Weekly journal-miner., 1915-03-24
MURDER SUSPECTS
 NOW IN CUSTODY
(From Saturdays Daily.l

(From Saturdays Dailyl
 Murder will out, is an old and true
 saying, and yesterday one of the most atrocious crimes ever committed ir this county was again wildly recalled as four Mexicans were brought to the city and placed in the county jail suspected of the killing of John Drain at Seligman on the night of Septem- Der II, 1914. Whether guilty or not the chain Of circumstantial evidence that surrounds this quartette is strong and convincing. and unless cleared away, the men in custody will face a serious fate.
 The arrests were made at Williams by Deputy Sheriff Robert Burns on the advice of Sheriff Joe Young of this city. All men in custody arc Mexicans, who refused to give their names at the time of being arrested, but later in this city disclosed their identity They are Melquinades Vil- Ilaprando, Ramon Precz, Augustin Vil- lalprando and Antonio Garcia, all section employees of the Santa Fe railroad. They were immediately taken to Flagstaff after being arrest ed and all were separated Under Sheriff Atkins of Coconino county dc livered them to Sheriff Young in this city yesterday, and the latter officer has continued to keep them apart According to statements made by Officer Atkins the Mexicans told con flicting stories in many instances concerning their movements and oth- CT vital matters during the wave of crime along the railroad at the time when Drain was killed and many burglaries were committed at Selig- man, Ash Fork and other places.
 The Roundup.
 The Mexicans were taken into GUS tody on the charge of each having in his possession a Colts six-shootcr. These weapons were found in cab in at Williams. where three of them were living. The third Mexican was taken into custody at Fairview, and in his possession was another gun of the same make. All were secretly numbered, and they were identified as having been part of the stock in the Pitts store at Seligman on the night of the murder. Recovered in the roundup was another six-shooter, a bolt of silk and other stolen articles taken from the Babbitt-Poulson store on the night of August 31, 1914, when that robbery occurred. The gun and goods were also identified as owned by that firm.
 Young's Still Hunt.
 Entering the office of sheriff on January 1, of this year, Sheriff Young centralized all his criminal ability to- ward running down the slayers of Drain He was familiar with the case in all its details when the crime was He stated last night that he never doubted but that the mur- 1erers were lurking in the country, that the series of robberies committed on the main line of the Santa Fc were due to an organized band, and with the hope that sooner or later some of the stolen property would make its appearance, he persisted in directing careful obscr- fations to be made of certain sus- oicious channels.
 The climax has come at last, and whether or not the men arrested arc proven guilty. the first link in the hain has been broken, and the road s clear in running down the perpetra- ors. Sheriff Young, with the clues ,iven, leaves for the main line in ew days, to make further investiga~ ions. The men in custody are known o have been in the Ash Fork and { ,eligman sections at the time of the ( obberies and murder. In their work [ $ section employees they were shifted 1 rom one place to another on the rail oad. (
 History of Crime. John Drain was the watchman of 1 he Pitts store at Seligman. On the ight of September II. last, he had I cen visiting with relatives and left leir home at about 9:3O o'clock. tating that he would go direct to le store and to bed. It is presumed nat when he entered the building he as assaulted. His nose and jaw U ere broken, when he fell to the floor Ic was stabbed three times in the ack also, and his dead body was II ,und the next morning at o'clock. Il is believed that the blows on his d zee stunned him, when the murder II as committed without any resist d nee whatever on his part. '