The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-10-10
A ROMANCE OF ARIZONA.
A Tale of Principles and n Pony VS.. Benuty
and Gold Untold-IIow Mountain Joe
Bought the Beast md Won tho Beauty.

A Tale of Principles and Pony VS.. Beauty
md Gold Untold-IIow Mountain Joo
Bought the Beast md Won the Beauty.
A correspondent, writing from Tucson,
Arizona, to the Pittsburg Telegraph,
tells the following interesting story of
frontier life:
"There comes Mountain joe on
his pony" said my friend, Col. Fleance
Fitz Roy, to-day, as we were seated in
the shade of spreading mulberry, in
the Grand Plaza. The person referred
to was handsome looking young man of
perhaps thirty-five, something above the
medium height, of graceful carriage and
agile appearance. He was armed with q
half-carbine, half-navy revolver, that
hung in belt by his left side, and was
clad in q buckskin suit.
" Mountain Joe, as you call him,
colonel, seems to be rather fine speci-
men of the frontiersman, but I don't see
anything remarkable about his pony, to
which you particularly refer"
"Thereby hangs q tale, which will
unfold if you feel like listening to it."
"Go on; tell it by all means"
" Mountain Joe,' as he is called, was
born somewhere in the Eastern States,
and, infatuated with the Indian stories
he had read, ran away from his parents
and came to the Southwest. But he has
had some hard knocks since, and the
hardest were received in earning that
pony, or rather SIS worth of it. You see,
few Years ago old Senor Romuldo,
whose ranch lies out along the Pinto
road, owned that pony and one of the
loveliest daughters in all these parts.
He was immensely wealthy and owned
several valuable mines, and there was
no telling how much gold and silver bull
lion he had stored away.
"Now, all the young fellows around
here were crazy after the girl Inez, but
Joe set his heart on the pony, and wanted
to buy it. He is fellow who always
has his own way, and it is o blessed
good thing that his head is always right,
otherwise somebody would get into
trouble. But when Joe tried to buy the
pony everybody thought he was balked
for once.
"The Senor asked S65 for it, and Joe
dug around to raise the money. He
raised it, all except S., and wanted
Romuldo to trust him for the rest of it
till he would come back from q hunting
expedition. This the old Spanish cur
mudgeon refused to do, and Joe vainly
appealed to his friends to loan him the
other V. Failing, he got mad and swore
that he would not live III such COM
munity. One day he left and was not
heard from for nearly year.
In the meantime band of Kickapoo
Indians swooped down upon Romuldo's
rancho, during his absence in town, ran
off his stock and carried the pretty Inez
away into their mountain Businesses.
Several parties went out in search of the
captive, only to be ambushed and whip
ped. Then it was that Senor Romuldo
began to bewail the absence of Noun
tain Joe, for everybody had faith that
he could have rescued the lovely Inez
from the dreadful fate in store for her.
"Finally, just as the unhappy Span
lard was giving up in despair, Joe sud
denly put in an appearance. If you
will recover my child said Romuldo,
I will give you half million dollars.
You may have half my property, and
whatever else you may ask II am not
particular about the reward, said Joe,
but I'll try and rescue the girl.
"And then he set about making prep
arations for the undertaking. Several
gallant young fellows volunteered to go
with him. but he declined their services.
He oiled mp that overgrown revolver of
his, slowed away about 500 cartridges
and about ten pounds of jerked meat in
his clothes, and taking the trail of the
Kickapoos, set out in the early morning.
He followed it all day cautiously, and by
night was far up the mountains. The
next day, near noon, as he reached the
brow OF an immense precipice, the red
skins opened on him in the rear.
"He was completely trapped. All
means of retreat were cut off, and there
was death both before and behind him.
But Joe made up his mind to die game.
Dodging behind n rock, he opened with
his shooting-iron and made it lively for
the ambushers. Every shot told, and
soon dozen dead Indians were stretch
ed out on the mountain top. But their
comrades were undauuted, and nearly
hundred of them made a dash to seize
him. He had already killed twenty-si1
of them, but he saw that he must soon
be overpowered.
Eight was impossible, and prefer
ring to kill himself rather than be tor
tured by the Indians, he rushed to the
precipice, fully 1000 feet high, and
leaped into space.
"But during his fearful descent he
did not lose his presence of mind. He
was going down near the face of the
rocks, and observed that stunted pines
and hemlocks grew out of the frequent
crevices. He began grasping in the tops
of them. which first bent and then broke,
but he found that he was breaking the
force of his fall. For the last 300 feet
the bushes were thick, and Joe was soon
going down, dropping from one to the
other in perfect safety.
"At last he reached the bottom, suf-
fering from a few bruises and several
rather serious wounds received in the
contest with the Indians overhead. Just
as he was congratulating himself upon
his wonderful escape another pack of
red devils broke the chapral and opened
fire. Another hand -to-hand contest took
place and Joe killed nine of his enemies.
He then started to run along the base of
the cliff, when on q sudden the earth
gave way under him and he fell into a
deep fssure. The Indians were imme-
diafely upon him, and fired two or three
volleys down the hole and then covered
it ND with immense boulders.
"Joe had fallen twenty feet, and re-
alizing the danger from shots from
above, got under the shelving of the
rock and thus avoided the balls. The
Indians, supposing him dead, made no
further Investigations. Realizing his
desperate situation, Joe set about extri-
eating himself, and found that he was in
a vast cave with large number of rami-
fications. In the midst of pitchy dark
ness he began his exploration, which
continued for four or five days, but which
to him seemed as many years.