Column No. 22
Bob Ring, Al Ring, Tallia Pfrimmer Cahoon
Manuel Martinez and Placido Silvas, having been tried and convicted for the
August 26th 1921 murder of Frank Pearson at the Ruby mercantile, appealed their
convictions and sentences (Martinez – death by hanging, Silvas – life
imprisonment) while being held at the state prison in Florence.
Martinez’ Fate
Arizona’s Attorney General W. J. Galbrith granted Martinez a stay of his
execution, scheduled for August 18, 1922, for a State Supreme court review of
the case.
On March 16, 1923, the Arizona Supreme Court dismissed Martinez’ appeal without
review because the appeal hadn’t been filed within 60 days after judgment, as
required by Arizona law.
The Santa Cruz County Superior Court reset Martinez’ hanging for May 25, 1923.
However, the battle to save Manuel Martinez from the gallows was not over. The
Arizona Republican reported that the fight “was one of the most bitter and
determined ever waged in Arizona and assumed an international aspect as a result
of formal intervention of the Mexican government.”
Mexican President Obregon made a plea for a commutation of Martinez’ sentence to
life imprisonment. However, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to
recommend executive clemency.
The Arizona Republican reported a ‘last ditch” effort to save Martinez:
“Twelve hours before the time set for execution, attorneys representing the
Mexican consul appeared before Judge Stephen H. Abbey in Pinal County Superior
Court, who granted a writ of habeas corpus on legal technicalities on the
allegation that Martinez was to be executed without due process of law. Before
the hour when the writ was made returnable, the Supreme Court intervened,
quashed the writ, and declared that Pinal County was in error. Meanwhile the
date set for the execution had passed and the Santa Cruz court, again taking
jurisdiction, set the date for the hanging a third time for August 10.”
In a final effort, Florence State Prison warden R. B. Sims, an avowed opponent
of capital punishment, who had succeeded Thomas Rynning and under whose orders
the execution was to be carried out, got into the act. Warden Sims had somehow
become convinced that Martinez was innocent and on August 8th, “submitted what
he termed new evidence to the paroles board.” But nothing came from the
mysterious new evidence.
So on August 10, 1923, after so many efforts to save his life, the state of
Arizona hanged Manuel Martinez at the Florence Penitentiary for the murder of
Frank Pearson.
The Arizona Republican described the scene and Martinez’ final minutes:
“Shortly after 5 o’clock, Warden Sims led those who were to be spectators to the
death house, where 16 men previous to Martinez have been executed. The small
room was crowded by the circle of men which formed about the trap door . . . The
hangman’s rope, with the noose already tied swung in its wrapping paper from the
low ceiling.”
Martinez then entered the death house:
“Those in the crowded room made way for the prisoner, who glanced around the
room . . . spied the rope which was suspended from the ceiling, and took his
position immediately beneath it. Then he glanced downward to his feet, noticed
that they were not in the exact center of the trap door, and then shifted his
position.”
In his final remarks, just before the hangman placed a black cap over his head,
Martinez calmly and clearly denied participating in the murdering or in the
looting, declaring that he accompanied the bandit gang on the raid because they
threatened him with death if he refused.
“I am dying with a clear conscience. I am not afraid to go. But Placido Silvas
has no right to be in this prison. I once said he was one of those who made the
raid. He was not. He knew nothing about it.”
Then, with everything in readiness:
“Suddenly, at 5:24 a.m., the signal came. The trap door dropped with a loud
clatter, and Martinez dangles, unconscious, with neck broken and without a
struggle. Eleven minutes later he was cut down and his body carried to a pine
board coffin which waited in a prison passageway not more than 15 feet from
where he had died.”
Martinez’ family did not claim his body. His wife and three children lived in
poverty in a small Mexican agricultural community below Nogales. So prison
officials buried Martinez in the prison cemetery.
Silvas’ Fate
On May 1, 1924, the Arizona Supreme Court “affirmed the lower court’s judgment,”
without additional comment in the appeal of Placido Silvas. So Silvas continued
his life sentence in the Florence prison.
According to prison records, by February 10, 1926, Silvas had earned a position
of “trusty” (a convict considered trustworthy and allowed special privileges) at
the prison. On December 13, 1927, as noted on his record, he was “Returned to
yard, off Trusty List.” But on January 3, 1928, his record noted that Silvas was
an “Outside Trusty.” And on April 27, 1928, a note on his record reads, “Trusty
to New Ranch.” The final note on Silvas’ prison record reads: December 3, 1928,
“Escaped from Ranch.”
The escape of a prisoner from the state penitentiary was unfortunately not
unusual during that period of Arizona history. The year 1928 was a particularly
bad year and December of that year was horrible. According to Arizona State
Prison records, 19 prisoners, serving time for such crimes as robbery, rape, and
murder, were “DISCHARGED BY ESCAPE” for the month.
Placido Silvas remained at large and law enforcement never saw him again. Also,
the “law” never apprehended the other five members of the gang that robbed the
Ruby mercantile and killed Frank and Myrtle Pearson.
(Sources: Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles, Arizona Republican, Tucson
Citizen, Arizona Supreme Court Criminal Case 550, Florence State Prison Records)
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Martinez prison photo
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Silvas prison photo
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Next time: The Eagle-Picher Lead Company Takes Over the Montana Mine