Will was a young ranch hand who worked for Bill Bartlett on the Bartlett ranch in Reagan county. He was murdered near Castle Gap in Upton county. He is buried on the McElroy Ranch on Texas off Hwy 329.
Judge John Hyde
Reporter-Telegram Correspondent | Updated Apr 3, 2011
One hundred twenty years ago two men, strangers to each other before their encounter on the West Texas prairie met in a confrontation that would cost the life of each man. Ironically, a rope would be involved in the death of each man. They now lie buried in unmarked graves about 70 miles apart. Here is their story.
During the night of July 20, 1890, some saddles were stolen from a ranch located near Centralia Draw in present day Reagan County. (Reagan County was formed from Tom Green County in 1903.) Discovering the theft the next morning, cowboy rancher Sam Murray set out on horseback to track and apprehend the thief. He learned that four riders passed by the ranch the previous evening heading west. He stopped at the Bartlett Ranch, enlisted the help of another cowboy, Will Landrum, and the two of them tracked the riders about 25 miles into Upton County. There, near Castle Gap, the cowboys caught sight of the other riders and saw them in possession of the stolen saddles. One of the four riders was a young man in his early 20s named Lorenzo Porez.
It was agreed that Murray would leave Landrum to follow the other four while Murray rode back for more men to apprehend the thieves and recover the saddles. Unsuccessful in acquiring help, Murray rejoined Landrum about 4 o’clock that afternoon.
Outnumbered 2 to 1, the cowboys were surprised by the four riders who had circled back and were galloping toward them, firing as they advanced. Murray and Landrum returned the gunfire as they fled but became separated as they raced across the prairie. The bandits also split up with two pursuing each cowboy. In his last sight of Landrum, Murray saw Porez and another rider about 200 yards behind the fleeing cowboy.
Murray’s horse outran the two bandits pursuing him and he arrived safely at the TX Ranch. There he secured more help, and the group of cowboys rode back to the area where Murray had last seen Landrum.
When they arrived, the cowboys saw Landrum’s riderless horse and his hat on the ground near a pool of blood. Following the signs of disturbed brush, the cowboys found Landrum’s body a few yards into the brush. It appeared that he had been lassoed off his horse, dragged into the brush and fatally wounded. Two stab marks were on his chest. The cowboys saw four riders in the distance heading west.
Landrum was buried near the place where his body was found, about seven miles northeast of Castle Gap.
By September 1890, Porez had been arrested and was locked in the Midland County Jail. (Upton County was attached to Midland for trials of criminal cases at that time.) The district attorney wasted no time in preparing a case, and on September 3, 1890, the grand jury of Midland charged Lorenzo Porez did “with malice aforethought kill Will Landrum by stabbing him with a knife,” (Indictment No. 87).
Two attorneys, A. H. Hawkins and R. H. Zane, were appointed to represent Porez. District Judge William Kennedy seated a jury of 12 men on Feb. 7, 1891, in Midland’s two-story wood-frame courthouse. The defense urged alibi and self-defense, but the handwritten jury verdict signed by foreman A. Hutchison told the story. It read “We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and assess his punishment as death by hanging.” The attorneys for Porez timely appealed the conviction to the Court of Appeals in Austin (now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals), and on June 20, 1891, the high court announced that the conviction and death sentence were affirmed. The opinion of the court is found in Volume 16 Southwestern Reporter, page 750.
On Nov. 18, 1891, before Judge Kennedy could schedule an execution date, Gov. James Hogg issued a stay of execution to consider a plea for clemency filed by Porez’s attorneys. However, within 10 days Gov. Hogg sent a telegram to Midland for Judge Kennedy and Sheriff W. D. Allison.
The telegram said, “I decline to interfere further in the Porez case. Let the law take its course.” Judge Kennedy then issued a death warrant instructing Midland County Sheriff W. D. Allison to hang Porez on Friday, Nov. 27, 1891. between the hours of 11 a.m. and sunset.
The sheriff complied and constructed a scaffold between the jail and the courthouse at the approximate location where a pecan tree and park bench now are found on the east side of the former courthouse. People gathered outside the courthouse on the appointed day to witness what would be the first public execution in this part of Texas. At 3 p.m. on that day, Lorenzo Porez was led up the steps of the scaffold by Sheriff Allison, his deputies and Father Albert Wagner, of Marienfeld (now Stanton), who had administered the last rites earlier that morning to the condemned man.
