The Coconino sun., 1926-04-09
Murderers Played Cards To
See Which One Should Hang

and he asked my father about camp
ing places between there and Kanab,
Utah. My father told where to camp
and where to find the most wood,
water and grass, particularly telling
him to make camp two night later on
the same flat we had camped on top
of the Buckskin mountains (Kaibab
plateau). He thanked us, wished us
a pleasant trip and hoped we found
a good home in Arizona, and went
on. Late that summer, the Prescott
paper and Utah papers told of the
finding of the bodies Of the old peo
pie in a shallow grave ON the same
flat on which my father had directed
them to go, and they had been beaten
to death and the white man, the ne
! gro and the girl were gone Billy
Mulvenon was sheriff Of Yavapai
county then, and John Francis his
deputy at Flagstaff.
The bodies were dug up and taken
to Kanab. Brigadier Stewart Of Ka-
nab-afterwards sheriff of Graham
county-who is and was natural
/ ldetective-had overtaken the people
further up the Houserock valley and
/ had a good description of their outfit,
and he had noticed that when the two
men and the girl passed Kanab that
| the old people were missing. He ask
ed where they were and was told
that they had gone on the other road
and were to meet them above Kanab.
Then followed a great man hunt.
The two men had divided the outfit
and the white man had taken the girl
with him. As | remember it, the
white man and the girl were found up
in Montana and the colored man in
Nevada. They were all brought back
to Prescott. The white man gave the
name Of Frank Wilson, and the col
ored man the name of Johnson. The
owo men were tried, convicted, and
sentenced to death.
Prescott was the capital of Arizona
then and G. Mayer Zulick was the
governor. When the day of the exc
cution came, his excellency was pres
ent at the hanging. Wilson came
first, and when he was on the scat
fold ready to swing, he asked to
speak. He said that he was going to
place where he would have to an
swer for what he had already done,
and that he wanted no more to an
swer for than that what was already
against him; that he had killed the
old people and that the negro and the
girl had nothing to do withNit until
it was all over; that he had frightened
Johnson into not telling and that he
thought it was unjust to hang an in
nocent man just because he was a
"nigger."
The trap was then sprung, and the
officers went to Johnson's cell for
him he tainted dead away.
John Francis applied cold water by
the bucketfull and the colored man
revived, and was marched to the gal
lows only to be met by thirty-day
reprieve from the governor. At the
end of the 30 days the executive COM
muted the sentence to life imprison-
ment. A few days before he was
taken to the territorial prison at I
Yuma, the girl--a granddaughter of
the murdered pair and not very bright /
came down to the county Jail with
her baby which had came all white,
in her arms, and seeing Johnson at
the window, said: ou got off lucky
when you shouldn't have done, John +
son. | pretended to be asleep, because /
| was afraid Of both of you. But | !
woke up and saw you beating grand
ma to death with neck yoke, and
Wilson was killing grandpa with the I
axe, and so | covered up my head and /
pretended to be asleep, and | am go /
ing to change my story and tell the
truth now"
The communication stood, and john
son served about II years in Yuma /
and then escaped and was never re- /
Soon after Johnson was in /
Yuma, the story leaked out from
among the other prisoners of the va f
vapai county Jail, how johnson and I
Wilson had played three games of {
cards, agreeing that the loser should I
take all the blame for the murder and /
exonerate the other. The negro won
two games out Of three, and Wilson !
lived up to the compact and saved the
life Of his fellow murderer. Wilson I
died game and told very impressive
story, and | am told that Governor
Zulick, up to his death a few days
ago, always believed that Wilson told +
the truth
The pretty flat we directed them to
camp on is dead Mans flat" to this I
day.-Prescott Journal Miner.
Judge Crosby moved from Flag
staff a year or so ago. He is a we'll
known pioneer of northern Arizona.