Two Men Hanged In County Jail In 1900, Last Time Gallows Was Used

December 17, 1950

By JOE PARRISH

Jailer T.C. Lyons walked down the jail corridor and stopped before a cell. Inside were Geronimo Parra and Antonio Flores, both convicted murderers due to hang in a few minutes.

The two men looked up sullenly, Lyons asked, “You ready, boys?”

The scene is the old county jail building, now used as El Paso police station and city jail. The date is Jan. 5, 1900. The old gallows, from which two men dropped to sudden, legal death that day, is still there and in good working order. Located in a corner of the third tier of the tank, the trap door is surrounded by a railing and to one side is a lever for springing it.

It was sprung twice that day, but only after both the condemned men stabbed three officers with smuggled daggers in a last-minute attempt to take somebody else with them. But more of that later.

One of the few privileged spectators to the hanging was Capt. John R. Hughes, the late, great Texas Ranger. And on Hughes’ lips was a smile of grim satisfaction. For one of the men, Parra, was hanging for the murder of another Ranger, Charles Fusselman. The captain had sworn to bring the killer to justice. And he kept his vow, although it took him nine years to capture his man and almost another year to see him convicted.

The story begins 10 years previously, on April 17, 1890. It is told in back issues of The Times. That morning John Barnes, a rancher living near Mundy Springs, dashed into the sheriff’s office.

TRACKED THIEVES

“A gang of thieves rounded up all my horses and a yearling calf last night,” he excitedly told Deputy Simmons. “I tracked them to a pass through the mountain about 8 miles north of the city. But at the entrance to the pass I met a mean-looking Mexican standing guard. I didn’t have my pistol with me so I came to town for help.”

Ranger Fusselman, who was also a deputy United States marshal, was in town from his Marfa Ranger camp to attend Federal court. Since the deputy sheriff was busy, he volunteered to go after the thieves. He and George Herald armed themselves and returned to the pass with Barnes to capture the gang.

The canyon for which the three men were heading is a rugged, forbidding place. It lies directly north of the tallest peek of the Franklin range. In a small side canyon Indians lived, and their metate holes for grinding corn, and their paintings, can still be found – if one knows where to look.

In the canyon is an ancient mine shaft and a cave with a smoke-blackened ceiling where the robbers might have lived. High on the canyon’s slopes water runs the year round – and tall trees grow. Before the army took it over as a target range and began blasting its walls with cannon, deer grazed on its grassy bottom and porcupines lived under the rocks.

FUSSELMAN KILLED

At 5 p.m. Herald galloped back into town, his horse covered with foam. He reported that they had surprised the thieves in the canyon, that a fight had ensued and Fusselman slain.

Fusselman had been riding along the mountain side closely followed by Herald, with Barnes slightly in the rear. As the Ranger topped a small arm of the mountain, he found himself looking down on the outlaw camp not 30 yards ahead.

Not taking time to unsling his rifle, Fusselman drew his six shooter and opened fire, shouting to his companions, “Boys, we’re in for it and let’s stay with it.”

Those were his last words. As he finished speaking, his companions saw him throw his hand to his head, reel in the saddle and fall to the ground.

Herald had no trouble in quickly recruiting volunteers and 10 men armed to the teeth and led by Deputy U.S. Marshall Bob Ross, sat out to capture the thieves. Following the trail through the canyon, they recovered 18 horses, two cows and a calf abandoned by the fleeing outlaws.

The rail led through the mountains, down across the foothills on the west side of the mountain to the bosque (swamp) in the river bottom some 10 miles north of the city.

Here the posse had to halt, as it was suicide to enter the bog. Constable Patterson rode in a few feet and his horse sand to its belly in mud.

HUGHES ENTERS CASE

The tale now switches to the Ranger camp in Marfa. Hughes, then a corporal, was put on the case by Capt. Frank Jones, according to Hughes’ biography, “Border Boss,” by Jack Martin.

Hughes rushed to El Paso and learned from Herald that the fatal bullets had been fired by Geronimo Parra, a leader of the gang and notorious border bad man. But the Ranger was unable to pick up his trail, which led into New Mexico, and after vowing to avenge his brother officer, he returned to duty in Marfa.

He never lost track of Parra. For the next nine years, whenever the opportunity came, he searched for the killer. Then he learned that his man was in the penitentiary at Santa Fe, N.M. but attempts by Texas officials to return him to Texas were unsuccessful.

One day in 1899 Hughes, now a captain and in charge of company D in Ysleta, had a distinguished visitor. The famed Pat Garrett, slayer of Billy the Kid and Sheriff of Dona Ana County, N.M., rode in to visit his old friend and to ask a favor.

