WILEY BERRY or Berrie
Arizona Republican Newspaper
January 4, 1904

The Arizona Silver Belt prints the following story of the 
preliminary trial of Zack and John Booth for the killing 
near Gisela of Wiley Berry and a Mexican boy named Vigil.  
The prisoners were taken to Payson where the hearing of 
Zack Booth began on Saturday and was concluded on Monday 
before Justice J.O. Hill who bound the defendant over 
without bail to await the action of the grand jury.

In the absence of the district attorney, Henry Q. Robinson 
was retained by Santiago Vigil, father of the murdered 
Mexican boy, to prosecute the Booths and J.W. Wentworth 
conducted the defense.  AT the coroner's inquest Zack 
Booth made a confession, assuming the responsibility for 
killing both the young men and denying that his brother 
John Booth was in any way implicated.  There were some 
discrepancies in the statement made by Zack Booth which 
are discredited.  He alleges self defense as the motive 
for killing Berry and Vigil claiming that the former shot 
at him first, the bullet from Berry's gun striking the 
pommel of his saddle whereupon he returned the fire, 
killing both young men.  He also stated that when he 
ordered them to leave the vicinity they were "sassy."

Wiley Berry was the son of W.W. Berry, a prominent citizen 
and former sheriff of Apache County.  The young man was 20 
years of age and is highly spoken of.  He was shot twice in 
the breast and his body was left lying partly in the fire 
where it had fallen.  Vigil, the Mexican boy, was the son of 
Santiago Vigil, herder for the Berrys.  His body was found 
some distance from that of Berry and he is supposed to have 
been running when shot in the back.  The assassin then shot 
him twice in the breast and once in the throat under the chin.

District Attorney George R. Hill and under sheriff Pollard 
Pearson left here on the afternoon of Christmas  and reached 
Payson on Sunday.  The district attorney found that Mr. 
Robertson had conducted the prosecution with good judgment 
and ability and requested him to go on with the cases.  At 
the conclusion of the hearing of Zack Booth the court took 
a recess to give time for the exhuming and examination of 
the bodies of Berry and Vigil for the purpose of 
ascertaining if there was a difference in the caliber 
of the bullets with which they were shot.

W.W. Berry, father of Wiley berry and David Lee of Thatcher 
arrived here on Tuesday night's train and left for the north 
yesterday afternoon.  It is Mr. Berry's intention to have 
his sons remains removed to St. Johns, Apache County as 
soon as possible.

Mr. Berry had stopped at Thatcher to see his wife and 
daughters, who were visiting friends there when news of 
the sons assassination reached them in a letter from the 
Justice of the Peace, Hill, of Payson who found a letter 
in young Berry's pocket, form his mother written at 
Thatcher.  The parents were greatly distressed by the 
wholly unexpected announcement of the killing of their 
son and the violent manner of his death and the father 
had not recovered from the shock when he left here yesterday.