The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-01-07
VAR ON AN OUTLAW
UTAR.SPENDS 81, 700 DAILY SEEK
ING RALPH LOPEZ
DESPERATE IS IN Mine {

DESPERATE Is in Mine
Fire officers Have Fallen Victims to.
His Deadly Aim Since the Murder
of Juan VaIdez-starvation and
Poisonous Gases Fail to Kin Him..
The search for Ralph Lopez, Mexi-.
can desperate now cornered in the
Ctah-Apex mine, near Bingham, is
costing Utah s1,700 a day. Nine
sheriffs and approximately zoo depu-:
ties and guards have been on duty.
every day and night since Nov. 26,E.
when the desperate fred the shot
that killed Juan Valdez and then;
took to the mountains The entire:
output Of a large mine has been cur;
tailed; the heavy machinery Of the.
law has been set at naught; there
are six newIy-made graves and Is
orphans, with two more soon to come.
into the world, because of this one
mans crimes and his defiance Of the.
law. ~:
Of splendid physique, due to a.
clean life in the open, Lopez has.
undergone hardships seemingly be-.
yond human endurance in the past.
month. He has baf1ed the ingenuity
Of some Of the cleverest officers IN
the West and when compared with
his record the worst men OF the.
rough days in the West appear al.
most as schoolboys. ss5.ss sssssfss
The spirit of the vendetta, 50 the;
story goes, was responsible for the.
career of crime on the part Of Lopez.
He avenged the death of his brother:
who was burned at the stake by Juan
Valdez in Mexico many years ago.:
Before his recent crime Lopez was;
regarded as a peace-loVing miner In
the Bingham copper district. Ans;
other story connects the name of a
woman of the underworld, who car-
ries the name Of Carmencitas, with
the cause of the quarrel. Which of
these rumors, If either, is correct may
never be known. -
Of the earlier life Of Lopez little is
known, but he was not considered as
a "bad man.. His early training on
the trails, and later his experience as
"dead shot, with Buffalo BilTs2
Wild West shows, are serving him all:
too we'll. To-day hidden In the.
bowels Of the earth, he is doomed to
death by starvation or from deadly
cyanide fumes.
Following the, killing Of Valdez on
the night of Nov. 20, Lopez, supplied
with food and arms and with pockets
0ulging from ammunition; took to-
the mountains, saying he would die.
fighting. In less than an hour off,.
GERS were on his trail. Chief Of Po-
lice J. W. Grant, Of Bingham, Deputy
Sheriff julius Sorenson, Otto Wit
beck and Nephi Jensen, Of Salt Lake
county, formed the posse. They rode
into trap and four shots spat spite.
fully from q hidden rife sent three
Of the men to their death. The hat
red for the polio which had its in
ception when officers restrained
Lopez in Bingham, had been partl!E
satisfied.
Posses were hurried from Salt
Lake City. Lopez kept them at a
distance. Using smokeless powder,
his place of concealment was always
unknown and he kept up a run Of
bantering talk with his pursuers for
an entire day. Hope Of ever seeing
the desperate again passed when he
vas ret fond after a few days OF
ord searching, but soon he return
ed to Bingham and entered the Utah
ADex mine in which he lad worked
for years. There he planned to make
his final fight, there he hoped to be
supplied with food and ammunition
~-'d 70 keep up an indefinite fight.
Openings to the lower level Of the
nine were blockaded and poisonous
gases created in the mine by the
burning Of cyanide, coal tar, hay and
ether materials. Deputy Sheriff ].
D. Hulsey and Tom Manderich. a Ser
Wan miner, were picked off while
carving chemicals into the mine.
The deadly sulphur and formalde-
hyde fumes were turned into the
tunnels and when we'll started the
openings were all ,bulkheaded with
earth and heavy timbers. The smoke
continued to pour Into5the mine five
davs when the bulkheads were re-
moved and after allowing the air to
circulate for eight hours. a little
party of volunteers, heavily armed
and carrying electri ctorches, start
and carrying electric torches, start
All week they searched carefully,
here and there finding footprints,
scrap of clothing or bedding oeeasian-
ally, but never sign Of the fugitive.
Occasionally a miner would report
talking to Lopez at some point in the
mine, but with the report came his:
resignation. He wouldn't dare face.
the bandit a second time.
at last, more than a week after
the final smoking Of the mine,
authentic information was believed TO:
have been received. The Mexican
was back in the Andy tunnel near
the scene of his last crimes. Every
avenue of escape was immediately
.bulsheaded, armed guards were plac-
ed at points of vantage, and the dese:
perado has been left to starTe to-
death. -
sFsS.--7sgSS :