him at Tiguex, where he was killed, according to Mota Padilla. The date, in the martyrologies, is November 25, 1542. Many natives of the Mexican provinces stayed in the Pueblo country when Coronado abandoned it. Some of these were still at Cibola when Antonio de Espejo visited it in 1583, while others doubtless made their way back to their old homes in New Spain, and they may have brought the information about the death of Friar Juan.
Friar Luis Descalona, or de Ubeda as Mota Padilla calls him, was a lay brother, who selected Cicuye or Pecos as the seat of his labors in New Mexico. Neither the Spanish chronicles nor the Indian traditions which Mr Bandelier was able to obtain give any hint as to his fate or the results of his devotion to the cause of Christianity.
THE RETURN TO NEW SPAIN
The army started on its return from Tiguex to Cibola and thence to Culiacan and Mexico early in the spring of 1542. The march was without interruption or diversion. As the soldiers reentered New Galicia and found themselves once more among settlements of their own race, beyond the reach of hostile natives, the ranks dwindled rapidly. The men stopped to rest and to recruit their strength at every opportunity, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Coronado was able to keep together the semblance of a force with which to make his entry into the City of Mexico. Here he presented his personal report to the viceroy. He had little to tell which could interest the disappointed Mendoza, who had drawn so heavily on the royal treasure box two years before to furnish those who formed the expedition with everything that they might need. Besides the loss in his personal estate, there was this use of the royal funds which had to be accounted for to the
- ↑ Vetancurt, in the Menologia, gives the date of the martyrdom of Fray Juan de Padilla as November 30, 1544, and I see no reason to prefer the more general statements of Jaramillo, Castaneda, and Mota Padilla, which seem to imply that it took place in 1542. Docampo and the other companions of the friar brought the news to Mexico. They must have returned some time previous to 1552, for Gomara mentions their arrival in Tampico, on the Mexican gulf, in his Conquista de Mexico published in that year. Herrera and Gomara say that the fugitives had been captured by Indians and detained as slaves for ten months. These historians state also that a dog accompanied the fugitives. Further mention of dogs in connection with the Coronado expedition is in the stories of one accompanying Estevan which Alarcon heard along Colorado river, also in the account of the death of Melchior Diaz, and in the reference by Castañeda to the use of these animals as beasts of burden by certain plains tribes.
Mendieta and Vetancurt say that, of the two donados, Sebastian died soon after his return, and the other lived long as a missionary among the Zacatecas.
