Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-06-24
Olguin w anted 80
Feet of Rope In
stead SO Years
MUROERERs |NCARCERATED
Prisoners Convicted at Re.
cent Term of Rio Ar.
riba Court.

Seven prisoners and five OF them
convicted Of murder in the second de,
gree were lodged in the Territorial
penltentiary Saturday evening by
Sheriff Narciso Sanchez and two dep.
utles OF Rio Arriba County. Four Of
the men found guilty of homicide
We're sentenced to terms of ninety
nine years which is equivalent to life
Imprisonment. The other man was
given the minimum sentence of five
years on account Of mitigating cir.
| cumstances connected with his
crime
Trinidad Olguin and Henry Romero,
two OF the life term conylcts sent.
enced at the recent term of the. dis.
trict court of Rio Arriba County, were
| convicted OF the murder OF a man
| named Archuleta which occurred
about three months ago at Chama.
Archuleta it will be remembered, was
| lured from a saloon for the purpose
OF robbery and was struck over the
head with a rock which resulted in
his death almost instantly. Olguin
| and Romero fed but were later ar
rested and the latter confessed his
part in the crime.
When Romero was arraisned he
agreed to plead guilty and give the
details of the killing and the plot to
| rob Archuleta il he was let off with
life sentence. Inasmuch as it would
have been difficult to have secured a
conviction of Olguin without the tes-
timony of Romero and for the further
reason that Romero insisted that he
had been an unwilling accomplice the
plea OF guilty in the second degree,
was finally accepted by the court, and
a sentence Of ninety-nlne years in
prison imposed .~.
Begged to Be Hung.
Oiguin wko Is the older of tis.x two
| men ano has served term III the
penitentiary once before, was tried by
a jury and was found guilty on the
evidence furnished by Romero. o.
gum was also given sentence of
ninety.nine years Olguin protested
his innocence and when he was be-
fore the court for sentence he begged
to be hung rather than sent to the
prison for the rest Of his natural life.
He said he would rather the Judge
would give him ninety-nine feet OF
rope than ninety-nine years in the
penltentiary but the court was unable
to accommodate the prisoner owing
TO the verdict of the jury.
Il Crecencio Gonzales, who was f.noth.
er of the prisoners sentenced to nine
ty-nine years Imprisonment was con-
victed of the murder of his wife
which occurred last year at his home
in Rio Arriba County There was
no eye witness to the tragedy aside
from Gonzales but suspicion pointed
strongly to him as being the perpetra,
tor and he finally confessed. Con
| |
on the night before the murder was
committed and some of the people in
his home community are of the Opin-
ion that he was mentally unbalanced
at the time. Gonzales had been away
from home working for about year
and killed his wife shortly after his
return. When arraigned plea of
guilty to murder in the second degree
was accepted by the court
Carlos Valdez, who was the fourth
; man who received life term In pris-
on entered a plea of guilty to mur-
der in the second degree which was
accepted. He was arrested for kill.
ing one man and wounding another
while on drunken debauch lasting
four days. The wounded man has
since recovered. Valdez is married
and has a wife and five children.
Indian Gets Five Years for Murder.
Antonio Trujillo who was sentenced
to five years in prison for second de-
gree murder is Pueblo Indian who
4
! killed a fellow tribesman In a fist
i fight at Santa Clara. Trujillo offered
to plead guilty to murder in the sec
ond degree which was accepted. Su
perintenient Clinton j. Crandall oi
! the U. S. Indian agency informed the
: court that the Indians had been on
/ a general drunk at the pueblo at the
time the killing occurred when ga
looms were selling liquor to them IL
the belief that there was no law un
der which the proprietors could b
punished after the Territorial Su
preme Court had decided the Unitet
Y States law inapplicable to the Pueblo
Indians and before the present Law
forbidding the sale of intoxicants wa
enacted by the Legislative Assembly
~ = n "a