The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1919-07-10
2 MURDERERS AT
pen WILL HANG
WEEK or Joy 20;|
one MORElk'T'lER
Romero, Sproul and Bosco are
the Candidates, Two Former
to Get Moose This Month.

There are three murderers at the
penitentiary here awaiting execution.
They are Cruz Romero. No. 1860;
Clifford Sproul, No. 10,671, and George
Bocko, No. 10,740. The two former
are under sentence to be hung during
the week beginning July 20. Bosco
will not be hung until some time in
September. The State Board of Par
dons has refused to interfere with the
course of the law in either of these
cases, and only executive clemency
can prevent the prisoners from pay
ing the supreme penalty for their
crimes. Gov. Shoup's views upon the
question of capital punishment are not
known. and whether he will inter-
vene to save the condemned men from
death is more a matter of speculation
than of actual knowledge.
Romero was brought to the pen,ten-
tiary from Garfield county March 16,
1913, and Sproul from Pueblo county
two days later. Bosco was also reg
istered at the prison on June s. He
is also a Pueblo county convict
Romero is native Coloradoan, but
of Mexican parentage and ancestry
He is densely ignorant of the affairs
of the world and is unable to read OF
write either the English or Mexican
languages. His mentality, which is
abnormally dull, has never been de
veloped, and his mind is like that OF
untaught child. Society has beer
niggardly with him in not preparing
him for the duties of citizenship, and
it is doubtful in view of his neglect
by his fellows, whether the state has
any moral right to hang him or not.
Romero and a companion, who els
now in the penitentiary serving life
sentence, murdered Mexican ranch.
er near Glenwood Springs for the pur
pose of robbery. After kil'ing theil
victim Romero and his pal buried the
remains and stole what moveablt
property he had. The disappearance
of the rancher created great excite
ment in the neighborhood where il
took place, but it was eight or nine
months later before his grave was
found and the matter explained. Al
though Romero was suspected of hav
ing had some connection with the
deed. it was not until he too4 watch
known to have belonged to the miss
ing man to a jeweler in Glenwood
Springs to have some repairs made to
it that the suspicion grew into con
viction. Romero and his companion
were shortly afterwards taken into
custody, and at the next ensuing term
of the Garfield county district court,
were convicted on the accusation set
forth in the warrant for their arrest
and sent to states prison.
Sproul is Negro and is a member
of family of criminals. Two of his
half brothers are doing time in the
penitentiary here for different Of
fenses and two others are convict in
mates OF the State Industrial School
for Boys at Golden. Sproul possesses
a keeneri intellect than Romero. and
is far more dangerous to society.
While prisoner in the Pueblo Jail he
murdered w w. Green. the jailer,
with a weapon that had been SNUG
gled to his cell by some outside per-
son. Both Romero and Sproul are
being kept in solitary confinement at
the prison and will soon be trans
fered to he death cell in anticipation
of their coming execution.
The crime for which Bosco has
been placed under condemnation of
death is fresh in the minds of the
people of Southern Colorado. and was
one of the most fiendish and unwar-
ranted that has occurred in this part
of the state in recent years. 1t need
not be recounted in detail at this time.
Suffice it to say that he was the prin-
cipal in the murder of William Hun
ter and Elton Parks. well known citi-
zens of Pueblo. whom he and his
brother. Tom Bosco, shot while rid
ing with them in an automobile near
Ryo, Colo. last April. Messrs. Hun
ter and Parks had picked up the
Eosco brothers along the road and
were giving them a ride When the lat
ter from the back seat of the ma
chine shot their benefactors To- death
with revoIvers. Tom Bosco is serving
life sentence in the Penitentiary
here. So inhuman was the lcrime
committed by these two brothers
that little sympathy VIII be expressed
when the moose is placed over the
head of George Bosco and he is hung
by the neck until dead.
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