In his final words, Lorenzo Porez confessed his guilt to the murder of Will Landrum, asked to be forgiven, offered exhoneration for one of the other three men and told where the other two could be found. Following a prayer, the trap door was released at 3:15 p.m. and Lorenzo Porez died in the manner the jury had decreed a year earlier.
Sheriff Allison submitted a return of the death warrant to Judge Kennedy, confirming the execution, listing some of the witnesses present, including at least one member of the jury that had convicted Porez. The sheriff reported that the body of Porez secretly was buried — very likely the northwest corner of Fairview Cemetery, where paupers were laid to rest by Midland County.
Recalling her childhood days in Midland, Mrs. J.H. Frame later wrote that her school teacher “marched us all out to see the hanging as an admonition and not one of those kids was ever hung.” Nor, for that matter, was anyone else in Midland County.
Two of the remaining three suspects were apprehended and also tried for Landrum’s murder. One man received a 25 year prison sentence, and the trial of the other man ended in a mistrial after a change of venue to another county. No record exists regarding an arrest of the fourth man.
The death of Lorenzo Porez and the execution of others who were sentenced to death by Midland juries between 1890 and 1990 are highlighted in Jimmy Patterson’s soon-to-be published book, “Midland: A History of Character.”
Judge John Hyde
Reporter-Telegram Correspondent | Updated Apr 3, 2011
One hundred twenty years ago two men, strangers to each other before their encounter on the West Texas prairie met in a confrontation that would cost the life of each man. Ironically, a rope would be involved in the death of each man. They now lie buried in unmarked graves about 70 miles apart. Here is their story.
During the night of July 20, 1890, some saddles were stolen from a ranch located near Centralia Draw in present day Reagan County. (Reagan County was formed from Tom Green County in 1903.) Discovering the theft the next morning, cowboy rancher Sam Murray set out on horseback to track and apprehend the thief. He learned that four riders passed by the ranch the previous evening heading west. He stopped at the Bartlett Ranch, enlisted the help of another cowboy, Will Landrum, and the two of them tracked the riders about 25 miles into Upton County. There, near Castle Gap, the cowboys caught sight of the other riders and saw them in possession of the stolen saddles. One of the four riders was a young man in his early 20s named Lorenzo Porez.
It was agreed that Murray would leave Landrum to follow the other four while Murray rode back for more men to apprehend the thieves and recover the saddles. Unsuccessful in acquiring help, Murray rejoined Landrum about 4 o’clock that afternoon.
Outnumbered 2 to 1, the cowboys were surprised by the four riders who had circled back and were galloping toward them, firing as they advanced. Murray and Landrum returned the gunfire as they fled but became separated as they raced across the prairie. The bandits also split up with two pursuing each cowboy. In his last sight of Landrum, Murray saw Porez and another rider about 200 yards behind the fleeing cowboy.
Murray’s horse outran the two bandits pursuing him and he arrived safely at the TX Ranch. There he secured more help, and the group of cowboys rode back to the area where Murray had last seen Landrum.
When they arrived, the cowboys saw Landrum’s riderless horse and his hat on the ground near a pool of blood. Following the signs of disturbed brush, the cowboys found Landrum’s body a few yards into the brush. It appeared that he had been lassoed off his horse, dragged into the brush and fatally wounded. Two stab marks were on his chest. The cowboys saw four riders in the distance heading west.
Landrum was buried near the place where his body was found, about seven miles northeast of Castle Gap.
By September 1890, Porez had been arrested and was locked in the Midland County Jail. (Upton County was attached to Midland for trials of criminal cases at that time.) The district attorney wasted no time in preparing a case, and on September 3, 1890, the grand jury of Midland charged Lorenzo Porez did “with malice aforethought kill Will Landrum by stabbing him with a knife,” (Indictment No. 87).
Two attorneys, A. H. Hawkins and R. H. Zane, were appointed to represent Porez. District Judge William Kennedy seated a jury of 12 men on Feb. 7, 1891, in Midland’s two-story wood-frame courthouse. The defense urged alibi and self-defense, but the handwritten jury verdict signed by foreman A. Hutchison told the story. It read “We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and assess his punishment as death by hanging.” The attorneys for Porez timely appealed the conviction to the Court of Appeals in Austin (now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals), and on June 20, 1891, the high court announced that the conviction and death sentence were affirmed. The opinion of the court is found in Volume 16 Southwestern Reporter, page 750.
