PETE BURKE
Arizona Republican Newspaper
April 14, 1903, 

Rumors of a riot at the Picacho Mine, near Yuma, were 
received in Phoenix on Monday night but the nature of 
the disturbance could not be learned.  A letter was 
received yesterday from a gentleman at the mine in which 
he described the taking of the life of Pete Burke who 
could have been spared a good while ago.  Burke invited 
his own violent death and precipitated it by the killing 
of a Mexican named Lopez.

Burke was a deputy constable at the mine.  A gun which 
Constable Horan was cleaning was accidentally discharged 
and Burke hearing the report rushed into the room with 
his own gun drawn and began firing at random.  One of the 
balls went through a partition and killed the Mexican.  
He was at once arrested by the constable and accompanied 
by Superintendent Humphries of the mine to the office 
of a justice of the peace.

A brother of the man killed by Burke approached the 
prisoner in the wagon and drew his gun when Burke began 
begging for his life.  Lopez fired the ball, passing 
through Burke's side.  Burke jumped from the wagon and 
the shooting became general.  Another Mexican named 
Lopez but no relation to the man who had been killed, 
shot Burke through the head.  In the shooting 
Superintendent Humphries was severely wounded.  
The men who had shot Burke and another who had 
taken an active part in the firing mounted horses 
and rode in the direction of Mexico.  It is not 
likely that they will ever be brought back for this 
crime.  It is said that he had killed eight men and 
in nearly every case without provocation.