Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-01-10
POLICEMAN ANTONIO UAvARA
STILL CARRIES HIS READY GUN
Albuquerque Officer Who is Held for Hearing on Charge OF AS
saut With intent to Kill, Allowed to Continue in Active
Duty and Garry Arms; Victim Still inmate of Hospital.
PoGceman's Hearing This Morning in Old Albuquerque.

Policeman Antonio GuaVara of the
Albuquerque force, who gave n strIk-
ing exhibition of his speed and clever
ness with. and his willingness to use
his gun, when he shot Francisco Var
gas Just outside the city limits at Eff
teenth and Harrison streets Saturday
at noon. continued to perform active
duty on the police force yesterday,
both the police chief and the city add
ministration being apparently entirely
indifferent to the fact that Guavara is
under a charge of assault with intent
to kill.
Francisco Vargas. the wounded
man, who says he was warned at the
time of his encounter with the police
man, is stih an inmate of st. Joseph's
sanitarium. His wound is not danger
Gus and he will recover.
According to the allegations of the
Vargas men, however, it is no lault
of Policeman Guavara that the wound
was not a fatal one The policeman
showed n willingness to use his gun
and a speed in handling it which
would make him useful in the face OF
sudden attack or impending death.
But if the allegations of the Vargas
people are true, Guavara used his gun
without provocation, at a time when
his life was in no danger and upon
no more excuse than that he thought
:. fT1OllOH u val 6lS 'Nb al t'A'AN
draw n revolver.
If the version of the shooting given
by the Vargas people is proven, Qua
Vara is too quick and too handy win
his gun to have any business as an Of
ficer of the law in a peaceful and law
abiding community, where g~unfIghtefs
are rare and protection against thehi
all but needless. =.
That he was continued on duty and
in possession of a revolver while still
under the charge, which Will be heafu
in a preliminary trial in Old A~lbuquef-
que this morning, aroused sharp crltl-
cism and Indignation yesterday against
the administration which allowed H.
Comment on the case generally was
TO the end that If the charge against
Guavara made by relatives of the
wounded man is not true, it viii pc
quickly proven in the preliminary
hearing today; that if it is true, or
there is a reasonable Imposition thal
it is true. that GuaVar has no Dusl-
ness with firearms in his possession
and a commission as a policeman n
a deputy sheriff, and that II is a
least the duty of his superior otilcers
10 take the man out of COMMISSION
until il il shown whether he was
forced to shoot in defense of his lie,
or whether. he shot through FEAR, q
TOO ready trigger finger, or q lack OF
Judgment, any or Which shouiu
d%isoualifv him from service.
Guavara's hearing will take place
before Justice of the Peace Perea III
the court house basement this morn
ing at 10 O'Clock. He was az liberty
Yesterday under a bond of $1,000.
Young Camille Vargas, whose re-
fnsal to allow Dog Catcher Hunter to
take away his horse to the city pound
brought about the argument which re-
eulted in the shooting, will also be
given a hearing this morning before
Justice of the Peace Craig on a charge
Of resisting an officer. Vargas's re
sistance consisted in his landing a well
airected blow on the countenance OF
the dog catcher after that officer had
insisted on taking away the horse
which the boy claimed as his n
which he denied Vas a stray.