Graves in Benson, AZ

Today we visited the Cochise County Museum and learned of a multiple hanging in 1882 here in Benson, AZ. There was a robbery and a horse stolen. Needing to 'hang someone' for the crimes, three Mexicans were accused and hanged. The locals didn't want the threee bodies in their cemetery, so the bodies of the three Mexicans were thrown in a shallow ditch behind the cemetery far back fence. Through the following decades Mexicans and others who knew they were not guilty placed flowers and lit candles in their memory at the common gravesite. Three crosses were placed at the spot of their indecent burial and two of the crosses endured from 1882 until 2008.

Just recently, the locals here recovered their skeletal remains and buried them inside the cemetery. Helen and I found the graves. Here's the photo of them.