By Charles P. Stanton and edited by Parker Anderson

(The following is reprinted from the Arizona Miner of June 18, 1879. The author, Charles P. Stanton, recently arrested and later freed from a theft charge, alleges a vast conspiracy among top Yavapai county officials to frame him for murder and/or have him killed.)

"Ed. Miner: - I beg that you will be pleased to give me space in your columns to expose a black and most infamous conspiracy concocted, plotted, and carried out with the most consummate skill and precision, by a powerful combination of unscrupulous parties, who hesitated not at all the perpetration of every enormity to fully accomplish their diabolical purpose, and to more effectually and completely circumvent the public, made the authorities and Territory of Arizona an unconscious participator in the plot. 

"I was arrested on the 6th day of March last, at my house on Antelope Creek, taken from my business, irons placed on me, and taken to the Prescott jail by under-Sheriff Herbert on a warrant sworn out by W. J. Tompkins of Prescott. The warrant was issued by Justice Cate, and charged me with the stealing of a gold specimen. I was given to understand by the Sheriff and others that the charge upon which I was arrested was 'trumped up and amounted to nothing', that a very grave and serious, if not fearful, charge was about to be entered against me as soon as certain parties could hunt up evidence enough to convict me. 

"On the 9th day of March, being the 2nd day of my imprisonment, after all the prisoners were locked up in their respective cells for the night, about eight o'clock, Nicanora Rodrigues was taken from his cell into the Sheriff's room - he was absent for a considerable time. The next morning he informed me that he was taken out by Wells Fargo & Co.'s detective Thacker, and F.P. Rains. He said that they had the following conversation - I give it in his own words: 'Thacker and Rains said to me, that man Stanton is a bad man, he is an educated Scoundrel, he knows everything, he has a nerve as cool as iron, he is a dead shot, and an escaped convict. He could put on his moccasins and travel over that country faster than a deer, he knows every inch of the country, could have gone down there (ten miles to the spot where Timmerman was killed) and been back home in less than no time; he is the man that killed Timmerman and you know it, you know the bullet came out of his gun, and if you will swear to it, you will at once get out of this jail and be well paid for your trouble. Will you do it?' 

"Nicanora Rodrigues replied: 'No, I cannot do that, that man is innocent, I know he is, I am bad enough, but I cannot swear against an innocent man'. Rains then replied: 'Very well, go into prison, and you will be hung.' 

"Nicanora Rodrigues then commenced communicating robberies to me, perpetrated on Wells Fargo & Co., and others, and said: 'If I am going to be hung, Mr. Stanton, I want others to be hung with me, and chief among the mare Rains and Thacker. After I am hung, I want you to promise me that you will publish all the robberies which I will confess to you, and thereby expose and hang others as well as me, some of these you know, and you think they are gentlemen, but you are greatly fooled. There is one crime on my heart more fearful that all the others put together. Thacker's brother, who is now serving a long term in San Quentin for burglary, was with me in this; I will keep this for the last one, as it is something awful bad at this time to think of.' He then said: 'I will commence with the last robbery: when Jesus Monlino and Juan Ruibal robbed the stage near Date Creek, Ruibal came into Wickenburg with a large bar of silver bullion, and asked me what he had better do with it? I then went to Rains, who was also at Wickenburg, and asked him what we had better do with it? Rains replied, let us bury it in the ground, and we did so. Rains then went to Prescott and sold the bar of bullion for $800. But the bar was worth $2,300. He (Rains) then hired a buggy and went to Wickenburg for the silver, and I (Rodrigues) accompanied Rains in the buggy with the silver, from Wickenburg to Prescott. On our way to Prescott, we stopped at the house of Timmerman, at Antelope Creek Station, and left the bar of bullion in the buggy all night in front of the door. Timmerman showed us a large among of placer gold, which he had in the house, among it was some fine chispas. When the money was received for the bar of bullion, Rains got $300, which he had to pay for board, the other $500 was divided between me and Juan Ruibal, and we bought with our money a pair of boots and a hat, which we presented to Rains, as he stood in need of those articles.' 

"I requested Nicanora Rodrigues to put all this in writing, which he did, and the letter was handed by me to Sheriff Walker in the presence of J.A. Rush, my attorney, and C.W. Beach, and was read by them. 

"Rodrigues further stated that Rains had him and Ruibal arrested to get the reward, and that the party who purchased the bar of bullion had to give up the same, and that he was of the opinion that said party had to pay Wells Fargo & Co.'s detective, Thacker, a bribe of $1,000, which was divided between Thacker, Rains, and Co. 

"He further stated: 'It is my wish to tell you all about the other robberies before you go out, for you will be out of here soon, you are an innocent man, and have many friends, but there is a terrible conspiracy formed against you, and you don't seem to see it yet.' 

"I asked Rodrigues what he meant. I said, 'Rains and I are very friendly, he has been for the last three or four months visiting me, and negotiating for my mine; and Thacker is a perfect stranger to me, and I have never, to my knowledge, done anything to the others to merit such vindictive hostility. I cannot assign any reason for such a malicious persecution and hatred.' 

"Nicanora laughed at me, remarking: 'There is a greater plot against you than you are aware of; if those parties can get men to swear against you, I do not know what the result will be, and the only thing they want is time to hunt up their men.' 

"I asked Rodrigues what was their object in trying to get him to swear that I killed Timmerman. 

"He replied: 'Rains knows that you have the largest and best gold mine in the country; he has spent a great deal of his time on it and is mad after it and determined to have it in some way. If he can get you hung for the killing of Timmerman, he will jump the mine with a number of men he has ready here in Prescott. It is known that you and Timmerman were not on friendly terms, and they have now hired men to go around the town slandering you to your friends for the purpose of preventing them going on your bonds, and to turn public opinion against you. The man who swore out the warrant against you, and the Justice before whom you are being tried, are to have the place where you live for a cattle ranch."

Charles P. Stanton, Prescott, June 18, 1879. Charles P. Stanton was a miner and businessman who built the once bustling, but now nearly deserted, town south of Yarnell that today bears his name. He was gunned down in an unsolved murder in his store in 1886.

NOTE: The Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre will be presenting "Stanton: The Rogue Who Would Be King," a play written by the late Larry Schader about the life of the infamous and notorious Charles P. Stanton, on June 17-18, 24-26, 2005 at 415 W. Gurley. Call 445-3122 for more information on this fascinating play. 

(Next week part two will conclude this article. Parker Anderson, who edited this article, is an active member of Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre.)


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(AZ Miner article) Reuse only by permission.
Copy of a portion of the article published in the AZ Miner, June 18, 1879, here presented in this Days Past article.