Arizona republican., 1919-12-02
MEXICAN DIES; SHOT IN. BACK;
 OLD MAN HELD
Ira Richards, 70 Years of
 Age, Will Face Coroner's Jury Today; Denies Being
 Party to Killing of Boy

Ustscio Espinosa, 21 years old, staggered from willow thicket ten miles southwest Of the city yesterday morning and fell on his face beneath d fence along the roadside. When reached by his brother in-law Soprano with whom he had been cutting wood he was dead with bullet wound in his body.
 Ira Richards, nearly 70 years old, and for 70 years a resident of the val ley has been arrested and is ln the county jail awaiting he verdict Cf d coroner's jury which will sit in Judge De Souza's court at o'clock today
 Sheriff Montgomery. Judge De Souza, Assistant County Attorney Johnson, Henry k. Larson, stenog- rapher. and a posse composed of Dep uties De Witt, Troutman, Blanco and Smith, boarded two motor cars inn mediately upon receipt of the news by telephone and rushed to the scene.
 The shooting. the officers say, took place in the river bottom seven miles west of Phoenix and three miles south at distance of 150 yards from the cabin where Richards lives, alone.
 Three shots were heard by J. $. kennisoD rancher. who told the sheriff that he had been in the thicket with a companion and that the bullets had passed over their heads A min ute had elapsed between the first and second shots and the third followed immediately, said Kennison.
 Soprano, a brother -in-law of the dead man, told the authorities that he and Espinosa had come with a wagon for wood earlier in the day and that each Of them was dragging an arm load of fagots from the underbrush out into the road when the shots were fired. It was his opinion that Espin- osa had been shot just as he emerged from the brush and that he had man. aged to drag himself across the road before he died.
 Soprano stated that the land or which they had been cutting wood be- longed to Richards, and that the lat ter had warned them away from th- place the day before, say the authori- ties.
 Denied by Richards
 Richards, who denies any participa ton in the crime, admits that he haC had an altercation with the Mexican: the day before, but is alleged to hay, stated that he could have killed then then, had he so desired, instead 0 waiting until yesterday.
 A rigorous examination of the ter rain by the posse finally was rewarded by finding an empty rifle cartridg, of 30-30 caliber at a distance of 15 feet from Espinosa's body. Track near the fallen cartridge corresponds, exactly in every detail to the shoe worn by Richards when he was ar rested, said Coroner De Souza.
 In spite of the density of the thicket lt is stated that a man who stoot where the cartridge fell would hav had clear view of the road at tn point where Espinosa emerged wit his load of wood.
 Richards stated to the coroner tha he was in his cabin when the shootinl occurred and that he can produce wit 1esses as proof of this. He stated t he coroner that he himself only hear two shots. He was digging in a bunc of drift cast up by the flood at tn time. searching for his grubbing ho. he said.
 Richards is well known to old resi- dents of the valley. Twenty years az he kept a soft drinks stand three mile and a half east Of Phoenix on tn Tempe road but at present he own forty acres of land, maintains a apairy and is engaged in farming.
 The dead man is survived by vii and two sisters.