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FOUGHT WITH DAGGERS ON THE SCAFFOLD
Flores and Parra Attempt To Take Others With Them
Into Eternity.
A THRILLING DENOUEMENT.
At The Execution Of Two Murderers This Afternoon---
The Murderous Assault Was Foiled and the MEN PAID
THE PENALTY OF LAW.
They Fought Like Demons, But Were Overpowered by
Deputies---Dramatic Climax When Sheriff Boone Went
Into The Cell Of Parra---“If It Takes a Bullet, I’ll
Fire It,” He Said.
The double hanging at the county jail today
developed into one of the most sensational episodes
in the criminal history of Texas .
As the cell was opened to conduct Antonio Flores to
the scaffold, both he and Geronimo Parra suddenly
drew wire daggers, previously sharpened and
concealed about their persons, and made a desperate
and vicious attack on the deputies surrounding them
Parra attacked Jim Hunter, who was guarding his cell
door. Quickly State Ranger Saunderson drew his gun
and covered the Mexican. Cowed, he shrank back into
his cell and the door was quickly slammed. He was
held safe for the moment but not so Flores, who was
already out in the corridor.
Flores Angry Cry
“You shall all go to hell with me,” he yelled
maddened with the thought of the awful fate soon to
be his.
Then he sprang with his wicked dagger toward Ed
Bryant and with vicious underhand strokes plunged it
repeatedly into his clothing, attempting to reach a
vital spot.
Instantly he was seized by powerful deputies, but
the strength of a demon was his and for a full
minute he fought the officers, until at last
overpowered by four strong men.
Tim Lyons, Ed Bryant, Eugene Bruce and sheriff Boone
seized him and bore him down to the iron floor.
There he was held and the handcuffs were adjusted to
his wrists.
When he was fully secured, evidently realizing the
hopelessness of any further attempt, Flores became
quiet, but there was in his eyes a look of demonical
satisfaction of having done his best to take his
keepers down to death with him.
His hands and feet were bound, and his knees
also, and he was assisted to take his place above
the final drop in the little enclosure in the corner
of the corridor.
HIS FINAL FAREWELL
As he stood there, and as the death warrant was read
to him by Deputy Comstock his eyes wandered over the
crowd, eagerly seeking the face of someone he knew.
As he recognized successively several acquaintances,
Ike Alderete among them he murmured, slightly
bowing, “Adios senores, adios.”
He turned slightly and even though his hands were
bound shook hands in token of mute good-bye with
Alderete.
The reading of the death warrant took fully five
minutes, and as Deputy Comstock read it was
translated to the prisoner by Ed Bryant.
The prisoners color was ghastly, but his eyes seemed
to express a sort of exultation, rather than fear.
When asked if he had anything to say, by the
sheriff, he replied: “I wish to be pardoned for what
I have done. I want my body to be delivered to my
family. That is all I have to say.”
His last words were translated by Bryant and when at
their conclusion the sheriff asked if he had
anything more to say, there was no reply and the
black cap was adjusted.
“Keep quiet, gentleman,” said sheriff Boone, when
the fitting on of the black cap occasioned a stir
and a movement forward among the onlookers.
“I want to talk with my son,” came in muffled tones
from the black cap. “Be still,” said Father Pinto.
“Your talk will be with God.”
THE TRAP SPRUNG
There was a momentary pause, a sharp clang of the
lever, the steel doors parted and that peculiar,
sickening thud proclaimed that the rope had done
it’s work well, and the body of Antonio Flores hung,
limp and inert, lazily swinging at the rope’s end.
The drop was perfect. His neck was broken by the
fall. There was no movement of the muscles, no
contraction, nothing to show that the man had aught
of feeling after the fall.
The body was allowed to hang for several moments
without being disturbed.
The drop occurred at 1:31 o’clock . At 1:35 he was
examined by Dr. Stevenson, Dr. Cantwell, Dr.