On Nov. 18, 1891, before Judge Kennedy could schedule an execution date, Gov. James Hogg issued a stay of execution to consider a plea for clemency filed by Porez’s attorneys. However, within 10 days Gov. Hogg sent a telegram to Midland for Judge Kennedy and Sheriff W. D. Allison.
The telegram said, “I decline to interfere further in the Porez case. Let the law take its course.” Judge Kennedy then issued a death warrant instructing Midland County Sheriff W. D. Allison to hang Porez on Friday, Nov. 27, 1891. between the hours of 11 a.m. and sunset.
The sheriff complied and constructed a scaffold between the jail and the courthouse at the approximate location where a pecan tree and park bench now are found on the east side of the former courthouse. People gathered outside the courthouse on the appointed day to witness what would be the first public execution in this part of Texas. At 3 p.m. on that day, Lorenzo Porez was led up the steps of the scaffold by Sheriff Allison, his deputies and Father Albert Wagner, of Marienfeld (now Stanton), who had administered the last rites earlier that morning to the condemned man.
In his final words, Lorenzo Porez confessed his guilt to the murder of Will Landrum, asked to be forgiven, offered exhoneration for one of the other three men and told where the other two could be found. Following a prayer, the trap door was released at 3:15 p.m. and Lorenzo Porez died in the manner the jury had decreed a year earlier.
Sheriff Allison submitted a return of the death warrant to Judge Kennedy, confirming the execution, listing some of the witnesses present, including at least one member of the jury that had convicted Porez. The sheriff reported that the body of Porez secretly was buried — very likely the northwest corner of Fairview Cemetery, where paupers were laid to rest by Midland County.
Recalling her childhood days in Midland, Mrs. J.H. Frame later wrote that her school teacher “marched us all out to see the hanging as an admonition and not one of those kids was ever hung.” Nor, for that matter, was anyone else in Midland County.
Two of the remaining three suspects were apprehended and also tried for Landrum’s murder. One man received a 25 year prison sentence, and the trial of the other man ended in a mistrial after a change of venue to another county. No record exists regarding an arrest of the fourth man.
The death of Lorenzo Porez and the execution of others who were sentenced to death by Midland juries between 1890 and 1990 are highlighted in Jimmy Patterson’s soon-to-be published book, “Midland: A History of Character.”
Will was a young ranch hand who worked for Bill Bartlett on the Bartlett ranch in Reagan county. He was murdered near Castle Gap in Upton county. He is buried on the McElroy Ranch on Texas off Hwy 329.
Judge John Hyde
Reporter-Telegram Correspondent | Updated Apr 3, 2011
One hundred twenty years ago two men, strangers to each other before their encounter on the West Texas prairie met in a confrontation that would cost the life of each man. Ironically, a rope would be involved in the death of each man. They now lie buried in unmarked graves about 70 miles apart. Here is their story.
During the night of July 20, 1890, some saddles were stolen from a ranch located near Centralia Draw in present day Reagan County. (Reagan County was formed from Tom Green County in 1903.) Discovering the theft the next morning, cowboy rancher Sam Murray set out on horseback to track and apprehend the thief. He learned that four riders passed by the ranch the previous evening heading west. He stopped at the Bartlett Ranch, enlisted the help of another cowboy, Will Landrum, and the two of them tracked the riders about 25 miles into Upton County. There, near Castle Gap, the cowboys caught sight of the other riders and saw them in possession of the stolen saddles. One of the four riders was a young man in his early 20s named Lorenzo Porez.
It was agreed that Murray would leave Landrum to follow the other four while Murray rode back for more men to apprehend the thieves and recover the saddles. Unsuccessful in acquiring help, Murray rejoined Landrum about 4 o’clock that afternoon.
Outnumbered 2 to 1, the cowboys were surprised by the four riders who had circled back and were galloping toward them, firing as they advanced. Murray and Landrum returned the gunfire as they fled but became separated as they raced across the prairie. The bandits also split up with two pursuing each cowboy. In his last sight of Landrum, Murray saw Porez and another rider about 200 yards behind the fleeing cowboy.
Murray’s horse outran the two bandits pursuing him and he arrived safely at the TX Ranch. There he secured more help, and the group of cowboys rode back to the area where Murray had last seen Landrum.
When they arrived, the cowboys saw Landrum’s riderless horse and his hat on the ground near a pool of blood. Following the signs of disturbed brush, the cowboys found Landrum’s body a few yards into the brush. It appeared that he had been lassoed off his horse, dragged into the brush and fatally wounded. Two stab marks were on his chest. The cowboys saw four riders in the distance heading west.