Garrett wanted an outlaw named Pat Agnew, who was at large in Texas. Hughes, always a sharp trader, pounced on the opportunity.

“If you’ll get me Parra, who’s in the penitentiary at Santa Fe, I’ll get you Agnew,” he said.

It was a deal.

Hughes set off on the trail. For weeks he lived in the saddle, searching for a man he had never seen. He asked a thousand questions, picking up a meager clue here, another there. Finally he located his man working on a small ranch near the Big Bend border, took him into custody and turned him over to Garrett at El Paso.

Garrett immediately went to Santa Fe and secured the release of Parra and delivered him to the triumphant Ranger captain.

TIMES TELLS OF HANGING

The story of the hanging is told, with gory detail, in The Times for Jan. 6, 1900. All morning large numbers of Mexicans had surrounded the jail, and by 1 p.m., time for the first execution, the crowd had swelled to thousands. The housetops, fences and boxcars in the vicinity were alive with the curious, who, being unable to get inside, were content to watch through the jail windows.

Flores, who was to be executed for killing his sweetheart in Smeltertown, was first. As jailer Lyons returned to the gallows when Flores the murderer suddenly drew a crude, homemade dagger and lunged at Deputy Sheriff Ed Bryant, who had been instrumental in his conviction.

Instantly the narrow constricted tank was bedlam. Screaming Spanish curses, Flores made several vicious stabs at Bryant’s stomach. The agonized deputy went down under the surprise attack, and four other officers struggled with Flores who in his desperation fought with the strength of several men.

Then Parra, whose cell door had been left open, rushed into the corridor brandishing a similar dagger. He stabbed Policeman Cristy, then turned to Officer Ten Eyck and stabbed him.

But in a few seconds both were overpowered. Parra was disarmed and thrown back into his cell, and Flores rendered harmless with handcuffs. Each was marched in turn to the gallows, the noose affixed, the black hood put in place, and the trap door sprung from beneath their feet. All three officers recovered quickly, as their wounds were not serious.

When Parra, defiant to the last, dropped through the steel trap door and met his death at the end of a rope, a grim smile played on Hughes’ lips. Fusselman was avenged.

And the rugged fastnesses of the Franklin perpetuate his name. The canyon in which the gallant ranger met death was re-christened Fusselman Canyon.

Comments

[mike]

i love to hear stories about el paso's history!....thanks for the lesson

[Charles Baudelaire]

The only worthwhile blog on this site. Thank you.

[Nick]

Great research... How 'bout getting Leon Metz to chime in and send out some articles!

[Robert S. Burke]

The story of Charles Fusselman's life ends with the death of a great man.

[Z]

I loved this soooo much, its helped me A LOT with a project I'm doing in school on local history!!

[Cheri Fusselman Nelson]

This was a great account of our relative Charles H. Fusselman one that I hadn't heard in detail. Thank you so much for your research. This will add interest to our family legacy. Stories to be told to my newest grandson, Garrett Fusselman.

[lacoste shirts]

A great man is always willing to be little—R. W. Emerson
It is not enough to be industrious, so are the ants. What are you industrious for?— H. D. Thoreau

[Jennifer]

Texas needs to bring the gallows back! (sorry, someone had to say it!)

[Dennis Hermreck]

Antonio Flores was my great-grandfather. His son Jose Flores was my Grandfather and came to Kansas working for the Santa Fe RR at the turn of the century. Throughout his life we knew nothing of Grandpa's past; he would of been 13 at the time of his father's hanging. My sister discovered this episode years after my Grandpa died in 1977. To say the least it stunned us all. My gramdpa was a good and gentle man who spent his life working for the ATSF RR in Kansas. His daughter (my mother) is soon to be 90. We (his family) are still discovering things about the incident and life in Smeltertown. Absolutely any information would be fantastic. Thank you in advance.
Dennis Hermreck
Garnett, Ks.

[K.L. Wilden]

Just read your post Mr Hermreck. The history community knows little about Antonio Flores beyond his grisly ending. While the papers do tell us he was buried in the "catholic cemetery", we don't know for sure which cemetery, and where in said cemetery. Do you and or any of you family members know anything, and be willing to share with us in El Paso?

You can contact me at [email protected]

[DIANA GARCIA PONCE]

Mr. Antonio Flores raped and murded my great-grandmother Ramona Biscaina-Garcia in El Paso, Texas. She passed away from the grisly attach on March 29, 1899. My grandfather who was 9 yrs old at the time wittnessed it all. Mr. Flores was obsessed with my great-grandmoth and one day as she walked from church he asked her to go with him. She refused and he became incensed and attacked her with his dagger. The story is in the El Paso Herald dated January 5, 1900. WE HOPE HE CONTINUES TO ROT IN HELL!!!