Harleand and Dr. Sherman and pronounced dead. The
body was permitted to hang until 1:49 o’clock , and
then it was swung into the second tier of cells and
the sheriff attempted to take the rope from around
the neck.
So heavy was Flores and so great had been the force
of the fall that it was found impossible to slip the
rope from around the neck and four strong men drew
the body up to the landing of the third tier of
cells and there the rope was finally loosed from
around his neck.
THAT WICKED DAGGER
Then came the most intensely dramatic incident of
the day.
Parra, the desperate outlaw, about to be hung, was
known to have concealed about him another of those
wicked daggers with which Flores had almost done
such deadly execution.
He was known to be desperate and it seemed as though
he was determined to kill some one of the officers
before he himself should die.
Then sheriff Boone said to those assembled in the
jail. “Gentleman, we have had an unfortunate
happening.” This second prisoner may make an attack
on the man who enters his cell. I cannot afford to
have good citizens or my deputies murdered by this
lawless man. I propose to do my duty. If it is
necessary for me to kill this man, I must do it. I
shall go in myself and take him out. If it takes a
bullet to do the work, that bullet will be fired. I
will give him fair warning through an interpreter
that resistance means death.”
PARRA HOLD UP YOUR HANDS
The precautions of the sheriff were effective. Parra
held up his hands. The cell door was thrown open. He
was seized, bound and conducted, stepping with a
firm step to the scaffold.
It was 1:57 o’clock when Parra took his place on the
scaffold. His face was ghastly but his eye was firm,
and, with erect poise, head up he looked over the
crowd with an unwavering gaze.
“Put your feet, together Parra,” said the sheriff,
and he obeyed as calmly as though posing for his
picture.
As the sheriff bound his feet and knees, Father
Pinto stood by his side and whispered words of hope
and consolation into his ear.
The death warrant was read. Parra listened calmly
and seemed unmoved. At the conclusion of the reading
the sheriff asked if he had anything to say.
He answered in clear and ringing tones and his
speech at times was almost impassioned.
ASKS PARDON OF ALL
“Gentleman, I tell you all good-bye. There are some
whom I have offended. I trust that you will pardon
me. I ask the pardon of all the world.”
“There are those who have offended me and I forgive
them all.”
“Gentleman, I am going to die, but I am going to die
an innocent man. I deliver my soul and heart to God,
in whose presence I am. He is the only God.”
“Gentleman, good-bye again to all. May God help you
all. We have many of us made mistakes and we are all
of us sinners.”
Then with the priest murmuring words of comfort and
faith, he repeated them in a firm voice. He kissed
the rosary held out to him by the kindly hand of the
priest, and calmly bent his head that the sheriff
might the more easily adjust the cap of death.
“Gentleman, you will all be quiet,” said sheriff
Boone again. There was a stillness as of death.
Again came the lever’s sharp clang, the twang of the
rope and the dull thud as the body reached it’s end,
and Parra, like Flores before him, hung lifeless.
The drop occurred at 2:04 o’clock . It was awfully,
horribly effective. So far was the fall and with
such swiftness did the body drop that not only was
the jugular vein ruptured, but the head was almost
severed from the body, and the dark red blood
bubbled from beneath the black cap and ran down his
clothes and fell in ghastly rings and pools on the
steel floor below.
DEATH INSTANTANEOUS
The doctors think that in this instance death must
have been merciful and instantaneous, but, as in the
other case the body was allowed to hang until no
doubt could remain. At 2:25 it was cut down.
BEFORE THE HANGING
Scenes In And About The Jail This Morning
All this morning the vicinity of the jail was
thronged with a curious crowd of Mexican men and
women, who for the most part, had been friends or
acquaintances of one or the other of the condemned
men. Curious eyes watched the coming and going of
the friends of the men, of the officials, of the
reporters, and of those others who had occasion to
enter the jail.
Father Cordova, the priest who is accustomed to
console the prisoners at the jail, came early and
remained all morning with the men. Through his
earnest efforts both men confessed and declared that
they would die in the faith of the Catholic church.