Landrum was buried near the place where his body was found, about seven miles northeast of Castle Gap.
By September 1890, Porez had been arrested and was locked in the Midland County Jail. (Upton County was attached to Midland for trials of criminal cases at that time.) The district attorney wasted no time in preparing a case, and on September 3, 1890, the grand jury of Midland charged Lorenzo Porez did “with malice aforethought kill Will Landrum by stabbing him with a knife,” (Indictment No. 87).
Two attorneys, A. H. Hawkins and R. H. Zane, were appointed to represent Porez. District Judge William Kennedy seated a jury of 12 men on Feb. 7, 1891, in Midland’s two-story wood-frame courthouse. The defense urged alibi and self-defense, but the handwritten jury verdict signed by foreman A. Hutchison told the story. It read “We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and assess his punishment as death by hanging.” The attorneys for Porez timely appealed the conviction to the Court of Appeals in Austin (now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals), and on June 20, 1891, the high court announced that the conviction and death sentence were affirmed. The opinion of the court is found in Volume 16 Southwestern Reporter, page 750.
On Nov. 18, 1891, before Judge Kennedy could schedule an execution date, Gov. James Hogg issued a stay of execution to consider a plea for clemency filed by Porez’s attorneys. However, within 10 days Gov. Hogg sent a telegram to Midland for Judge Kennedy and Sheriff W. D. Allison.
The telegram said, “I decline to interfere further in the Porez case. Let the law take its course.” Judge Kennedy then issued a death warrant instructing Midland County Sheriff W. D. Allison to hang Porez on Friday, Nov. 27, 1891. between the hours of 11 a.m. and sunset.
The sheriff complied and constructed a scaffold between the jail and the courthouse at the approximate location where a pecan tree and park bench now are found on the east side of the former courthouse. People gathered outside the courthouse on the appointed day to witness what would be the first public execution in this part of Texas. At 3 p.m. on that day, Lorenzo Porez was led up the steps of the scaffold by Sheriff Allison, his deputies and Father Albert Wagner, of Marienfeld (now Stanton), who had administered the last rites earlier that morning to the condemned man.
In his final words, Lorenzo Porez confessed his guilt to the murder of Will Landrum, asked to be forgiven, offered exhoneration for one of the other three men and told where the other two could be found. Following a prayer, the trap door was released at 3:15 p.m. and Lorenzo Porez died in the manner the jury had decreed a year earlier.
Sheriff Allison submitted a return of the death warrant to Judge Kennedy, confirming the execution, listing some of the witnesses present, including at least one member of the jury that had convicted Porez. The sheriff reported that the body of Porez secretly was buried — very likely the northwest corner of Fairview Cemetery, where paupers were laid to rest by Midland County.
Recalling her childhood days in Midland, Mrs. J.H. Frame later wrote that her school teacher “marched us all out to see the hanging as an admonition and not one of those kids was ever hung.” Nor, for that matter, was anyone else in Midland County.
Two of the remaining three suspects were apprehended and also tried for Landrum’s murder. One man received a 25 year prison sentence, and the trial of the other man ended in a mistrial after a change of venue to another county. No record exists regarding an arrest of the fourth man.
The death of Lorenzo Porez and the execution of others who were sentenced to death by Midland juries between 1890 and 1990 are highlighted in Jimmy Patterson’s soon-to-be published book, “Midland: A History of Character.”
Judge John Hyde
Reporter-Telegram Correspondent | Updated Apr 3, 2011
One hundred twenty years ago two men, strangers to each other before their encounter on the West Texas prairie met in a confrontation that would cost the life of each man. Ironically, a rope would be involved in the death of each man. They now lie buried in unmarked graves about 70 miles apart. Here is their story.
During the night of July 20, 1890, some saddles were stolen from a ranch located near Centralia Draw in present day Reagan County. (Reagan County was formed from Tom Green County in 1903.) Discovering the theft the next morning, cowboy rancher Sam Murray set out on horseback to track and apprehend the thief. He learned that four riders passed by the ranch the previous evening heading west. He stopped at the Bartlett Ranch, enlisted the help of another cowboy, Will Landrum, and the two of them tracked the riders about 25 miles into Upton County. There, near Castle Gap, the cowboys caught sight of the other riders and saw them in possession of the stolen saddles. One of the four riders was a young man in his early 20s named Lorenzo Porez.
