the state prison in Florence. However, on July 13, while they were being transported in a police car, the two prisoners managed to break free after Sheriff George White wrecked the car he and deputy L.A. Smith were transporting the prisoners in. The police car was found later that day, rolled into a ditch near Continental, with the bodies of White and Smith nearby. White was killed at the scene, but Smith was still alive and taken to a hospital, where he died of his wounds. The men who found White and Smith trailed the outlaws across the Santa Rita Mountains, but they lost track of them near Ruby due to a monsoon. The Arizona public was shocked about this latest double homicide so over 700 volunteers from Pima, Pinal, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties formed posses for the largest manhunt in the history of the Southwest. Initially, Martinez and Silvas evaded the search parties, but, six days after escaping, search dogs uncovered a blood stained file, which put the posses back on the bandits' trail. That same day, Martinez and Silvas were found hiding under some brush in the Tumacacori Mountains, about seventy miles from the site where the two had escaped custody. The two Mexicans were re-tried in court and found guilty again, but the Mexican consul appealed the court's decision and obtained a writ, which delayed the case. Finally, the Supreme Court intervened and the matter was settled. Martinez was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on August 10, 1923. Silvas was put into prison at Florence, but he later escaped in 1928, never to be seen again. Further reading The Ruby Murders have been covered by a number of historians, including Al Ring, Bob Ring and Talia Cahoon in their 2005 history of Ruby, Ruby Arizona: Mining, Mayhem and Murder. Samuel K. Dolan's non-fiction history of law enforcement in the Southwest during the 1920s and 1930s, Cowboys and Gangsters: Stories of an Untamed Southwest, also includes a chapter on the Ruby murders and the manhunts for the killers of the Frasers and Pearsons. See also Battle of Bear Valley Power's Cabin Shootout Bandit War References History of Arizona American frontier Mexican Revolution Murder in Arizona Deaths by firearm in Arizona 1920 in Arizona 1921 in Arizona 1922 in Arizona Arizona folklore Combat incidents 1920 murders in the United States 1921 murders in the United States