Arizona the Youngest State
McClintock, 1913, page 473
In 1887 Superintendent Josiah Gribble of the Vulture mines and
two guards, Johnson and Littlefield were murdered a few miles
from Vulture, as they were starting for Phoenix with a bar of
gold bullion, valued at $7000, the product of the Vulture Mill.
Gribble had been warned at Vulture by T.E. Farish of the risk he
was taking but replied that he had fought robbers in Australia
and South Africa and was willing to meet any thieves in Arizona.
The murders, Inocente and Francisco Valenzuela and a younger
Mexican, probably saw from afar the arrangement of guards and
killed the three at first fire. The murderers fled southward,
headed for Mexico. At the Gila River they separated. They
tried to cut the bar with an axe, but failed, so buried the
bullion in a cache near Powers' camp. The chase after the
murderers was one of the most spectacular ever known in the
Southwest, in it participating Sheriff Bud Gray, Hi McDonald,
Henry Garfias and Jim Murphy, all hardy and determined men and
hard riders. They followed the trail across the blazing desert
and the Mexicans narrowly escaped capture. Francisco got safely
into Mexico, escaped extradition, and in the course of time died
at Altar. Inocente, from Phoenix later stole back to the
cache on the Gila. His absence was marked and a posse
descended upon him. Impeded by his golden burden he was
unable to travel with any speed. He showed fight and was
killed and the bar was recovered. The third Mexican claimed
that he was compelled to take part in the robbery and his
story was accepted because he turned state's evidence.
The same Valenzuela gang for years terrorized the section
along the Hassayampa River, robbing placer miners and killing
wherever they were opposed. They also are charged with the
murder of Barney Martin and his family in the summer of 1886.
Martin had kept a little store and had acted as stage agent at
Stanton in the Antelope HIll secion of Southern Yavapai County
where he had incurred the enmity of the local gang of cutthroats
and thieves. Martin finally sold out and with the money for
the sale of his property in his pocket and with his wife and
several children, he loaded his few remining effects into a
covered wagon and started for Phoenix. Few men were more
popular than he and his departure was generally regretted so
his way southward was one of welcome and good cheer.
Captain M.H. Calderwood at Coldwater Station on the Agua
Fria had been notified of the impending arrival of the
Martin family and prepared a royal reception. But several
days passed after the stage had reported Martin's departure
from the Brill Ranch, on the Hassayampa and Calderwood
became alarmed. Not far from the present Hot Springs
Junction was found the track of a wagon leading off into
the hills. This track was followed a few miles and the
trailers came upon the remains of a wagon that had been
burned and in the ashes the charred bodies of Barney
Martin and the members of his family. The murders had
been committed on the highway and the wagon had been
driven away from the road to try to hide the evidences
of the crime. The bodies of the murdered ones were
brought back to the Brill Ranch and there interred, the
headstone a perpetual reminder to those who thereafter
passed of the dangers of pioneer days.
There was an understanding at the time that these Mexican
outlaws had a secret leader in S.P. Stanton who was assassinated
by a young Mexican about 1886 in revenge for an insult of
several years before to the boy's sister. Stanton long was
a resident among the Mexican population, ostensibly a
storekeeper, suppling goods to the Mexican placeros.
He was charged with complicity in the Barney Martin murder
but nothing could be shown against him. There was a general
belief that Stanton had been a Catholic priest, but this was
denied in 1901 by Hector Riggs who told that "Stanton was
never a Catholic priest, though he went far upon the road
toward priesthood. He was expelled from Maynooth College for
immoral conduct and though he took his case in person to Pope
Pius IX he failed to get himself reinstated."
|
