[5] Hubert Bancroft, in his account of the events[6] at Downieville, refers to Segovia as either "The Mexican" or "the little woman" but used "Juanita" during his description of her trial.

[2] Irene I. Blea's book U.S. Chicanas and Latinas in a Historical Context claims that Josefa was a Sonoran and of good character.

Downie states Juanita retold the story of the "unfortunate incident", how she had been "provoked" and if done so again would "repeat her act."

[citation needed] Ten years later, James K. Polk suggested annexing Texas, but also put California as a high priority on his list of territory to acquire.

Because society at the time was based on a waged labor, the idea that a person could obtain wealth by finding gold became irresistible.

Despite the fact that the work of mining was the hardest kind of labor, the promise of gold drew miners west every year.

[14] Northern California, where Downieville is located, received the majority of the Anglo migration during the beginning of the Gold Rush.

Josefa was put on trial the next day, and the jury consisted of Cannon's friends and companions while the rest of Downieville waited for the results.

Josefa was hanged immediately following the trial, and some accounts say that her last words before she was executed were "Adiós Señores".

[18] She is widely known to be the first woman to be executed by hanging in California [9] Mr. Manly wrote, "Juanita went calmly to her death.

She wore a Panama hat, and after mounting the platform she removed it, tossed it to a friend in the crowd, whose nickname was 'Oregon,' with the remark, 'Adios, amigo.'

Then she adjusted the noose to her own neck, raising her long, loose tresses carefully in order to fix the rope firmly in its place; and then, with a smile and wave of her hand to the bloodthirsty crowd present, she stepped calmly from the plank into eternity.

Mr. Manly's book is generally a first person account of his experiences migrating to California to mine for gold.

This has been used to advance the idea that those who lynched her may have been right that she had murdered Joe the miner when he was not actually threatening her safety.

Due to conflicting witness statements and vague details some modern commentators believe that Juanita did not murder Frederick Cannon.

[8] Segovia and the events leading to her death are a major plot point in Girls of the Golden West, a 2017 opera by John Adams based on the letters of Dame Shirley.