The Lantern and Pretty Mary – Brazil’s Bandit King and Queen Lampiao and Maria Bonita

1. Could the Lantern and Pretty Mary Have Survived and Lived Happily Ever After?

Lampiao and Maria Bonita entered the realm of folklore, and as often happens with folk tales, many demand that the story end with the hero riding off into the sunset, and living happily ever after. Over the years, many legends have cropped up to the effect that the Lantern and Pretty Mary had survived the 1938 surprise attack on their camp. Faking death had occurred frequently in the cangaço, and key cancageiros had done so. It was even reported that one of Lampiao’s brothers had done just that in 1926, to get out of the bandit life. Lampiao had amassed a huge fortune, which some historians estimate to have been as much as one billion Brazilian reais. With that, some theorize that he paid off officials to enable his escape and disappearance.

There is evidence that, before the 1938 attack, Lampiao had grown weary of the bandit life. New police tactics and advances in radio and transportation enabled the authorities to steadily tighten the net around him, and Lampiao had expressed interest in an escape to the state of Minas Gerais. Moreover, at least one of the soldiers who had participated in the 1938 attack that destroyed the famous bandits gang disputed the official version, and did not believe that Lampiao had died in that engagement. In 1996, a journalist requested the exhumation of a corpse buried in Buritis in 1993, suspecting that it was that of the infamous cangaceiro. Lampiao’s own daughter shared that suspicion, and agreed to take a DNA test to compare it with the buried body’s. However, the request to exhume the body was denied by the judiciary.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Adventures in History – The Saga of Anesia Cauacu (Portuguese)

Adventures in History – The Relationship of Lampiao and Maria Bonita in 5 Facts (Portuguese)

Aguiar, Jose Gerlaldo – Lampiao the Invincible: Two Lives and Two Deaths (2017 – Portuguese)

Chandler, Billy Jaynes – The Bandit King: Lampiao of Brazil (1978)

History Collection – Mysterious Slayings and Crimes of the Victorian Era

Folha de Sao Paulo, March 8^th, 2023 – Highlighting the Diversity of Women in Our History Means Fighting Against Violence (Portuguese)

Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1 (May, 1975) – Political Structure and Social Banditry in Northeast Brazil

Lima, Joao de Souza – The Warrior Trajectory of Maria Bonita, The Queen of the Cangaco (1989 – Portuguese)

Maciel, Frederico Bezerra – Lampiao: His Times and His Realm (1979 – Portuguese)

Miranda, Marcos Paulo de Souza – Jurisdiction of the Captains: A History of Januario Garcia Leal, Seven Ears (2001 – Portuguese)