Tombstone epitaph., 1888-02-18


 the clerks, the loafers, the ladies of leisure and the gentlemen whose avocatIons were not described in the directory, were on the alert for the great event. The show was advertised to ap- pear on the 4th of July, and among the attractions pictured on the bll.boards was that of a balloon ascen- tion. As early as the last days of May, when cowboys and stage robbers paited on the streets, they alleged in the part ing adieu that they would meet at the circus. The local papers were filled with the great event for weeks, and all events were dated before or after the circus.
 At last the circus came. Four wagons painted in gaudy yellow, preceded by four and followed by two horsemen, ap- peared in town unheraled about six o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July,
 1879. Tombstone sat up late and sell dom arose before or 9 o'clock in the
 forenoon. But when Tombstone was
 awake there was always hustle. About
 10 the town was ready for the circus, and
 so were Charleston, Dos Pesos, Conten-
 ton, Silver Gulch, Cochise, Poor Lo,
 Tough Nut, Paradise Lost, Black-and-
 Tan, Murphyville and several other
 towns in the neighborhood that had come
 to the metropolis of the mining district
 in force. The manager of the circus
 called the mayor of Tombstone out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8 inthe morn.
 ing to get license to exhibit. The
 mayor and the aldermen had been in ex-
 ecutive session the day befo,e, ond
 noting the big preparations for the circus
 concluded that there was money in it,
 and that stiff license fee should be
 charged. Everybody and his wife and
 children or his best girl was ready to at.
 tend and plank down coin of the realm
 to the extent of dollar head. So the
 wise city fathers concluded that they
 would rake some the tin into the city
 treasury. It was voted unanimously that
 the circus people be charged $25o for the
 privelege of entertaining the people of
 Tombstone and vicinity within the city
 limits. So when the manager of the cir. GUS interviewed the mayor at the ungodly
 hour of s a. m., the public functionary
 was ready to give his ultimatum. The circus man, who was ! sort of buccaneer
 himself, was extremely wroth. He had made the campaign in California and Oregon, in Colorado and New Mexico, and had browbeat and biked the people of all the counties of Arizona between Tombstone and the California llne. But the mayor of Tombstone was
 a man of parts and backbone. He was blacksmith and his name was Carr. He told the circus man that $2so had to be paid down or the show could not keep its engagement in Tombstone. It was 9:3o before the interview between the circus man and the mayor of Tombstone came to an end. In the meantime the streets of the town were thronged. Tomb. stone and it's neishboring towns were out in force in Sunday go.to-meetin' clothes. The boss of the circus, with stride trage- dical, brows lowering, worked his y.,, through the centre of the crowd uni reached the heert of the town, the Ori,6. tai saloon, kept by M. E. Joyce. M-. Joyce was an influential citizen. He owned a saloon, a gambling-house, a horse, buggy, an interest in several mines and in a newspaper, and he always carried the star at the Bird Cage theatre to supper after the performance. The circus boss unrolled his grieviences before MT. Joyce and Mir. Joyce was ln- dignant. Mir. Joyce was a candidate or mayor, and he mounted a wagon in ront of his saloon and denounced the ex. extortion and lack of public spirit of the existing city administration | The clrcus boss followed him. He denounced the mayor, and said his con iuct was deliberate attempt to cheat he people of the town out of we'll desery. d amusement. He extolled Joyce, and loped that when next he visited Tomb tone some man with the intelligence. public spirit and enterprise of Joyce would preside over the municipal govern. nent of the town. He wound up by aying he could not afford to pay the lcense fee, and asked the people what hey were going to do about it. There we're several answers from the crowd. The people who were in the rival saloon cross the street said the fee charged by he mayor was moderate. The cowboys .