The Father read to them selections from the gospel
of St. Luke, in Spanish, dwelling especially upon
the fifteenth chapter.
With Parra were some eight relatives, including his
brother and sister-in-law, with their children.
These stood around, talked occasionally, but for the
most part merely stared in apathetic and rather
piteous fashion. Parra made up a bundle and gave it
to one of them. In it were a few of his little
possessions, which he wishes to be kept as
remembrances by his family.
The men were given their dinner and Parra ate
heartily, while Flores whose stomach had been
troubling him during the night, also had a good
appetite.
They thanked Captain Lyons for his attention and
kindness to them and wished to be forgiven for all
the wrong they had done.
Flores ’s family told him good-bye yesterday, and
were not at the jail today.
Parra’s family, including many relatives, staid
until 11 o’clock , but their parting was singularly
cool, and not marked by any display of affection.
HOW THEY GOT THE DAGGER NOT
It was ten minutes of one when the jail doors were
opened and those who had been given passes were
admitted by jailer Lyons. The crowd comfortably
filled the ante room of the jail, and numbered
perhaps one hundred in all.
Parra and Flores had just come down from the death
cell, and had been conducted to the vacant cells on
the third tier in the jail proper near the scaffold.
They had come down one at a time, with Eugene Bruce,
the death watch, in charge. Parra descended with
firm step, and head erect. Flores came, with a hand
on the banister, and a scuffling step.
The priests, Fathers Cordova and Pinto,
attended them.
When the time came to admit the spectators into the
jail enclosure, Sheriff Boone said:
The newspaper men and doctors will come in first and
take their places. Then the others may follow.”
As the spectators thronged into the scene of the
hanging they saw the two priests on the outside of
the cells talking to the prisoners through the bars.
Inside, the condemned men, clad only in shirt, shoes
and trousers, with ghastly faces wan and drawn,
pacing to and fro, with that peculiar, hopeless
movement that one so often sees in wild animals
confined in a cage.
As the spectators shifted into position there
settled over them that air of expectancy and grave
anticipation, which precedes an occurrence of this
sort.
Sheriff Boone made all preliminary preparations.
Everything was ready. He went to the cell door. He
opened it. And then Flores sprang forth like a beast
from his lair and made a murderous attack, which
nearly resulted in the death of Deputy Bryant.
KNOWN
It is not known how, or in what manner, the
condemned men succeeded in concealing the wire
daggers which they used in their murderous attack on
the deputies today.
Last night Eugene Bruce, who was keeping the death
watch, became suspicious of the movements of the
prisoners and slipped up to their cell, unobserved.
There he saw Flores facing him, while, with his back
turned, Parra seemed to be engaged in filing or
sharpening some instrument, and then to be wrapping
a rag around one end of it, as though to make a
handhold or handle. He showed this, whatever it was,
to Flores, who grasped his hand violently and seemed
about to wrest it from him. Then they both became
aware of the presence of the deputy.
Sheriff Boone and Captain Lyons were immediately
notified and the cell was searched, as well as the
person of the prisoners, with the greatest care, but
nothing was found.
Where they concealed the wire daggers is a mystery.
These daggers are thought to have been made from
bucket bails.
DISPOSITION OF THE BODIES
The body of Parra was taken charge of, after the
hanging, by Lyons & Nagley and will be buried by the
family of the dead man from their undertaking
establishment tomorrow.
Flores ’ body was taken to an undertaking
establishment, and it will also be buried by his
family.
A PERFECT DROP
It was stated by the doctors that if the drop, which
was a seven-foot one, had been six inches longer, in
the case of Parra, the man’s head would have been
entirely severed from the body.
STORY OF THE CRIMES
For Which Parra and Antonio Flores Were Hanged
Ten years ago all this section of the country was
infested, as a great part of it is still believed to
be, by a band of horse thieves, extending to from
the Pecos to Morenci, Arizona., and from there on to
California. There were regular relay stations for
the transfer of stolen stock along the way.
