User:PatriaDeTodos/El Tuerto de Pirón

Fernando Delgado Sanz, better known as El Tuerto del Pirón or Tuerto Pirón (Santo Domingo de Pirón, Segovia, May 30, 1846 - Valencia, June 28, 1914), was a very feared Spanish bandit although with a reputation for being kind, called so for having a cloud in the eye that covered with a patch. He worked mainly in the Sierra de Guadarrama and in the Río Pirón basin.

His life after death was fantasized and in a short period he was already part of popular myths and his adventures are sung from town to town. He is considered the last bandit in the Sierra de Guadarrama.

Childhood
He was born in 1846 in Santo Domingo de Pirón surrounded by farmers in the bosom of a humble family. The son of Ramón Delgado Adrados, a native of Escalona del Prado, and Ana Sanz de Ysabel, of Santo Domingo de Pirón. He had a carefree childhood in which he stood out for his picaresque, bored herding and his ability to get along with animals, he also learned to read, write and calculate, which was very rare and exceptional for the time.

Initiation
In 1866, after returning to his place of birth at the end of his military service, having embraced the idea of ​​freedom with its political side and having seen more of the world than most of his neighbors, he saw that his girlfriend named Paula Adrados was betrothed to her with the Blessings from his father had married another young man from the town, who after family pressure and especially from his father, who was a cazique in the area, agreed. This was due to the fact that this boy's family had more possessions than Fernando's. It was then that after exonerating his former girlfriend, whom he still loved, and her new husband, with a broken heart, he began his criminal career with his legendary and vengeful first crime. This consisted of stealing the best lamb from the father of his girlfriend and eating it with the help of his friends in a cave in the Losana de Pirón area. All with the aim of mocking and ridiculing him before the population of the area, which he did achieve by leaving the remains and skin of the animal at his door along with the text "for the godfather." The news spread like wildfire and he quickly became famous in the whole area.

Misdeeds
When he was the victim of his first crime, an influential person immediately put the Civil Guard in his search and he was forced to live off the robbery by hiding in the Caves of the Vaquera and Murciganillos in Losana de Pirón and the old Olmo de Rascafría. His misdeeds were based mainly on theft of cattle, rich houses and churches, assaults on walkers and travelers, as well as asking for ransoms after the kidnapping of members of the bourgeoisie, nobility and clergy. He formed a band with rustlers from the area being some childhood friends of his who supported his interest throughout his life. The crimes became more and more serious and in an increasingly wide area, he committed crimes only with the objective of survival. Despite the murky stories that were told to his interest, he only committed one murder and allowed another by one of his companions, both traitors of the gang, unlike most bandits he was disgusted with blood.

One of his most important misdeeds was the complicated church robbery of Tenzuela entering through the roof and without leaving a single trace.

Death
He died at the age of 78, a prisoner on June 28, 1914 (the same day and year that the First World War began) after being imprisoned for 26 years in the San Miguel de los Reyes Prison, Valencia province. , where he spent his last days plunged into decadence, loneliness, bitterness and faced claustrophobia, a couplet that read:

Police description
In his searches he was described as follows by the Civil Guard:"“Age, 35 years; stature, rather tall than short; wide and loaded on his back; Wide face; color, brown; shaved beard; with a little mustache. As a particular sign, a hail in the left eye. He wears blue trousers, a brown cloth waistcoat, and a long checkered jacket or jacket; good black boots, and a wide hat or blue beret much used. '"In an article published on August 16, 1921 in El Adelantado de Segovia, he said that many times he would walk through the city calmly greeting the Segovian citizens with all his impudence, as they recognized him as they were speechless with fear:"“The famous Segovian bandit did not shy away from appearing in public; taking the case of taking, on the way, a seat in the cars of the land and getting off where he seemed. Courteously saying goodbye to the passengers who had recognized him, but who were careful to let him know to avoid dangerous inconveniences. '"

Reino of the Tuerto
He created a small band of rustlers among his childhood friends and others from the town of Espirdo, Segovia and Madrid. The most important were Barroso, Aquilino Benito Pérez, Consuegra and two brothers called Los Tormenta.

Their zone of power was called El Reino del Tuerto or País del Tuerto because of the power and control they exerted over the place. It extended throughout the region of the river Pirón, the valleys of Río Viejo, that of Lozoya and that of the Río Pirón up to Pedraza, part of the Cega river basin in addition to both slopes (Madrid and Segovia) of the Sierra de Guadarrama although his misdeeds are famous throughout the province of Segovia and Madrid, in the town of Rascafría where he is famous for hiding in his centenary elm. or also in towns as close to the Segovian capital as Tres Casas (now Trescasas) and Sonsoto, although in the latter two he was unsuccessful. Some of his actions were carried out in neighboring municipalities of the province of Valladolid with the province of Segovia. On both sides of the Sierra de Guadarrama he was known, sought after and highly feared. .

In popular culture
The history of the bandit is still very present in the popular culture of the area, there are several rural houses and restaurants with his name where he once took refuge. In addition to numerous verses and romances in the popular culture of the area that narrate its history and its most famous feats, such as the "Copla del Tuerto Pirón" or the book "Romances de El Tuerto de Pirón" narration by Tomás Calleja that runs through the adventurer life of El Tuerto. A street in Santo Domingo de Pirón now bears his name and has become a tourist reference in the entire area where he performed. It has been claimed that El Tuerto stole from the rich to give to the poor, which is not known for sure. His figure and history have also been used by public institutions with the aim of re-mobilizing inmates from the Segovia jail.

Couplet ofTuerto Pirón:
Be very careful with one-eyed man, than the one who follows the trail,

fixed that ends up dead,

that he is one-eyed with double sight.

-Anonymous

Main romance of El Tuerto de Pirón:
Fernando Delgado was a daring young man, to whom a cloud in the eye earned him the nickname 'El Tuerto'.

Mowing and plowing killed him, grazing bored him,

and while others gave the callus, taming his body,

he was in the sun as a straw of rye.

He was a doctor of roads in rounds and wanderings,

friend of owls, shadows and dogs,

farruco like the most and very long of fingers.

-Tomás Calleja (1922-2018)