By Parker Anderson

In 19th-century Territorial Arizona, county lines had been drawn, but not with the boundaries they have today. Coconino County did not exist until 1891, and that area, including Flagstaff itself, was part of Yavapai County. Yavapai officials, already stationed in the county seat of Prescott, had their jurisdiction extending almost as far as the Utah border.

Every town in those days had a downtrodden Mexican community, whose inhabitants were shunned and avoided by the white community for the most part. It is difficult to trace the history of Latinos in Arizona because the existing records are either non-existent or pejorative. Mexican births were not recorded, and deaths were only recorded in cases of accidents or murders. The only news printed in the newspapers in those days about the Arizona Mexican community was crime news, much of it likely exaggerated. It is against this backdrop that we begin this story.

In the beleaguered Mexican community in Flagstaff in 1887, a young man named Martin Duran (who claimed to be only 18 years old) became enamored of a young woman, 23-year-old Reyes Baca. The couple began cohabiting together, although they were not legally married. At some point, the relationship went sour, and the young and beautiful Reyes Baca moved out of Duran’s house and moved in with another Mexican woman. Reportedly, she later became romantically interested in another man.

This was more than Martin Duran could bear. On the night of September 18th, 1887, he rounded up some of his friends and they went to the home of the two women to serenade them. The women, who were awakened by the serenade, invited Duran and his friends in. They sent out for beer and socialized for awhile, and then Martin Duran asked Reyes Baca to come back to him. Although flattered by his persistence, she refused. A few minutes later, she reportedly turned away to adjust a lamp, at which point Duran pulled out a gun and shot Reyes Baca through the head at point blank range. By bringing a gun, he clearly had planned to kill her if she refused to come back with him.

Martin Duran made no attempt to flee the scene and was quickly arrested. He was taken to Prescott for trial where he was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged, despite a vigorous defense by attorneys John Howard and Col. L. F. Eggers. Duran took the stand in his own defense, and openly admitted to the murder, apparently believing that his claim of being wronged by a woman would resonate with men everywhere and save him. It did not. After such testimony, attorneys Howard and Eggers had very little to work with.

Judge J. H. Wright sentenced Duran to be hanged on January 20, 1888, but this was postponed until March 2 while John Howard, L. F. Eggers, and other sympathetic parties, most notably Prescott’s Catholic priest Father Gubitosi, appealed for clemency to Territorial Governor C. Meyer Zulick. These efforts failed. Father Gubitosi was particularly sympathetic to Duran’s plight. The day before the execution, he stayed with Governor Zulick until after midnight, pleading with him to spare the young man, or to at least delay the hanging long enough to send for a Mexican priest to officiate. Gubitosi then returned to Prescott to administer the last rites to Duran.

On the morning of March 2, 1888, Martin Duran was shaved and dressed and prepared for his execution. Father Gubitosi administered last rites and absolution. Duran asked a Mexican jail trusty, Jesus Melendez, to write to his brother and tell him what happened. He also gave a fellow prisoner, Antone Romero, the address of a friend and asked him to write to him also.

In the 19th century, County Sheriffs were required to preside over executions, so the job fell to Yavapai County Sheriff William J. "Billy" Mulvenon. Father Gubitosi appealed to Mulvenon to delay the hanging for another 40 minutes while he made one final appeal. Mulvenon agreed, but this appeal failed as well. The good priest was so overcome and angered by the whole situation that he refused to ascend the gallows with Duran, as was usually the custom.

For his part, Duran feared his death greatly. He was so overcome that he could barely stand or walk. At 1:30 p.m., Sheriff Mulvenon read the death warrant to Duran, translated by Jesus Melendez. The procession started to the scaffold, with Duran having to be assisted walking by Sheriff Mulvenon and his deputies. At one point, Duran was reported to say, "My God, this is tough."

On the scaffold, Antone Romero read aloud from a prayer book, and Duran was asked if he had any final words. He made a few remarks about white man’s justice, shook hands with those on the scaffold and said good-bye to his friends. He then remarked, "I guess I will go asleep now," as the black cap was placed over his head. He requested that a silk handkerchief be tied around his neck to lessen the few seconds of pain he might feel while he was hanged.

At 1:37, Sheriff Mulvenon sprung the trap, sending the young murderer to his death. Three doctors pronounced him dead 8 minutes later, and the body was cut down and sent for burial. There is no official record of where Martin Duran is buried, but we do have a likely spot: in Prescott’s Citizen’s Cemetery, there are two separate unmarked graves which cemetery records list simply as "Hanged Mexican." If the records are correct, Martin Duran is surely one of them. The other is likely Manuel Abiles, hanged in 1875.

There were ten legal hangings in Yavapai County prior to Statehood in 1912; Duran was the 7th of these ten. He was also the only one of these ten to be hanged for killing a woman. Of the ten legal hangings, three of them were presided over by Sheriff Mulvenon, the most for any Yavapai County Sheriff (he previously sprung the trap at the hangings of D. W. Dilda in 1886 and Frank Wilson in 1887).

(Parker Anderson is an active member of Sharlot Hall Museum’s Blue Rose Theater.)

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po1664p) Reuse only by permission.

Yavapai County Sheriff, William "Billy" Mulvenon, shown here in 1885, presided over three hangings in Prescott during his tenure, including Martin Duran in 1888.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po2249p) Reuse only by permission.

One of Martin Duran’s lawyers, John Howard, c.1880s.