The leader in chief of all the bands for five years
prior to that time had been Geronimo Parra, who
gained a reputation for the greatest cunning, craft
and reckless bravery among his associates and the
officers of the law.
Depredations and thefts and even murders which
occurred with increasing frequency were laid at the
door of these outlaws, but they had never been well
located until April of 1889, a stockman came to El
Paso early one morning, and reported to the officers
that a band of Mexican horse thieves was concealed
in an arroyo, 15 miles out on the eastern slope of
Mount Franklin, and that they had with them a big
bunch of stolen stock. Barnes failed to estimate the
full strength of the gang, and it was thought that
there were only two or three men in the lot.
Sergeant George Fusselman (1), of the Texas state
rangers, was in town at the time in attendance at
court, and George Harold, now on the city police
force, had just returned from Mexico, where he had
seen long service as a detective scout under the
Mexican government.
These two men, accompanied by Barnes, started out at
8 o’clock in the morning to capture the thieves.
They rode together to the base of the mountain, and
there they captured an outlaw, who was left with
Barnes for safe keeping. Fusselman and Harold rode
cautiously on up the mountain, keeping a sharp eye
out for the outlaws.
The rest of the story may best be told by Harold
himself.
“We were riding on up the arroyo,” says Harold “when
suddenly, and without warning of any sort, the gang
of seven opened fire on us, at distances varying
from 10 to fifty yards. At the very first volley
Fusselman fell from his horse, shot through his head
by Parra. I jumped from my horse, throwing away my
gun and sought cover. From behind a rock I opened
fire with a six-shooter whenever a Mexican showed
himself. They were for the most part well protected
by the rocks, but one who was only a few yards from
me exposed the entire upper part of his body, and I
fired at short range, and hit him in the stomach.
“I made my way back to the foot of the mountain as
best as I could and Barnes and I came back to town
and notified the officers. A big posse immediately
started for the mountain, arriving there that night,
but the outlaws had vamoosed, and had left only a
few fine horses.”
Subsequently Parra was seen in Colemas riding the
horse which Fusselman had ridden on the day of his
death.
Shortly after, in New Mexico , Ben Williams, who has
a wide reputation as a deputy of great bravery under
Pat Garrett, of Las Cruces , captured Parra. The
latter was then wanted on a charge of cattle
stealing, and his identity was unknown to the
officer making the arrest. He was captured only
after a sharp resistance, and after several shots
had been fired.
A year ago nearly, Capt. J. R. Hughes, of the Texas
state rangers, discovered Parra in the New Mexico
penitentiary, and he was re-indicted by the grand
jury in El Paso , and was surrendered to the
officials of this county by the territorial
authorities.
He was convicted at a trial in this city last fall
and sentenced by the judge to be hanged.
The crime of Flores was a far more cowardly one than
that of his companion in death.
On the 19th day of March of the present year,
Antonio Flores, on his way from mass, met the woman
he loved and who did not love him in return. He
pleaded with her to come with him. She would not. He
became incensed, and then, with the savagery of a
beast, leaped upon her and cut and stabbed her
horribly and repeatedly with a long sharp knife. All
this, too, in plain sight of two more not 500 yards
away, who were powerless to help her, but who ran up
and captured Flores , just as his fury was spent,
and his victim sank in a helpless heap to the earth.
Two days later the woman died, and this last fall
Flores was found guilty and was sentenced to be
hanged.
El Paso Daily Herald
Saturday, January 6, 1900
Transcribed by volunteer Ron Hyatt, July 2008
ECHOES OF YESTERDAY
Last Rights Over The Bodies Of Geronimo Parra And
Antonio Flores
TALK OF THE HANGING
What Some People Have To Say Of The
Dramatic Incidents At The Jail Yesterday
“The way Parra and Flores got the sharpened wire
they used yesterday is clear to me now,” said jailer
Lyons. “Yesterday morning after the cells were
searched Parra’s brother came to see them. It was
then that the prisoner told his brother what had
happened, and evidently also he told him to bring
fresh tools for weapons, for the brother left
hurriedly, and shortly after two men, friends of the
brother, whom I had seen with him before, came to
see Parra.
