In October of 1789, a search for the owner of an abandoned carriage led to a gruesome discovery in the home of a wealthy merchant. Don Joaquin Dongo and his entire household had been slaughtered. Within days, Mexico City officials had located, arrested, and publically executed the murderers in the same plaza where laborers worked to unearth Aztec relics.

Buy Nicole von Germeten’s book Death in Old Mexico: The 1789 Dongo Murders and How They Shaped the History of a Nation on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Old-Mexico-Murders-History/dp/1009261525

Sources:

Rodriguez, Pablo. “Crímenes coloniales: codicia y crueldad en el asesinato del señor Dongo y sus dependientes (Ciudad de México, 1789)” Historia y Sociedad, no. 40, pp. 243-259. 2021.

Von Germeten, Nicole. Death in Old Mexico: The 1789 Dongo Murders and How They Shaped the History of a Nation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com