Ruby, Arizona: the bloodstained general store that triggered the Southwest’s largest manhunt

Arizona’s Bloodiest Store and the Southwest’s Largest Manhunt

The Ruby Mercantile in Arizona turned blood-red three times in just two years. First, the Frazer brothers were gunned down in 1920, just days after buying the store.

Then in 1921, Frank and Myrtle Pearson met the same fate, with killers knocking out Myrtle’s gold teeth. When authorities finally caught the suspects in 1922, they broke free during transport, killing two lawmen.

What followed was the Southwest’s largest manhunt ever, with 700 volunteers and the first airplane used to track criminals in Arizona history.

The ghost town of Ruby still stands as a stark reminder of this bloody chapter in border history.

Bloodshed at the Ruby Mercantile Shocked Arizona in 1920

The Frazer brothers thought they got a good deal buying the Ruby Mercantile in February 1920. Just eleven days later, their business turned deadly.

On February 27, bandits Manuel Garcia and Ezequiel Lara burst into the store with guns. Alexander Frazer died right away from shots to his head and back.

His brother John lived five hours with a bullet in his left eye before dying. The previous owner warned them about border bandits, but they never expected such quick violence.

Officers later killed Garcia in a shootout that October. They caught Lara in Mexico, but he never faced charges for the Frazer murders.

New Owners Met an Even More Brutal Fate a Year Later

Frank and Myrtle Pearson took over the unlucky store in 1921, hoping for better luck than the Frazers. Their hopes ended on August 26, 1921, when seven Mexican bandits stormed in.

Frank took two bullets in the back. The attackers showed extra cruelty to Myrtle, shooting her in the neck, knocking out her five gold teeth with a gun, then finishing her with a shot to the head.

Oddly, the couple’s three daughters stayed safe, hiding somewhere in the store during the killings. The bandits ran back across the border with cash and valuables.

Gold Teeth in a Bar Led to the Killers’ Capture

The Pearson murder case went nowhere for months until April 1922, when a deputy heard something strange in a bar.

A bartender tried selling Myrtle Pearson’s five gold teeth to a customer, bragging about where he got them. This loose talk broke the case open.

Police quickly arrested Manuel Martinez and Placidio Silvas for the murders. The proof against them was solid.

By May 1922, both men got convicted. Martinez got the death penalty while Silvas got life in prison.

Their arrest brought some comfort to the shaken Ruby community.

Airplane Joined the Hunt for the First Time in Arizona

Police used everything they could to find the Pearson killers, including something never used before in an Arizona manhunt: an airplane.

A United States Army biplane from Nogales helped ground searchers by looking over the rough land from above. Pilots covered huge areas of desert and mountains in hours instead of days.

This marked the first time planes helped catch criminals in Arizona.

The plane helped narrow down where to look, though the bartender’s big mouth proved more helpful than the flying.

Prison Transport Turned Deadly on a Rural Road

The story got even more violent on July 13, 1922. Sheriff George White and Deputy L. A. Smith drove Martinez and Silvas to Florence State Prison to start their time.

Near Continental, Arizona, their police car crashed on a country road. The prisoners used the chaos to escape.

During the breakout, they killed Sheriff White on the spot. Deputy Smith got badly hurt and died later.

The killers ran off into the wild, leaving two more bodies behind and making people across the Southwest angry.

Hundreds Joined the Largest Manhunt in Southwest History

The escape and murder of two lawmen started a huge response. Over 700 volunteers from four counties formed search groups to track down Martinez and Silvas.

This massive effort became the biggest manhunt the Southwest had ever seen.

Ranchers, townspeople, and police searched every canyon, mine shaft, and hiding spot across southern Arizona. Searchers faced hot summer heat, rough land, and the worry that the desperate men might attack them.

The manhunt filled newspaper headlines across Arizona and nearby states.

Fugitives’ Freedom Lasted Less Than a Week

Despite their head start and knowing the border area well, Martinez and Silvas couldn’t outrun all those searchers. Just six days after they escaped, people found them hiding in the Tumacacori Mountains.

The fugitives, tired and low on supplies, gave up without more fighting.

Their capture brought relief to communities scared by the Ruby murders and the killing of the officers. The people of southern Arizona showed great teamwork in catching these dangerous men.

Justice Came Swiftly for One Killer

Manuel Martinez faced quick justice for his crimes. On August 10, 1923, just over a year after his capture, he walked to the gallows at Florence State Prison.

The rope ended the life of one of the worst killers in Arizona history.

Families of all six victims watched the hanging, looking for closure for the deaths that started at the Ruby Mercantile three years earlier.

Martinez never said sorry for any of the killings and stayed cold until his final moments.

The Other Murderer Vanished Without a Trace

Placidio Silvas seemed set to spend his life locked up at Florence prison. In 1928, he shocked everyone by somehow escaping from the secure prison.

Unlike their previous escape, Silvas completely disappeared. Despite another big search, police never caught him again.

Some thought he ran to Mexico, while others believed he died in the desert. No one knows what finally happened to him.

The man who helped kill the Pearsons simply vanished from history.

Ruby Became a Ghost Town as Memories Faded

The Ruby Mercantile never bounced back from its bloody past. The murders cast a dark cloud over the once-busy mining community.

As copper and lead mining slowed in the area, people gradually moved away.

By the 1940s, Ruby had turned into a ghost town, its empty buildings standing as quiet reminders of the violence that once happened there.

Today, Ruby sits on private land, sometimes open to visitors who want to see the infamous store where six people died in one of Arizona’s worst crime sprees.

The Mercantile Building Still Stands Today

Visitors to Ruby can still see the actual building where the Frazer brothers and the Pearsons met their violent ends. The two-story adobe structure has weathered a century of desert sun and monsoon rains.

Bullet holes reportedly remain visible in some of the walls.

The store sits among about two dozen surviving structures in what was once a bustling mining town of 1,200 people.

The Ruby Mercantile serves as a tangible reminder of the lawless period following the Mexican Revolution, when border bandits terrorized remote communities and sparked one of the most dramatic manhunts in Western history.

Visiting Ruby Ghost Town, Arizona

Unfortunately, you can’t visit Ruby Ghost Town anymore to learn about the Ruby Murders that killed six people between 1920 and 1922.

The privately owned ghost town closed after 30+ years of public access and no permits are available.

Security cameras now monitor the property that holds 25 preserved buildings, including the adobe Ruby Mercantile where murders happened.

The schoolhouse museum with mining artifacts is also off-limits, though it’s 75 miles southwest of Tucson.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• When Arizona miners became gunslingers: Castle Dome’s forgotten violent history
• Arizona’s most stubborn ghost town and the man who resurrected it
• Greta Garbo vanished from Hollywood for weeks. This Arizona hotel knew where she was hiding.