{{inline, date=April 2020 Derienni was the group of the native bandits in the

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Department of Panama The Isthmus Department, or Department of Panama ( es, Departamento de Panamá, links=no), was one of the departments of the Republic of Gran Colombia and later of the Republic of Colombia. It was created in 1824 and named after the Isthmus of Pan ...

in the early 1850s, during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

. They would rob the

pack train A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

s crossing the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...

with sacks of

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gold and run off with it into the hills. These highwaymen harassed the gold trains to the point that several of the large shippers were considering transferring their business to the Transit Route of

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across the Isthmus of Nicaragua who promised to hire units of the Nicaraguan army as guards. The

Panama Railroad Company The Panama Canal Railway ( es, Ferrocarril de Panamá) is a railway line linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America. The route stretches across the Isthmus of Panama from Colón (Atlantic) to Balboa (Pacific, near P ...

sought help from Wells, Fargo & Company and a private police force, the ''Isthmian Guard'' was organized and led by Randolph Runnels, an ex-

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. He identified the ringleaders and suddenly one night in early 1852 he had 37 of them hanged in a public square and the trouble ceased for a time. After half a year, robberies began again Runnels and his men investigated again and after another night in late 1852, he rounded up the remaining offenders, 41 more were hanged ending the reign of the Derienni.

Sources

* Joseph L. Schott, ''Rails Across Panama - The Story of the Building of the Panama Railroad 1849-1855'', The Bob Merrill Company Inc., New York: N.Y., 1967. * Michael L. Conniff, ''Panama and the United States: the forced alliance'', University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 2001.

External links

The Derienni: Land Pirates of the Isthmus
Outlaws Outlaw gangs Crime in Panama 1850s in the Republic of New Granada California Gold Rush Colombia–United States relations Panama–United States relations

See also

Sources

External links