Arizona citizen., 1874-09-05
SATURDAY,
INVESTIGATION OF MURDER.
Particulars of the Murder of Hayden
 and Hughes.

As stated last Saturday, J. W. Clark, deputy coroner for the occasion, went to
 Cababi to examine into the circumstances,
 so far as available, of the murder of Mi chael Layden and George Hughes. He
 performed that duty and returned Satur=
 urday. He obtained the affidavits of w. l. G. PoindeXter and Jose Juan Morales,
 Here is that of MT. Poindexter:
 William G. PoindeXter being duly sworn
 deposeS and says: am resident Of Ca 1 babi district, county or Pima, ana 1errl- l tory of Arizona. l knew Michael Layden and George Hughes in their life time. l knew George Hughes perfectly well. l have known Layden about one month. l
 arrived in the Cababi district on the 20th
 day of August, 1874, with Mexican by the
 name of Morales and our families, togeth- CT with a boy. l came directly from SO nora to the district. We all went imme-
 diately to Layden'S cabin for the purpose
 of spending the day there. It was about | o'clock in the morning when we arrived. l The Mexican Tn advance of the wagon a
 few hundred yards, went to the cabin but came back to meet me before came up, | abOut sixty feet from the cabin door. He said: PoindeXter things look very ugly here, I asked him what is the matter?
 He repeated the same saying, VIZ: Ihlngs 1 look very ugly here. ] then went to the
 cabin in company with the Mexican. We found no one at the cabin but large pool 1 of blood in front of the door. We then sup | posed that a murder had been committed. | We then followed a trail, over which we
 supposed some hing had been dragged to
 an old shaft about forty yards in the rear | of the house. Upon arriving at the shalt
 we discovered the body of Michael Lay den lying at the bottom of the shaft. l
 think he was lying on his right side,+with his head resting on his right hand. 1dis-
 tinctlv saw his face and am positive that
 1t was Michael Layden; l saw that his head had been split open or broken Tn by some powerful weapon. The wound seem- | ed to be imm ediately above the eye; l saw but one wound and l considered it to be mortal one. He was dressed m a par of light white drawers, and shirt ot same | kind as drawers. He was in his bare feet. The shaft to the place where he lay. l should judge to be about thirty-five feet in depth. I Idiscovereds no other body at that time. There is a pole across the shaft about half way down, upon which hung a mattress saturated with blood. Mr. Mo rales then mounted one Of my horses anu started for the Indian rancherla about
 three leagues distant, for the purpose of linuuiring of the Papagos If they knew any thing of the murder. He returned alone
 about ? or o'clock in the afternoon of
 same day. He told me that he had made
 arrangements with two Indians to come lover that afternoon to get the body out oi the shaft, agreeing to pay them each S2 n
 nroyisiOns. Before MT. Morales had start
 ed for the Papago village, we found large, heavy axe on the roof of Layden's house, smeared with blood. At about o'clock
 n. m. the Indians arrived. We then pro-
 ceeded to the shaft for the purpose Of get ting out the body. The Indians then de scended down the shaft to the first bench. about eight feet down. They then stopped a r,>l e.f~.ad that there were tu,H dnlh "ndiHe T at ne bottom or T1IG sian. On account oi
 the stench they refused to go further down ) and came up. Mr. Morales and the boy then went down to the bench and also
 stated that there were two bodies. I then
 went around the shaft so that l could get a
 better view, and then saw two bodies at
 bottom of the shaft. l recognized the oth-
 CT body to be that of George Hughes. He was lying on his side with one of his legs doubled up under the other. His face was perfectly visible. He had on a striped
 pair of pantaloons, which judged to be Of
 dark cassimere, and white Woolen shirt.
 I do not reme Der about his feet. There
 were bruises upon his head, and it seemed as if it had been crushed in. MT. Morales and myself then consulted together and
 determined not to cover them up until the
 authorities had been informed oft the mat ter. I will state here that a fearful stencil
 was then arising from the shaft. 1 should judge that the bodies had been there about four days. We then made arrangements
 with one of the Indians to take the news to Tucson the next morning, agreeing 10 pay him therefor SO. arose early Ine next morning and wrote d letter to the
 sheriff, but the Indian did not come for it that day. He did not come the next day. Meanwhile, endeavOred tO get other Ind ians but could not until the Sunday fol- lowing, the 23d, when Capt. Jose Maria Ochoa came to my camp with a lot of Ind T ianS when l made arrangements with him to dispatch an Indian with my letter
 of the 2lst together with a postscript of the 23d On the 22d the Stench became un- bearable and we concluded to cover them up We then threw about eight or ten feet of dirt over the bodies as they were lying
 in the shaft.
 On the 29th day of July last, in the even- ing on my return from Tucson to Cababi, 1 I met d Mexican by the name of Jose By estero, whom 1 knew in Fl PlumO in So-
 nora, about one league this side of Tucson
 on the road leading to the Cababi district. 1 Mr. Morales had some conversation with
 him, of what purpOrt l did not know at 1 the time. ByesterO got on our wagon and came back to the Cababi district with us. l He told me that he was out of work; 1 gave him encouragement to come on with me
 to the Cababi district, where l thought he
 could get work from Layden, believing 1 him al the time, from my knowledge Of 1 him in Sonora, to be hard working,
 honest man. He came back with me
 and we stopped at Layden'S, arriving at l August. We had breakfast at Layden'S. Knowing that Layden was alone and
 needed assistance, 1 said to him: Mack,
 here is a man looking tor work, have you got any work which you can give him? 1 Iyt