Ruby Murders

The "Ruby Murders" refers to three linked incidents that took place near the mining town of Ruby, Arizona, a small border community in Bear Valley known for lawlessness stemming from its proximity to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The town's single business, the Ruby Mercantile store, was the site of repeated robberies and killings between 1920 and 1922.

On February 27, 1920, eleven days after brothers John and Alexander Frazer purchased the mercantile from previous owner Philip C. Clarke, two bandits robbed the store and shot both brothers. Alexander was found dead near the cash register, shot in the head and back. John was found nearby, unconscious after being shot in the eye, and died five hours later without regaining consciousness. Investigators identified the assailants as Ezequiel Lara and Manuel Garcia. A posse led by Sheriff Raymond Earhardt failed to catch the pair. Garcia was killed in a gunfight with Pima County deputies near Twin Buttes in October 1920. Lara was later arrested in Mexico for other offenses but was never tried for the Frazer killings.

The second incident occurred on August 26, 1921, after the store had passed to new owners, Frank and Myrtle Pearson, who lived there with their three daughters. A group of seven Mexican men entered the store asking for tobacco, then shot Frank Pearson in the back; he died after firing several shots in return. The bandits then shot Myrtle Pearson in the neck and head, and removed several of her gold teeth after knocking them out with a pistol. Daughter Elizabeth was grazed by a bullet but survived, along with her two sisters. The bandits fled after robbing the store's safe and destroying its telephone line. A large posse and a U.S. Army biplane from Nogales searched for the attackers, marking the first known use of aircraft in an Arizona manhunt, but the search was unsuccessful. Authorities offered a $5,000 bounty for each suspect.

Months later, a bartender in Sasabe, Sonora, was found attempting to sell gold teeth traced to Myrtle Pearson; the seller identified the source as an outlaw named Manuel Martinez. Martinez and an associate, Placidio Silvas, were arrested and convicted of murder in Santa Cruz County in May 1922. Martinez was sentenced to death and Silvas to life imprisonment. On July 13, 1922, while being transported by Sheriff George White and deputy L.A. Smith, the prisoners escaped after a car wreck; both White and Smith were later found dead near the wreck. More than 700 volunteers from four counties launched what is described as the largest manhunt in the history of the Southwest. Martinez and Silvas were recaptured six days later in the Tumacacori Mountains. After legal appeals reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Martinez was executed by hanging on August 10, 1923. Silvas remained imprisoned at Florence, Arizona, until he escaped in 1928 and was never located again.