It was agreed that Murray would leave Landrum to follow the other four while Murray rode back for more men to apprehend the thieves and recover the saddles. Unsuccessful in acquiring help, Murray rejoined Landrum about 4 o’clock that afternoon.
Outnumbered 2 to 1, the cowboys were surprised by the four riders who had circled back and were galloping toward them, firing as they advanced. Murray and Landrum returned the gunfire as they fled but became separated as they raced across the prairie. The bandits also split up with two pursuing each cowboy. In his last sight of Landrum, Murray saw Porez and another rider about 200 yards behind the fleeing cowboy.
Murray’s horse outran the two bandits pursuing him and he arrived safely at the TX Ranch. There he secured more help, and the group of cowboys rode back to the area where Murray had last seen Landrum.
When they arrived, the cowboys saw Landrum’s riderless horse and his hat on the ground near a pool of blood. Following the signs of disturbed brush, the cowboys found Landrum’s body a few yards into the brush. It appeared that he had been lassoed off his horse, dragged into the brush and fatally wounded. Two stab marks were on his chest. The cowboys saw four riders in the distance heading west.
Landrum was buried near the place where his body was found, about seven miles northeast of Castle Gap.
By September 1890, Porez had been arrested and was locked in the Midland County Jail. (Upton County was attached to Midland for trials of criminal cases at that time.) The district attorney wasted no time in preparing a case, and on September 3, 1890, the grand jury of Midland charged Lorenzo Porez did “with malice aforethought kill Will Landrum by stabbing him with a knife,” (Indictment No. 87).
Two attorneys, A. H. Hawkins and R. H. Zane, were appointed to represent Porez. District Judge William Kennedy seated a jury of 12 men on Feb. 7, 1891, in Midland’s two-story wood-frame courthouse. The defense urged alibi and self-defense, but the handwritten jury verdict signed by foreman A. Hutchison told the story. It read “We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and assess his punishment as death by hanging.” The attorneys for Porez timely appealed the conviction to the Court of Appeals in Austin (now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals), and on June 20, 1891, the high court announced that the conviction and death sentence were affirmed. The opinion of the court is found in Volume 16 Southwestern Reporter, page 750.
On Nov. 18, 1891, before Judge Kennedy could schedule an execution date, Gov. James Hogg issued a stay of execution to consider a plea for clemency filed by Porez’s attorneys. However, within 10 days Gov. Hogg sent a telegram to Midland for Judge Kennedy and Sheriff W. D. Allison.
The telegram said, “I decline to interfere further in the Porez case. Let the law take its course.” Judge Kennedy then issued a death warrant instructing Midland County Sheriff W. D. Allison to hang Porez on Friday, Nov. 27, 1891. between the hours of 11 a.m. and sunset.
The sheriff complied and constructed a scaffold between the jail and the courthouse at the approximate location where a pecan tree and park bench now are found on the east side of the former courthouse. People gathered outside the courthouse on the appointed day to witness what would be the first public execution in this part of Texas. At 3 p.m. on that day, Lorenzo Porez was led up the steps of the scaffold by Sheriff Allison, his deputies and Father Albert Wagner, of Marienfeld (now Stanton), who had administered the last rites earlier that morning to the condemned man.
In his final words, Lorenzo Porez confessed his guilt to the murder of Will Landrum, asked to be forgiven, offered exhoneration for one of the other three men and told where the other two could be found. Following a prayer, the trap door was released at 3:15 p.m. and Lorenzo Porez died in the manner the jury had decreed a year earlier.
Sheriff Allison submitted a return of the death warrant to Judge Kennedy, confirming the execution, listing some of the witnesses present, including at least one member of the jury that had convicted Porez. The sheriff reported that the body of Porez secretly was buried — very likely the northwest corner of Fairview Cemetery, where paupers were laid to rest by Midland County.
Recalling her childhood days in Midland, Mrs. J.H. Frame later wrote that her school teacher “marched us all out to see the hanging as an admonition and not one of those kids was ever hung.” Nor, for that matter, was anyone else in Midland County.
Two of the remaining three suspects were apprehended and also tried for Landrum’s murder. One man received a 25 year prison sentence, and the trial of the other man ended in a mistrial after a change of venue to another county. No record exists regarding an arrest of the fourth man.
The death of Lorenzo Porez and the execution of others who were sentenced to death by Midland juries between 1890 and 1990 are highlighted in Jimmy Patterson’s soon-to-be published book, “Midland: A History of Character.”
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