The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon. (Canon City, Colo.) 1911-192?, 1919-08-07
ROMERO BEGINS
LIFE AMEN As 4
PUPIL In Pen
PRIMARY CLASS
Committed Murderer Starts at
the Bottom. Determined to
Become Educated.

Cruz Romero. the condemned muir
derer. whose sentence to be hung was
recently commuted to life imprison-
ment by Gov. shoup. will soon regis
ter a. pupil In the primary class Al
the penitentiary school here with the
intention OF laying the foundaticn for
an. education that will ultimately. II
persisted in. enable MN TO read and
write. Romero Is the most denseiy
Ignorant man in the penitentiary, and
1t was largely due to that fact that
the governor granted him commu-
tafion. The failure OF the state TO
provide him with the advantage OF the
public schools. strangely enough
saved him from paying the supreme
penalty for his crime Society was
dereIict In. its duty TO him and be-
cause OF it's neglect he was given i'm.
munity from the hangman's moose.
Romero is not an imbeciie; he Is
NOT feeble-minded. He Is simply .
child OF nature, uncuitured. untausht
and animal-lii<e In his instincts. very
much AZ the primitive man OF the
stone age may have oeen. Born In
Southwestern Colorado. he was left
An orphnn al an early age by the
death OF his natural guardians ana
protectors. Knowing no home or
frierdz. he Was kicked about from
pillar to post like . stray dog and
grew .up without she humauixtnE m
fiuences of civilization raying any AZ
tenflon TO him.
Romero never went 70 school dat
IN his life until entering the prison
ciasses Of instruction week OF no
ago. consequently can neither read nor
write. Hs speaks only few words
of broken English and the Mexican
iarron he uses does not. perhaps. com
,prise a vocabulary Of more than 100
words. Most OF the language and ex-
presrions OF his more fortunate fe'-
lows are rs incomprehensibie to him
as the tongue OF the Choctaw Indian
or the Chinese cooiie-
Living 4 more or less iaw-ahidinE
life Romero grew up as herder OF
sheen on the lonely wastes. OF was
engaged In the most menial labor. all
the time as ignorant OF the moral pre-
cepts OF Christianity ms OF Its hfera'
ture. II was because OF the fross
ignorance Of the prisoner. conrled
with the fact that mankind had
rhirked its responsibility 10 him. 'het
Gov. shoup was mod 20 commune
btr sentence. He b 'ieyes that TO-
the state TO take the 'tfe Of such p
man would be ~ wrn-~ and incon-
sistept as II would Re fc- Il TO hrnr
a child. of dumb snima' 20 crime
similar to the one he cowvnittcd.
since his repricve pome- has been
taken from the death cei' -nd as
signed to work In the wash house at
the prison. As soon as the convict
school opens IN the frii he VIII he
enrolled rs student. and for the FIRST
time In his career riven chance 10
obtain the rudiments OF an education.
Romero was convicted of murder in
the G'erwcod SnrIugs district cc',rf
for comp,;city IN the killing Of N~~-
icnn rnncher os Garfield county. H'a
associate iu the crime was sent -
the perisentirrv for 'ong ferfn. ard
is now fnrarcernfei within 'ts wave
The rnuehe- wns murdered for tho
purpose Of robbery. His siavers buried
the hodv md :. ~--s many mrrths
before tho. authorities ascertained
what had her~vee ~ him. About a
year afterwards po~,e-o prd his pr'
attcm~sed r. sell TO rc-rhsut In
GIcwcc' ss~t-vt wpsch known To
have be'on~ea ~ tho dead man. They
ware arrested FOR the crime and final
ly convicted In the court.