Chester Lesley Cummins
20 Nov 1879 - 30 Mar 1929
bornCisne, Illinois, USA
diedArizona, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyCame to Tempe c1886.Rancher; Tempe City Marshall, c1917-1920; in 1925, -'29 was Constable of the Tempe precinct; captain of the guards at Arizona State Prison.
Worked for the state of Arizona on construction of highways and as a guard in charge of prison camps.
A struggle between Cummins and a prisoner named Salvador Portillo in the Tempe jail in 1919, resulted in the accidental shooting of Albert Nettle and Juan Portillo. Salvador Portillo was charged with murder, but in his defense, claimed that Cummins had beat his brother (Juan Partillo) and that he had intervened to try to protect him. Due to conflicting testimony, Portillo was found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Lived at 839 S. Farmer Avenue, c1913-1926, '28,-'29 '30
BIO-Cummings/Cummins
Tempe CD, 1913-1921, -24, -'25, -26, '28, '30
Tempe Telephone Directory, 1924
Double Butte Cemetery, Tempe
HPS-221; TH-310
Farley, Law Enforcement, 29 Aug 1975
Painter Scrapbook
Person TypeIndividual
