Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-09-30
MEMCANS JAILED
ROBBERY SUSPECTS
Believed to b. the Men Who Stole
the Chinese Gardeners Money Box.

Officer Upton yesterday arrested a
couple of MeXicans who are undoubt-
eddy the men guilty of stealing Il trunk
some months ago from Chinese gar
dener and which is supposed To have
contained perhaps a couple of hundred
dollars Whether they can be con-
victed or not is another story. for the
Chinaman has gone back To the home
land, there Were no Witnesses. and
only circumstantial evidence confronts
the men. Their possession Of the
trunk is admitted but there is no one
To controvert the story Of how they
got il. The man believed to be the
real thief is Francisco Martinez. some
times known as Felipe Sanchez. which
name he was wearing when arrested.
His accomplice is Cornelio Contreras.
hop fiend. though il is said that
both appear To be victims Of drug
habits. They occupied a little house
near the Porto Rico saloon on Jack
son street. both men having been un-
der suspicion for some time. II will
be remembered by readers of The Re-
publican that a Chinaman reported
several months ago that some one had
little chest or trunk or whatever. else
one might choose to call il. which he
used to keep his money in. a de-
scription of the chest was secured but
the Chinaman could not describe the
thieves and there was no clue.
About two weeks ago Cornelio ap-
piled to officer Upton asking for the
arrest of his room mate, Martinez.
now going by the name Of Sanchez.
He said he feared Martinez was maxi
ing an effort to poison him The Of
ficer investigated but could find no
ground for the poison story. CorneliO
then told him that Sanchez was the
man who had robbed the Chinaman
and that the latter's chest was then i'm
their room He made a search for il
but to no purpose That night Cor
nelio told Officer Troutman the box
was there and the night police made
search and found il in COrnelios
trunk He said he did not know who
put il there The box was confiscated
and the next day Mr. Upton made a
search for SANCHEZ. whom he had seen
around the place al first and who he
had suspected all the time. Consta-
BILE Murphy. who had warrant. was
also looking for him but he disap-
peared and was not seen again by the
officers until yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon Officer Upton
saw both Sanchez and Cornelio behind
the Central saloon and watched them
go east To- Third street. then south 10
Jackson and west to their home. He
showed up at the Porto Rico just in
time to see them enter their house
nearby through a back door. He call
ed on them. pretending at the time not
TO recognize Sanchez. and asked Cor
nelio If Sanchez had ever returned.
Cornelio said he had not and then re-
marked to the officer: III bet you
thought this (pointing to his friend)
was Sanchez. The officer told him
he not only thought it but knew it and
was convinced Of their mutual Grim
inality. so he took them both to the
city Jail
At the jail both of them admitted
that Sanchez is the man who brought
the box To the room and placed ii in
Comedies trunk Sanchez accounts
for having the box by saying that he
found it in the weeds in the ncighbOr-
hood of the Arctic ice works. where
some one had thrown it. There was
no money in it of course. He offers
no reason why it should have been
brought home so carefully and placed
in another mans trunk. That may
seem odd but a man has a legal right
to be eccentric if he wants to.