WILLIAM SEGNA
November 28, 1898
Arizona Republican Newspaper

The recent killing of William Segna at Weaver closes another bloody 
chapter which Weaver has been stained with.  A score of frightful 
deeds in the past are traceable directly to that place, says the 
Journal Miner, and it would seem that time with its civilizing 
influence cannot wipe from Weaver its annual horror in cold 
blooded murder.

The murders of the Martin family, Statten, Gribble, Verdier and 
many others, the numerous stage hold-ups, robbery and a general 
chapter of criminal lawlessness has given Weaver a stain that 
time cannot wipe away.  Today the old town is just as it was 
back in the 70's.  Strange as it seems, never more than one 
white man at a time has lived within its boundaries.  There 
are but few cases where a white man ever cast his lot in that 
hamlet of adobe houses who was permitted to leave unmolested.  
If he fortunate enough to escape he did so between two days.

December 2, 1898

One of the darkest spots in Arizona is the Mexican adobe town of 
Weaver. It lays in a gulch between two mountains in southern 
Yavapai close to the northern border of Maricopa County and from 
the earliest period in the history of the territory up to the 
present the public has been horrified at different times by 
stories of the successful work of the criminal element which has 
so long held control of the town.

The frightful murder of William Segna a week ago is one of many.  
There are but few instances where criminals have paid the penalty 
of their crime.  Not a case is there on record where justice has 
followed a single criminal from that center other than a 
penitentiary term of slight duration.

Following the murder of Segma startling developments are coming 
to light.    Three arrests have been made in the vicinity of that 
place an the information comes from Congress that a den of cut 
throats have been proven to exist in Weaver. It is the old coterie 
of cut throats that have for over thirty years been encouraged by 
each succeeding crime.  Today one person in that section is blind 
with age and for his career as a spectator of a generation of 
bloody deeds he is known as the King of Weaver.  With a title 
that gives him a supremacy in knowing that misdeeds must prevail 
two of the king's sons are implicated in the last horror and one 
is now under arrest.

The feeling prevails in that section that individual prospectors --
men whose lives have been spent in seeking the riches of that 
section single-handed--have been done away with and their remains 
will some day by chance be uncovered.

Weaver has reveled in its bloody misdeeds too long. Unless courts 
apply a remedy soon the place should be razed to the ground and 
wiped away.  It is the darkest spot in crimes and criminal west 
of the Rockies and if not obliterated justice will be equally 
as guilty as the men who support and sanction its blood-curdling 
existence.

The murder of William Segna of about a week ago at Weaver, is 
being unraveled slowly and the perpetrators are coming to light.  
Three arrests so far have been made and the accused are now in 
jail in Prescott.  Deputy Boscha having them in custody has arrived 
in Prescott from Congress where they had a preliminary examination 
before Judge Francis who held them to appear before the grand 
jury.  The evidence on which they were committed is said to have 
been strong and the accused offered nothing in the way of a 
defense.  The names of the three prisoners could not be learned 
except tow of them are the Lucero brothers and the other is an 
old time Weaver offender who served a term in the county jail.

When arrested one of the Luceros was at Wickenburg and was taken 
in by "Susie" Wilson.  The others were arrested by Deputy Boscha 
near the scene of the killing.  Mr. Boscha is to be highly 
commended  for his diligent and fearless work in connection with 
this horrible murder. He has gone among them alone and it seems 
from the interest he and others have manifested, a gang of high-
handed murderers is to be broken up for once and forever.

Mr. Boscha stated that a veritable stampede was on from Weaver, 
the law abiding element of that place stating they feared the last 
tragedy at that place would result as disastrously to the innocent 
as to the guilty.  Old men, women and children were the ones to 
leave.

Besides the ones arrested, it has been definitely learned that a 
regularly organized gang was maintained and for the first time be 
it said, do the law-abiding Mexicans at that place, realize the 
fate that awaits all and are willing to give to the officers, 
any clue of knowledge they may have of the deeds which lay at 
the door of that hotbed of crime.

Three other suspects are being hunted and no doubt exists but 
what the remaining guilty ones will come before what awaits 
them.  That section seems to be aroused and it is about time.

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