The Coolidge examiner., 1937-01-14
Duarte Executed
At Penitentiary
For Brutal Crime

Lenu dC Ln0 state ponlJenC1ary IN
Florence ten miles away, Friday,
January 8, inst, dawned brisk
damp and cold for The Coolidge Ex-
aminer.
Deputy Sheriff Asa Gadner was
the only other person from Coolidge
who accepted the invitation issued
by Warden A J. Barnes to be pres
ent at the execution of Frank
Durate, 24-year-old Mexican, who
was assessed the death penalty by
a Pinal County jury for his part in
the Staying of G. w. Johnston, aged
service station operator, at Casa
Grande in 1885.
Standing Immediately back of
the Catholic priest who held a
crucifix in his right hand so that
Duarte could see it from his posi-
tiOn in the death chair, The Ex-
aminer witnessed it's first lethal gas
execution. Before and while Duarte
was dying in the chair to which his
body, legs and arms had been made
fast before the audience Of thirty
one persons, three of the number
women, were permitted to enter the
death chamber, the priest intoned a
prayer.
While setated in the death chair
Duarte would cast glances at the
priest who was praying and several
times cast his eyes downward to
observe the bucket of chemicals
that sat on the floor near his feet
He was naturally nervous while
waiting for the deadly cyanide balls
to be released into the chemical
solution that would begin his des-
patch into another world.
At the first whiff of the fumes
Duarte threw his head and shoul-
ders backward as far as he could;
his lips were tightly pressed to-
gether, but when breathing be-
came difficult thru his nose his lips
separated and his mouth opened
wide while his head and shoulders
advanced. He seemed to "die hard" "
Among those who witnessed the
execution of Duarte several were
head to remark: 81 believe hanging
! i less cruel"
| Eight and one-half minutes after
/ the cvanide balls were released in
to the bucket of chemicals Duarte
was pronounced dead. "The Law
had won again.
Duarte was a bad actor. He had
served a prison term for counter
feiting, and while it was never
proven it is believed he murdered
g Chinaman at Chandler several
years ago. This bit of information
was furnished The Examiner by
Deputy Sheriff Gardner.
On his left leg just above the
knee there was tattooed a Devil
and his pitchfork, and on the right
! leg there had been attooed cross
bones and skull. These gruesome
msignias of evil and danger indicat-
Ell that for a long time the mind
of Duarte had not been running
true to form as compared with the
normal mind of a peace-loving, law
abiding citizens. However, there
was never any evidence to indicate
that Duarte was crazy, but there
was plenty to show that he had
chosen to follow a criminal life,
which he did But "The Law
triumphed in his case as it does in
all cases.
The body of Duarte was turned
| ever to relatives who took it to
Phoenix for interment
The old custom of permitting ex-
ecutiOn witnesses and press repre-
sontatives to visit the condemned
one in his cell half an hour previ-
Gus to the execution, and to strap
the victim in the presence of the
spectators, was done away with by
Warden Barnes, and when the
spectators were permitted to enter
the death chamber foyer they be-
Leld Duarte already placed for his
execution. In less than ten minutes
it was all over.
J. Alf Edwards, deputy prison
warden, rendered Warden Barnes
valuable service in conducting the
| pr5liminaries incident to the eX-
ccution. Everything went off with
clock-like precision. Deputy War
CeA Edwards, brother of Coolidge's s
Bob" Edwards, was sheriff of
ella County eight years, and dur
ing his terms his most outstanding
work probably was the apprehen-
sion of ]. H. Blackburn on muir