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Clyde Merrill Bristow

Posted 2020-01-12 by Pat R
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona)
Thursday, January 14, 1932, p. 1

Boy, 17, Held In Death of Customs Man

Present at Shooting of Bristow, But Blames Another

Companion Accused

Warrant Charges Son of Sonora Lawyer With Murder

NOGALES, Ariz., Jan. 13.--(AP)--Alberto Flores, 22, son of a Sonora attorney, was formally charged today with the murder of Clyde M. Bristow, 39, U.S. customs officer, who was shot to death Tuesday night. County Attorney E. R. Thurman filed the charge. Flores is still at large.

Bristow met death when he and Charles Jones, a brother officer, stopped the automobile in which Flores and Santiago Aguirre, 17, were riding, to search for contraband. In the fight that ensued Bristow was killed and both Flores and Aguirre escaped.

Aguirre, a native-born American, was captured by federal officers this morning while wandering around in a canyon 16 miles west of this city. He told officials that Flores fired the shots which ended the life of the customs officer.

Federal and civil officials, aided by private citizens, are searching over a 20-mile front for the fleeing slayer. His discarded coat was found today near the scene of the crime.

James W. McDonald, collector of customs, and R. Q. Leatherman, undersheriff, are directing the manhunt. Bloodhounds failed to keep the trail of the fleeing slayer due to high winds and intermittent rains.

Funeral services for the slain officer will be held here tomorrow afternoon and the body will be shipped to Phoenix for burial in the plot in which two of his children, killed in automobile accidents, are interred. Bristow leaves a wife and a 6-year-old daughter.

Examination of the body following the slaying revealed that Bristow was shot through the heart and thigh.

See Also: Find A Grave




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