By Parker Anderson
The first legal hanging in Prescott’s history of Manuel Abiles is not remembered as an extraordinary event. The people involved are not colorful and legendary, though it has been written about a number of times. (Note: There are three spellings in various documents and accounts of the first Prescott hanging pertaining to his last name. The oldest documents at the time of the hanging spell his last name Abiles. Later written accounts use Aviles. There is even one newspaper article that spells his name Abelis. To maintain consistency, we will use the name as given in the oldest documents.)
In one of Arizona’s beleaguered Mexican settlements just outside of Camp Verde, violence erupted at the wedding of Santino Morales in April of 1875. One of Morales’s guests, identified as Gregorio Eredia, apparently became intoxicated and threw a large stone at a guest, Antonio Aldecor, knocking him unconscious. Three men, two Mexicans identified as Manuel Abiles and “Cross-Eyed Jesus” Eredia (no relation to Gregorio, the perpetrator) and a white man, William Malone, chased Gregorio from the house.
The following day, the groom, Santino Morales discovered the dead body of Gregorio Eredia in a wash, his head smashed in with a spade. Yavapai County Sheriff Ed Bowers was notified and after interviewing all of the wedding guests, he arrested Abiles, Malone and Jesus Eredia. All three were indicted by a grand jury that consisted of such noted Yavapai pioneers as Levi Bashford, Charles Genung and W. M. Fain.
When their trials came up, Jesus Eredia was acquitted of all charges, a remarkable event considering the racial attitudes of the era. William Malone was freed after his jury became hopelessly deadlocked. This left Manuel Abiles alone to face the wrath of the law – he was convicted of killing Gregorio and sentenced to death.
Surprisingly for this period, a number of people petitioned the Territorial Governor asking for clemency for Abiles. Yavapai County was still in its infancy and the people of Prescott were perhaps a bit unnerved at the thought of their very first hanging. The Governor denied the petition and the execution plans went forward.
On August 6, 1875, a mere four months after the murder, Abiles stated before his execution that he was indeed present at the murder of Gregorio but insisted that it was Malone who delivered the fatal blow. Manuel Abiles then swung into eternity as Yavapai’s first hanging.
The story of Abiles’s death is fairly cut and dried based on the original newspaper accounts and Malone’s court records. However, this has not stopped the folklorists from putting their spin on the story. Sometime in the 1930s, Charles M. Clark of the Arizona Pioneers Association wrote a lengthy, radically different and very erroneous account of the Abiles hanging. He contended that Abiles was walking along when he found a corpse by the side of the road. Suddenly, a group of white men rode up and accused him of the murder. Abiles was quickly taken to Prescott, tried, convicted and hanged. According to Clark, a different man confessed to the murder 60 years after the fact, proving the innocence of Abiles. William Malone and Jesus Eredia are not even mentioned in this version.
Clark’s story is false but was taken seriously at the time and has been repeated verbatim numerous times. Some reputable historians have also been taken in by this version of events. When writing about history, it’s very easy to assume that the researchers who came before you got it right. This is not always the case; which is why this writer likes to go straight to the original sources whenever possible.
Having heard this version to the story so often, I had no reason to disbelieve it but, true to my researching nature, I wanted to verify the story from original sources in the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives. Imagine my shock to discover the facts bear no resemblance whatsoever to the fable that has been spun for so many years! In reality, Abiles and two other men (who are not mentioned in the folklore version) got raucous at a Mexican wedding party, a fight broke out and the three killed one of the other guests. All three were arrested for the murder; one was acquitted, another other got off due to a hung jury, leaving Abiles to face the hangman alone. And no, there was no deathbed confession from anyone else 60 years later. Contrary to folklore, Manuel Abiles was indeed guilty of at least being an accessory to murder and possibly the murder itself. Very detailed court papers and news accounts back this up; too detailed to be a fabrication.
Whether Abiles delivered the fatal blow or not, his was Yavapai County’s first legal hanging, but it was not the last. At least ten more people went to the gallows in Prescott between 1875 and 1927.
In recent years, the western historian/author R. Michael Wilson has compiled several books on executions in the western frontier states. He uses original sources for his research and tells the Abiles’s story in print for the first time as it happened rather than the legend.