The Coconino sun., 1924-07-11
MAN KILLED BY HALF
BREED; KILLER SOUGHT
(Continued from Page one.)

effective. The men closed, Gonzales
trying to get the gun. The third shot
struck Gonzaless' left thigh, dropping
him.
Then Romero stood over the fallen
man, deliberately emptying his revol-
yer. One shot entered the abdomen,
another the face and another pene-
trated the heart.
Gavino Tafoya, tried to interfere,
but Romero rapidly reloading the gun
pulled down on him. Then he walked
west. A block or so southwest of
where the killing occurred, between San
Fanciseo and Leroux streets, Carmel
Ramirez came up out of the river bed.
He had run that way to intercept
Romero.
The latter, his gun reloaded, order
ed Ramirez to stop. Ramirez grab
bed rock and kept on coming. Ro-
nero shot him twice, both bullets en-
tering the left leg, one in the lower
thigh, the other in the calf, both MAX
ing flesh wounds. Ramirez dropped.
Romero snapped the gun at him sever
al times more. Whether he had only
two cartridges in it when Ramirez in
tercepted him, or the gun missed
fire is not known. Anyway, Ramirez
escaped death by a narrow margin.
Romero kept ON west. The score or
more of witnesses were panicstricken
and no attempt was made to follow,
though he was seen to pass alongside
the armory. behind which he disap-
peared.
The officers have secured the
woods southwest of town. 1t was be-
lieved Romero would return for the
night to the logging camp. But Jesus
Ramirez, brother of the wounded man,
hid out. in that vicinity for "a hours,
watching for Romero and resolved to
kill him. The latter did not appear at
the camp. Jesus Ramirez is lately
returned from the state penitentiary
where he served time 70 rassault on
Justin r. Cooper, present city mar
shall.
Romero dropped 20 of the cartrid-
ges in the street while reloading af-
ter shooting Ramirez. This leaves
him at least two full loads.
Romero came here in April, from
Eel Paso. The man who arrived with
him went to work in a Saginaw d
Manistee Lumber Co. camp at Belle
mont and Romero in the Al. i. d L.
Co. camp. The latter is about 22, and
looks anywhere from Is to "a He is
believed to be half Yaaui Indian, half
Mexican. He is light for his race,
face slightly pock-marked, is smooth
faced, weighs 40 pounds, is. 5 feet
8 in height. He wore blue waist over
alls, blue shirt, blue jumper, black
crush Kingsbury hat about 6 3-4
size. The Smith e. Wesson he carried
is No. 423861.
Sheriff Campbell has letter writ
ten Romero by his father in Old Mexl-
co asking about chances to make liv-
ing up here gambling.
1t is believed the killer may have
been addicted to the use of drugs. He
gave no evidence of having been drink
ing.
Besides Tafoya, Louis Consino, pro-
prietor of the pool hall, Mrs. Gentry,
a Lopez boy, a Mier boy and Frank
Mccoy, CneT64 were HudleEuuS Otl6E
witnesses to one or both of the shoot
ings. All were much excited and
there was a great deal of discrepancy
in the descriptions. But the officers
believe the one given to be right. -
Romero had not been here long
enough to give good line on his
habits and associations, which makes
the hunt more difficult. 1t is believed
he will appear somewhere in the north
or central parts Of the state soon,
however, and that his arrest IS only a
matter of days.
The killer was, as far as known, un-
married. Both the man he killed, who
was about 43, and the one he wounded,
who is "a, have wives here. Ramirez
is a mill hand. He is at Mercy hos
pital and is getting along in good
shape. When Deputy Sheriff John
Matthews reached him after the shoot
ing he was sitting on stump and
had roughly bandaged his wounds.