Nogales international., 1947-04-11
Jewell Trask, Customs Officer,
Found Shot To Death In
Patagonia Mountains East OF Nogales

High up in the Patagonia
Mountains about 20 miles east of
NOgaleS and short distance from
his home, u. S. Customs Patrol
man Clarence Jewell Trask, IS,
was found dead Tuesday after.
noon by his. son, Clarence Jewell
Trask, Jr., 21-year-old University
of Arizona student home for the
Easter holidays.
The veteran customs officer il
believed to have been killed by &
smuggler whom he had been trailing
from the Mexican border few
miles away. ::
A coroner's jury at Patagonia
Wednesday night declared thai
Trask "died near Washington Camp
April as a result of a gunshot
fired by a person or persons un'
known to us" '."-
FUNERAL TOMORROW
Funeral services for the well
known and very popular officer
will be held at 2 o'clock tomorrow
afternoon at the Patagonia Com
munity Church with Rev. o. A.
Smith of Nogales officiating. Bur-
ial will be at Patagonia and there
will be a Masonic graveside SER
vice.
Pallbearers will be Bert Smith
Kelso Street, George Smith, No
gales; Clarence Best, Lochiel; Fred
Valenzuela, Naco; and Leonard
Mansfield, Douglas; all customs Of
ficerS.
Honorary pallbearers will be Sher-
iff j.. J. Lowe, Blain Lewis, George
Bercich, John Jones, Marshall Ash
burn and Ward Franklin.
Besides his son, Mr.. Trask is sur
vived by his wife (Martha Roth
rock), a daughter, Mrs. Mary Ellen
Mason of Kellogg, Idaho; a sister,
Mrs. R. c.. Blabon Of Patagonia,
and a .grandchild, Robert Jewell
Mason, Kellogg, Idaho.
Coroner's Inquest
First person testifying at the in
quest held by Justice Of the Peace
Oliver j. Rothrock, ex-officio cor
oner, at Patagonia, wednesday
night, was Clarence Jewell Trask
Jr.
He said he last saw his father
alive about 3:15 pm, Tuesday.
my father came home to lunch
about 1890 noon Tuesday and sail
he had trailed a man and a burrc
to the Pride of the West Mine.
joined him and we went up to the
mine about 3 o'clock said young
Trask.
1.-The mine is southwest of the
Gerard store at Washington Camp
and on top of hill. We saw the
burro and it was staked out with a
rope and no one was around. There
was one foot track and tracks of the
burro.
my father had trailed the burrc
and the foot track from the inter
national line to the Pride of the
West Mine.
IT left my father with the burrc
at 3:15 pm, after he told me to
take the truck and go home anc
come back about 4:30. He traded
hats with me so they (the smugglel
or smugglers) would think he hao
left.
ct returned at 4:3O and the first
thing I noticed was gunny sack
full of provisions. Then saw the
burro and turned around, and that's
where found my father"
Next witness was Abel de la OsSa
who lives about 2A miles from the
Pride of the West Mine He sale
he last saw Jewell Trask alive or
Monday and that he did not know
who owned the burro. IT never saw
soul Tuesday and nobody stayed
at my home that day." he said.
Tells Of Stranger
Antonio de la OsSa, who came
home in May after three years in
the Navy, and who lives alone at
the Pride of the west Mine, said a
stranger with a burro came to his
house Monday night and asked II
he could sleep there that night.
HE was a large man." said An
tonic de la Ossa. II had never seen
him before. He was about your size
Ueferring to County Attorney Ruffo
Espinosa who was questioning him0.
He wore a levi jacket and brown
hat and was tanned complexion.
1T saw him for only a few min
utes. 1t was dark. I didn't see any
gun. He was carrying flour sack
full of something. He was not
young or old. He asked me if he
could put his pack saddle someplace
where it couldn't be seen. replied,
Leave it there where it is He
didn't say why he didn't want it to
be seen.
IT saw him last about $50 or Z