The copper era and Morenci leader. [volume] (Clifton, Ariz.) 1911-1929, 1915-08-06
POSTPO N { N EN- I
Of HANG|NGS
EXPLAINED

A special correspondent of the
Phoenix Republican sent to. Florence
ahead of the scheduled hangings of the
four Mexicans who were to be exc
cuted last Friday throws some light on
the inside reasons as to how and why
the postponement took place. The
article was sent out July 20, and in
part is as follows:
Florence, July 29.-At the end of
a day and a part of a night of blum
dering there was accomplished what
everybody knew would be accom-
plished, the postponement of the exc
cutfon of the four murderers, Rodri-
guez, Chavez, Peralta and Perez, the
date of whose reprieves would have
expired yesterday. There had been
ostensible preparation for their exc
cution but they knew and every one in
authority knew that they would not
be hanged then
If they had had to depend upon IA
vorable action by the board of pardons
and paroles on the request of Secre-
tary of State Lansing for a further
!reprieye for them, tonight would be
their last on earth for it was evident
that the board intended to make no
recommendation q
There was nothing left but the has
beas corpus proceedings but they were
ample. Application had been made in
the absence of Superior Judge Baughn
for writs of habeas corpus on two
grounds; first, that the warrants were
defective in that the title "The State
of Arizona" had been ommited, and on
the further ground that the men had
been twice in jeopardy, the last time,
when they were granted reprieves
without their solicitation If Judge
Baughn had been here, it is believed
that no such application would have
been filed. But in his absence, Gov
ernor Hunt had designated Judge j.
A. McAllister of Graham county to
take jurisdiction.
The Program Disarranged.
The judge appeared nervous and
disturbed. The audience in the court
room consisted chiefly of officials and
guards of the state prison Messrs.
Struckmeyer and Jencks appeared for
the petitioners, and Assistant Attor-
ney General George Harden for the
state. Mr.. Harlem was assisted by
County Attorney H. G. Richardson Ss
Pinal. The arguments disclosed so
little ground for the issuance of the
writs that the court denied them
whereupon it appeared that a vital
mistake had been made That order
if permitted to stand would leave the
matter at and end. From such an
order there could be no appeal carry
ing with it a stay of execution.
This was a. serious matter; the sit
uation was one that must be remedied
somehow but how was not clear
Messrs. Harden and Richardson dwelt
upon the finality of the proceedings
and insisted that nothing more could
be done.
But it was later developed by the
attorneys for the petitioners that
there was a way. A recess was taken
until seven o'clock tonight when
motion was made by the attorneys for
the petitioners to vacate the order of
the afternoon, denying the writ.
This motion became the subject of
a heated argument but at length it
was granted by the court and it was
followed by another motion to dis
charge the condemned from the Gus
today of the warden. This motion was
based on the same grounds that had
supported the application for the
writ. The motion, of course, was de-
manded to the custody of the warden.
But the purpose of the friends of the
murderers had been served as effec-
tually as if the motion had been
granted The order was one from
which an appeal could be taken and
notice of it was given. The bond of
the murderers was fixed at $1OO each.
Assistant Attorney General Harden
said tonight that his disgust had over
come his interest in the matter. At
a late hour tonight the appeal had
not been perfected and unless it
should be at ten o'clock tomorrow
morning, the assistant attorney gen.
erai viii advise Warden Simms to pro-
ceed with the execution. But the ap-
peal will be perfected. There will be
no execution on July 80. There was
never a possibility that there would
be after Judge Baughn started on his
vacation.
changing Day" Again.
Here in Florence they referred to
the occasion with what might be
taken by the visitor as a somewhat
facetious view. While the learned law
yers and jurists passed en- route to
the court to tell each other that the
law had made some terrible mistakes,
that the judges who had passed on
the cases of the men had overlooked
the real law points, native standing
on the sidewalk called to his friend,
Hi Bill,it is hanging day again, amt
it?"
That Florence was either too busy
or toe Indifferent to take any interest
in the court cases of the men was
evidenced by the fact that the court
room held less than a dozen men save
the lawyers who were telling a pa
tient judge how their colleagues made
such glaring mistakes, and what the
remedy from his viewpoint might be.
Florence on Hanging Day" diff
fers little from Florence on any other
day. In fact it's dollars to doughnuts
that a good dog fight could stir up
more interest than is manifest on the
streets of the metropolis of Pinal to-
day. But then you can get used to any
thing.