Epifanio TELLES
Douglas
May 19, 1902
Arizona Republican Newspaper

On Sunday last, about 12 o'clock, Epifanio Telles, a 
Mexican rancher and wood hauler was shot and killed near 
the rock quarry, about twelve miles east of Douglas, says 
the International.  The fatal shot was fired either by 
W.H. Taylor or John Bowman, but owing to the number of 
men and the number of shots fired it is impossible to 
tell which one is responsible for the killing.  The dead 
man was hit but once, the ball entering his left side 
below the armpit, passing entirely through the body and 
the right arm above the elbow, the bullet in its passage 
cutting off the lower part of the heart and passing 
through the main organs of the body.

Epifanio Telles, the dead man was a citizen of the United 
States, born in San Antonio, Texas and was about 50 years 
of age.

The killing was caused by a dispute over the ownership of 
a spring.  According to the testimony before the coroner's 
jury, W.H. Taylor claimed ownership of the spring by 
purchase from George Bloodshaw, or Bledsoe, who had 
located the ground as a mining claim and he said he 
held a bill of sale from Bloodshaw.

Pablo Telles, the son of the dead man testified that his 
father had filed on the land as a homestead about a month 
ago and was living there in a tent, and a man named Gomez 
in a small house near by.

The verdict of the coroner's jury was that the deceased, 
Epifanio Telles, came to his death from a rifle shot from 
the hands of W.H. Taylor or John Bowman on May 11, 1902 
near the rock quarry, twelve miles from Douglas and the 
shooting was done in self defense.