They were admitted, and seemed unusually
affectionate. During these affectionate embraces, I
am satisfied that they contrived to slip to Parra
the sharpened wire, which they had concealed, and
which they could have used almost as effectively as
daggers if they had had a chance.”
The funerals of the two men hanged yesterday are
taking place this afternoon.
Immediately after the execution, Nagley and Lyons
took charge of the body of Parra. When the black cap
was removed, it showed the body hanging to the head
by the merest strip of muscle. A fall of a few
inches further would undoubtedly have severed the
head entirely. The face was composed, and wore a
peaceful expression and this, so infrequent in men
who have been hanged, is taken to show that death
was instantaneous and painless.
Flores ’ face also wore a restful expression, and on
the whole both executions are taken to have been
successful.
A plaster of paris cast was placed around Parra’s
neck, holding the head in place and the body was
delivered to the family. The funeral took place at
three o’clock , and the body was buried in the
Catholic cemetery.
Flores was buried in the Catholic cemetery, his
funeral taking place at three o’clock .
“I consider my escape providential,” said Captain
Tim Lyons today. “The men had those wire daggers
concealed about them, and probably if I had
attempted to search them I would have been the
victim of a murderous assault. As it was, I had
searched them so frequently and had so lately
searched the cell that I had no idea that anything
could have been concealed on their persons.”
Nothing but commendation can be given the sheriff
and his deputies for their conduct yesterday. To
visitors the cleanliness and absence of foul air was
a pleasant surprise, while the conduct of the
officers during the exciting events preceding the
execution was both praiseworthy, and lacked nothing
in the line of personal bravery. Parra was shoved
back into his cell by Ten Eyck and Christly, and the
officers who finally overwhelmed Flores showed no
hesitation, though the strength and desperation of
the prisoner seemed almost supernatural. When
sheriff Boone in dramatic style declared that Parra
should be shot, if necessary, but that none of his
men should be killed, the spectators applauded.
‘Tis an ill wind that blows nobody good.
The newspaper men of this city who serve outside
papers had orders last night for details of the
hanging running way up into the thousands. The
Chicago Inter-Ocean , for instance, took 800 words,
and New York , San Francisco , eastern, western and
northern cities took proportionately big stories.
Local people, by the way, were inclined to be a bit
skeptical about the seriousness of the outbreak,
simply, perhaps, because it happened right here at
home; but as a matter of fact, it is wonderful that
it did not result far more seriously.
Yesterday was “Black Friday,” so called for ages and
ages. In every condition of life—in the church, in
business, in the annals of crime—Friday seems to
have a peculiar and unhappy association and in the
matter of inflicting capital punishment especially.
It has become a fixed custom that all criminals
shall be hanged on Friday.
By three o’clock the Herald had a special edition,
giving a complete account of the hanging, on the
streets. It was a small bonanza for the news-boys,
and though running up into the hundreds was
exhausted before the regular editions appeared, / 50
minutes later.
“The reason of the almost total severance of Parra’s
head from his body,” said a well known physician
this morning, was that the rope was not tied tightly
enough. The hanging of Flores had probably strained
the knot and so it was impossible to adjust the rope
as accurately as in the first instance. As a result
the rope, with full play, swished into the neck like
the cut of an axe, and was drawn into a knot as
small in circumference as an apple.”
Chief Lockhart, anticipating possible trouble from
the crowd of 1000 Mexicans thronging the streets,
the neighboring housetops, and box cars, had officer
Harold on guard there. The crowd numbered many of
Parra’s friends, but no demonstration was made.
Jose Melendrez, the Mexican trustee who took French
lead as the preparations for the hanging were going
on, came back safely enough. He didn’t try to
escape, but he didn’t want to see the hanging.
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