Yuma County Sheriff’s Office Fallen Officer

 
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Under Sheriff Matthew Bailey DeVane

End of Watch: Tuesday, January 8, 1901
Tour of Duty: 8 days

Gravesite: Yuma Pioneer Cemetary (exact location unknown)

 
 

On the evening of January 8, 1901, Under Sheriff Matthew DeVane grave markerDeVane was summoned by Mr. Paul Moretti who told him that someone had stolen a case of whiskey from his saloon. Under Sheriff DeVane and Mr. Moretti proceeded south on Main Street to the Sanguinetti corner where they spotted three men on the opposite corner in front of the old blacksmith shop. Mr. Moretti recognized the three men as the ones that he had seen in front of his saloon earlier that afternoon. They approached the three men and Under Sheriff DeVane questioned them. When Under Sheriff DeVane told the men that he would have to search them, one of the men pulled a revolver from his inside coat pocket and fired twice at Under Sheriff DeVane, striking him once. When Under Sheriff DeVane fell, the three men ran after the shooter fired two more shots at the fleeing Moretti and missed.

Soon after the shooting, hundreds of men went down to the railroad yards, searching through boxcars and every possible area in the city where it was thought the men might be hiding, but without success. The next morning, Sheriff Gus Livingston and posses continued to search the railroad yards and boxcars, arresting a total of 14 men as a result. When the prisoners were confronted by Mr. Frank Doyle and Mr. Moretti, Moretti positively identified three of the prisoners as the men involved in the murder of Under Sheriff DeVane.

The prisoners identified themselves as John Cody, James Wray and Thomas Hart. Mr. Moretti identified Hart as the one who shot Under Sheriff DeVane. At first, all three men denied any knowledge of the murder and no weapons were found on them. However, Cody and Wray made confessions in which they stated that Hart was the one who shot DeVane.

Thomas Hart was charged and convicted of first-degree murder. On April 5, 1901, Judge Street sentenced Hart to death by hanging; however, Hart’s attorney obtained a certificate of probable cause which resulted in a stay of execution pending an appeal to the supreme court of the territory.

On April 23, 1901, Hart attempted to escape from jail; however, his escape was thwarted by County Recorder C. P. Cronin. Hart had cut his shackles and was attempting to dig his way out of jail. As a precaution, Sheriff Livingston encumbered Hart with an “Oregon boot” and placed him in solitary confinement. The supervisors also ordered a steel cell in which Hart was placed in as soon as it arrived.

On Sunday, November 3, 1901, shortly after noon, Hart and fellow prisoner Louis Leivas overpowered the guard and escaped from the Yuma Prison. Hart was shot and killed later that night near Fortuna during a gunfight with a posse that caught up to him and Leivas.

 

Under Sheriff Matthew DeVane, 29 years old, was survived by his brother, Duncan L. DeVane who was serving as the Yuma County Treasurer at the time of his brother’s death. Sheriff Gus Livingston had appointed DeVane as the Under Sheriff on January 1, 1901.

Click links below for newspaper articles related to the murder of Under Sheriff Matt DeVane:

 
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