The Arizona sentinel., 1900-10-10
ORTIZ CONVICTED.
The Murderer of ". s. roffit Sem
 tenced to Hang.

can G2 twisted lnLO SOIEe SOfL Ol au e2E
 teruation of the crime by a versatile lawyer, and too often is @ minute threa6
 in the deit hands of an attorney wover
 into means of escape of atrociou,
 criminals from just punishment. BGt
 the murder of W. 5. Nioiiitt in the lit
 tie mining town of Harrisburg on the
 morning of August 18th last, had not [
 palliating feature, not mitigating cir
 cumstance in its entirety. The crime
 was brutal, cowardly, atrocious, and
 the motive a sordid desire to rob the victim of a few paltry dollars. The
 fact that Ortiz could have obtained the
 money without taking life, but prefer
 red to incur no shadow of a chance Of
 being discovered, striking his helpless
 victim while he lay sleeping, showed
 the manner of man he is: and when he
 was returned to his cell from the court
 room, where he had just learned of his
 conviction, knowing that his life must
 pay the penalty, Ortiz lay down on his
 cot and slept the afternoon long. It
 was not an exhibition of indifference,
 but rather of lack of sufficient intel ligence to realize his position. There are too many such degenerates, and too many of them are more fortunate than Ortiz in having funds, or friends who furnish them, to prOlong justice, some- times evading it entirely, often secur- ing prison sentences and then too ire quently pardoned and set free even be- fore half the term is served. This con dition of things applies to this territory aS well as many of the states and is leading incentive to lynchings and mob law generally.
 It is not subject for wonder, then, that when a just verdict is rendered, such as the one in this case, law-abid- ing citizens congratulate themselves and each other that there is no appar- ent obstruction in the way of averaging citizen Moffitt's murder.
 On the morning of August 12th last, MT. J. Rarick, who was clerking in W. s. Mofftt' s store at Harrisburg, on ar irving at the store discovered the dead body of his employer in bed on the porch where he slept, for it was only about six o'clock, with the skull on the right side of the head crushed in, evil dently by blow from some blunt in- ttrument. The horrible discovery created intense excitement in the lit tie town and the people at once began for clues of the perpetrators of the awful deed.
 The fact was revealed at a glance that terrible murder had been com mitted and the motive was robbery. The money drawers in the store had been rifed leash to the amount ofS278 and $2SO in cheeks: thirty dollars of the cash was silver. A bottle of bullion, a field glass, A. calibre revolver and some other articles were also missing.
 A further investigation about the premises revealed tracks of some per son barefooted, and the tracks being followed led to point about two hun dred yards from the store, where bare foot tracks were no longer to be seen but shoe tracks began, the left heel showing 8 plain impression of five hob nails. These tracks were followed to a ravine where the shoe tracks ceased and the imprints of a horses hoCfs be- gan, and were plainly to be seen from where the shoe tracks left Oif-the horse had apparently been running. These tracks led to Cullen'S Wells, about sixteen miles, where the rider, in left the telltale imprint of his left shoe upon the ground, and the parties in pursuit that they were on the right track. The men who had followed these clues were Mir. Saunders and Thomas Blair, and thus far and to the finale they did a clever piece of work. Arriving at Gull lens Wells, they inquired of H. A. T. Hanson as to who the rider was. Han son replied that it was Santiago Ortiz: the latter, Hanson said, had come there that morning and had gene with some parties to mine, but would return in a short time, and while the three men were talking Ortiz came up and imme- iiately Mr. Blair pinicned him with his arms and secured his gun.
 Upon searching Ortiz, the bottle of bullion and the S27S in cash were found most convicting evidence of his crime although he did not seem much dis 5urbed over the affair, and on being asked where he got the money, replied | that 'Red'' Mullin had paid it to him for work. As Mullen happened to be 1 elose at hand he was summoned, and 1 .aid to Ortiz, "I only paid you ten dol ars: how did you get the gold?" Ortiz | 'eplied that he had that before. Mul- | en then said, "You did not have it when you were with me-" The con- with Ortiz had been in Span sh and the murderer began to get un- easy and cast his eyes about as if to make an effort to get away, but his guards were tOo vigilant for that. Ff- 1ally Mullen asked the question point blank, Santiago, didn't you kill MT. Moffitt last night?''
 Craven and trembling, Ortiz an- ;wered, ''I did"
 "Where are the papers and other ,hings you took"