An old superstition says that Ruby, a well-preserved ghost town a few miles northwest of Nogales, was cursed when a priest’s grave was desecrated. Whether or not the curse exists, this beautiful part of southern Arizona has seen some of the worst violence in Santa Cruz County’s history.

In the 1870s, a man named Jack Smith discovered rich ore reserves of silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper. He apparently established a mine and named the area Montana Camp. Smith was eventually killed by Apaches in his miner’s shack.

Louis Zeckendorf owned the Camp’s general store. In 1895, he decided to sell it to Julius Andrews for $900. Mining activity began to increase, and in 1909, Andrews made an application for a post office. It was granted, and Andrews named the post office and town after his wife, whose maiden name was Lillie B. Ruby.

After running the Ruby store for 18 years, Andrews sold it to Phil Clarke and retired to Tucson. Clarke ran the store while his wife taught school to the children of Arivaca Land and Cattle Company ranchers. Under Clarke’s management, the store prospered as Ruby’s mines expanded.

Although Ruby was thriving, Mexico was in the middle of its Revolution and in a state of desperation. Clarke was aware of this and always made sure he was never more than a step away from a gun.

In 1920, the Clarkes moved to nearby Oro Blanco and leased the store to two brothers, John and Alex Frasier. On February 27, tragedy struck the brothers when Ezekiel Lara and a companion entered the Ruby store. They shot Alex Frasier and forced his brother John to open the safe. They took $200 in cash and $300 in merchandise, shot John in the eye and fled to Mexico.

After the incident, Joel Cuesta entered the store and found Alex dead on the floor and John barely alive. Cuesta notified the sheriff, and John lived long enough to identify the assailants.

The Santa Cruz Supervisors offered a $1,000 reward for the capture of Lara (who had also killed several Chinese in Mexico) and his accomplice. Sheriff Robert Earhardt and posses from Santa Cruz and Pima Counties took up the trail but could not find the fugitives.

The two criminals had returned to work in the mines south of Tucson, secure in the belief that they had left no witnesses. But a tip led Pima County Deputies Holliday and McClure to them. When the deputies were ready to arrest them, Lara’s accomplice, known as Garcia, drew his gun and killed Deputy Holliday. Deputy McClure, in turn, shot and killed Garcia. Lara escaped and was never captured.

A year later, Phil Clarke sold the Ruby store to Frank Pearson. Tragedy struck once again. On August 27, 1921, bandits shot and killed Pearson and his wife, and wounded Pearson’s sister-in-law. Sheriff George White, and Mr. and Mrs. George Camphius arrived on the scene, describing it as “desolation beyond description.” They cleaned up the bodies and took care of Pearson’s four-year-old daughter who had been hiding in a nearby canyon.

A neighbor identified Placido Silvas and Manuel Martinez as the murderers. They were caught, extradited and tried in the United States. Silvas got life imprisonment, and Martinez was sentenced to be hanged.

On July 13, 1922, Sheriff George White and Deputy Leonard Smith put Martinez and Silvas in the back seat of White’s car and set out for the state prison in Florence. Near Sahuarita, White’s car flipped over. White was killed, and Smith was so badly injured that he died a month later. Martinez and Silvas were unharmed and fled to the nearby mountains.

The Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors appointed Harry Saxon to serve out White’s term. Within a week, Saxon caught a glimpse of Silvas in the mountains near the accident, and his posse captured Martinez and Silvas, who offered no resistance.

About 1,000 curious onlookers stared as Saxon and Quince Leatherman put the fugitives in jail. Martinez received a temporary stay of execution but kept his destiny with death on August 10, 1923. Silva, however, escaped from the Florence penitentiary five years later and was never recaptured.

In the mid-1920s, Clarke sold the Ruby store to a man named Worthington, who hid AWOL black soldiers in the store. When the Arivaca military detachment learned of their whereabouts, they went after the fugitive soldiers with a barrage of bullets. Clarke found out, evicted Worthington and closed the store.

Ruby’s mines continued to operate from 1926 to 1949, under the management of the Eagle Picher Company. They eventually were sold to Hugo Miller of Nogales, who discontinued Ruby’s post office in 1949 and sold the property in 1956.

— Jane Eppinga. Photo courtesy Pimer