b'Crete Bryan had evidence to the contrary, evidence the jury never heard. The jurors also never heard the lies Kruger continued to tell about the massacre when he talked to the press in Los Angeles some four months later after he and Miss Sheppard took up residence there. Bryan was taking his meals at the home of Donya Tomase, a Mexican woman in Wickenburg who ran a boarding house. Bryan had planned to take the stage that fateful morning, but Donya warned him against it, saying she had overheard a group of Mexicans plotting to hold up the stage. Donya knew the By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The Traveler names of two of the plotters, one was a young Mexican named Parenta, whose family name was Tomase, the same as hers. She was sure that Joaquin Barbe was the head of the gang. Barbe, a Spaniard from Gibraltar, was known to be a man who did not work or prospect, but always had plenty of money. He claimed that his money came from a Spanish inheritance but few believed him. Crete knew Donya and took her for her word. He arranged for John Burger to stay at her place, knowing that if the Mexicans found out she knew who they were, she would be killed. Donya, a motherly image to young Parenta, coaxed the lad with a little wine into confessing his part in the massacre and telling her the names of the others.NAMES PASSED TO A SELECT FEWCharles Genung, Crete Bryan, Abe Peeples, James Grant, George Kirkland, and similar old timers who had been in Arizona Territory since 1863 trusted each other, but had little confidence in many of the whites who had followed them into the territory. These men quietly passed the names of the Mexicans who Donya had named among themselves and a few trusted citizens in the infant Phoenix. Quietly, to protect Donya Tomase, these names were circulated among men in the territory who could be trusted to keep them quiet and act just as quietly.It was learned that one of the bandits had been taken to Agua Caliente Springs. He was badly wounded. Two Phoenix deputies, among the trusted, went to Agua Caliente Springs and brought the man back to jail in Phoenix. How to charge him and what evidence to try him on remained a puzzle, however. The puzzle was solved when another of the trusted, a Phoenix citizen, killed the bandit in the jail. The name of the man who dispatched the bandit was not revealed.Then John Burger met up with another of the bandits at Agua Fria in the stage station corral. The man, apparently aware that he was being hunted, drew a knife on Burger. Burgers gun ended the bandits career. Phoenix citizens learned that another of the bandits was in town. A mob formed and lynched him. Joaquin Barbe and another of the suspected gang got carried away with themselves one night in a Phoenix saloon and began shooting up the place. The two trusted deputies who had brought the wounded bandit back from Agua Caliente responded to the antics of Barbe and his cohort and escorted the pair out of town into the desert. Seems an argument developed and the deputies, Milt Ward and Joe Tye won. The lawmen left the bodies of Barbe and his buddy where they fell. It was said one other known member of the massacre gang fled to Mexico. Four others reportedly went underground and were never found. WHY WOULD KRUGER LIE?In Los Angeles, Krugers claims to the press were making him more of a suspect than a victim. Shortly after the massacre, Crete Bryan noted that Kruger told a different story every time he related the events of the massacre. Four months later, in Los Angeles, Kruger still was telling different stories.Pick up our December issue for part 2.GRAVE MARKERS AT THE SITE OF THE MASSACREArizonaRealCountry.com November 2022 45'