A TRIPLE HANGING THREE NOTED CRIMINALS ARE SWUNG INTO ETERNITY

Mannon Davis, White, Eduardo Gonzales, Mexican, and James Upkins, Colored, Explain Their Crimes on the Gallows

Paris, Tex., March 31. — The curtain has fallen on the last act of three tragedies. Mannon Davis, Eduardo Gonzales and James Upkins have entered into mysterious unknown to be judge by the tribunal which never errs. At 11:15 yesterday all that was moral of these men, convicted by their peers under the forms of law of crimes rarely equaled in atrocity so far as the records of criminal history disclose, dropped through the trap and the three revolting acts of depravity were avenged.

The crime for which Mannon Davis yielding his life was for the murder of John Roden in Eagle County, Choctaw Nation, I.T., December 26, 1891. Davis and Roden had been living in the same house. About dark Davis went to the place. Roden was on the gallery salting meat. When David went up he accosted Roden by saying he understood he was carrying a pistol for him. This Roden denied. Davis entered the house and began quarreling with Roden and then set upon him with a knife and stabbed him in the eye. Roden fell over on a bed, when Davis stabbed in the breast, causing instant death.

The crime for which James Upkins, colored, was hanged was almost as revolting as that of Henry Smith, who was burned at the stake. On September 6, 1893, during the absence of his wife from home he sent his 9-year-old stepson from home upon some pretext and during the boy’s absence Mary Wood, his 6-year- old stepdaughter was criminally assaulted. The negroes at Ardmore, I.T., were greatly incensed over the outrage and made a determined effort to lynch him.

Eduardo Gonzales was executed for the murder of John Daniels near Caddo, I.T., on the night of May 16, 1893. The murder was a most deliberate and cold blooded affair. Daniels was teaching a singing school and while on the floor leading his class he was fired on through the door, which was slightly ajar. A bullet from a 32-caliber Winchester penetrated his brain and killed him instantly.

So, that is the official newspaper account detail the demise of Mannon Davis and two fellow jail mates in Paris. Other accounts provide a little more information about Davis, noting that in the few months he’d been in Paris sweating in his cell, he had found Jesus. He admitted his sins and praised the Lord as he climbed the gallows. Upkins was noted to have accepted his fate without drama, while Gonzales reportedly professed his innocence until the end.

There you have it. From this we do know one thing. Mannon Davis never had to travel to Arkansas to face charges as an accomplice to his deceased brother’s act of murder. Instead, he is buried somewhere, maybe in Lamar County, maybe in Okla- homa. It remains a pauper’s grave over 120 years later. Chances are few considered Mannon Davis “Gone but Not Forgotten.” With that, let’s return him to where he uncomfortably rests — gone, forgotten, and good riddance.