Manuel Várela
According to a correspondent for the Evening Star, Manuel Barela's family were very worthy people, all well to do, living at Las Cruces. He was held in the Las Vegas jail on the evening of June 4, 1879, when, the correspondent wrote, about fifty men overpowered the officers and took the keys from the sheriff at the mouths of their revolvers. The paper reported that the mob marched him to the plaza and hanged him from a beam, and the correspondent wrote that he offered no resistance. A later account in the Las Vegas Daily Gazette, published in 1885, places the hanging in the same plaza from an old windmill and gives the year only as 1879. The two accounts differ on the place of the hanging and on how it was carried out.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody. A mob took Manuel Barela from the Las Vegas jail, and the correspondent of The Star says he offered no resistance; a later account says he was hanged from an old windmill in the plaza.
Reported by: A. M. W., correspondent of The Star (reporters); Las Vegas Daily Gazette (1885 historical account) (reporters).