ABILES /
On
06 Aug 1875 Manuel Aviles was the first person legally hung in
Arizona Weekly Miner, (
In District Court May 6th Territory vs. Manuel Abiles –
arraigned.
May 11th -- Territory vs. Manuel Abelis –charge, murder;
jury J. A. Park,
May 12th – Territory vs Manuel Abelis – continued until
to-morrow.
May 13 – Territory vs. Manuel Abelis –jury find a verdict of guilty of
murder in the first degree.
Arizona Weekly Miner, (
The case of Manuel Abelis, who was condemned to be hung here today, and
has been respited (sic) by the Governor for two weeks, had been the subject of
much discussion during the past few days.
A petition has been in circulation asking for a commutation of the
sentence to imprisonment for life, and a majority of the people have signed
it. Many assign as a reason that they
were unwilling to see him hung while his companions in the crime were allowed
to go free. We see nothing in such an
argument and in signing it took only into consideration the man himself without
reference to what was done with the rest.
That he is guilty of helping to kill the man we have no doubt, and that
he ought to be severely punished we are fully persuaded, but having heard a
portion of the testimony and been convinced that the deceased deserved killing,
not by the hand of Abelis, of course, but that he was unfit to live, we thought
the matter over, and concluded that if our name would have any influence in
saving the man from death and putting him in prison instead, where he could do
no further harm, we had not the heart to withhold it. This may be sickly sentimentalism, or maudlin
weakens if you please, be we confess, the except in extreme cases, we think
hanging a man is not the best use he can be put to, especially as we are now
erecting a safe prison at Yuma where convicts can be made useful to some
extent, and kept without fear of escape; besides, if Yuma is anything like what
it is represented, it may be a greater punishment to roast him to death there
than to hand him at once and be done with it.
Arizona Weekly Miner, (
The Agony Over –
Manuel Abilies was hung here at 11 o’clock to-day, for the murder of Gregorio,
in March last. The execution was
effected without balk or accident, the officers having everything perfectly
arranged. The doomed man showed no signs
of repudiation or fear and died without a murmur. His body was delivered to his friends who had
provided a beautiful coffin to receive them.
The execution occurring so close upon the hour of going to press
precluded further comment.
‘Days
Past’ newspaper article
Photograph
available at: Sharlot
Hall Museum Archives Photograph Collection
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This page was last
updated Thursday, May 15, 2008