Taos, New Mexico: The Headless Body in the Fortress Mansion

On July 3, 1929, U.S. Deputy Marshal Jim Martinez scaled the walls of a fortress-like mansion in the heart of Taos, New Mexico. What he found inside would spark one of the American Southwest's most enduring mysteries—a bloated, headless corpse dressed in the unmistakable clothing of Arthur Rochford Manby, the 70-year-old English con man whom locals considered the most hated person in town.

The hastily convened coroner's jury reached a swift conclusion: natural causes. The severed head, they reasoned, was the work of Manby's starving German police dog. The body was buried that same afternoon in a shallow grave behind the mansion.

Then the witnesses started coming forward. Within days, a dozen credible Taos residents—including prominent artists and businesspeople—reported seeing Arthur Manby alive on July 4th and 5th, a full day after his supposed death and burial. When authorities finally examined the remains more closely, they discovered the head had been severed by a sharp blade, not animal teeth.

Was it murder? Or had the master swindler orchestrated his greatest con—faking his own death to escape decades of enemies and debt?

Timeline of Events

The Manby mystery spans four decades of fraud and violence in New Mexico Territory.

1883—Twenty-four-year-old Arthur Rochford Manby arrives in New Mexico Territory from England, fleeing financial scandals.

1894—Manby begins systematically acquiring interests in the Antonio Martinez Land Grant, a 61,000-acre Spanish colonial holding.

1913—After nearly two decades of manipulation, Manby claims ownership of virtually the entire Martinez Grant.

Late June 1929—Manby disappears from public view. Mail piles up.

July 3, 1929—Deputy Marshal Jim Martinez discovers the headless body. Coroner's jury rules natural causes. Body buried same day.

July 4-5, 1929—Multiple credible witnesses report seeing Manby alive in Taos.

1933—Body exhumed for second examination; forensic experts confirm decapitation was by blade, not animal.

Historical Significance

The Manby case embodies the lawlessness that defined New Mexico's territorial era and the exploitation of Hispanic land grant communities that resonates today. For thirty years, Manby operated within a system that allowed wealthy, connected men to systematically strip generational landowners of their property through legal manipulation. His connections to the "Santa Fe Ring"—a corrupt network of lawyers, judges, and politicians—enabled him to acquire enormous land holdings while avoiding consequences.

Today, the Manby mansion site houses the Taos Center for the Arts. The communities he terrorized never received justice, regardless of whether Manby died in that fortress or escaped to live out his days elsewhere. New Mexico authorities have never officially closed the case.

Sources: Frank Waters, To Possess the Land: A Biography of Arthur Rochford Manby (Swallow Press, 1973); James S. Peters, Headless in Taos; New Mexico State Records Center and Archives (59 folders of Manby case files); Taos News historical coverage.

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