It’s safe to say that anyone who met Judge Richard Egan never forgot him. Soon after Helena Modjeska was introduced to him, in fact, the Polish actress living in the canyons dubbed Egan “The King of Capistrano.” Others saw him as the town’s alcalde, for he fulfilled the duties of mayor, judge and chief dignitary traditional to that title. Tall and courtly, Egan had been born in Ireland but served as a blockade runner for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Afterward, he sought out a place of quiet and found it in the little town of San Juan Capistrano.