Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1890-03-29
THE WHAM ROBBERY;
The Brigands Of Arizona.
81 CYCLONE BILL.

81 CYCLONE BILL.
The autho: mas kindly permitted
CITIZEN rep n'ter to read portion of
man uscript OF the above entitled work
1t is not endeavored to here review tn,
book, nor is i. attempted to pass upor
its merits; but really as a literary pro
duction, the small portion which wal
hurriedly SCI nned will bear inspection
and as far a, incidents and details are
concerned, some OF them are intensely
interesting. From the preface, which il
not very far from the mastery, the fol
lowing is quo ted:
deprived OF an early education and
reared almost like chaff before the wind
on the praires of Texas, | found it nc
easy task to suddenly alight from the
back OF mustang to the chair of an
author; in literary pursuits tender
foot IN the strictest sense of the word
without friends or means, with nothing
to guide me save fair natural memory
and an earnest desire to write clearly
and truthfuliy and at the same time re-
frain from self praise or self aggrandise-
ment' have found the task to be far
from agreeable, and l have undertaken
it under many serious and perplexing
difficulties. trust, however, that the
reading public will overlook its multi
tude OF faults in an endeavor to learn
the truth about public matter.
Our organic law provides means of
redress for all injury done the person or
property of a citizen by those intrusted
with the administration of the public
affairs; hut the most expensive and diff
ticult undertaking for poor man, is to
attempt TO remove the stigma left upon
his character by false public accusa-
ton of a notorious character. Hence
the necessity in view of the peculiar
environments surrounding me since the
preparation OF the crime referred to,
my unwarranted arrest and false i'm
prisonment, for an attempt to write my
own vindication. My name, my rights
and my liberty have been attacked with
force of arms by those in civil and mill
tary authority. Am / not justified in
attempting, with my poor ability, to re-
sent the attack with my pen:"
Mr.. Ellison seems To Ice thoroughly
opposed to the nicknaming of indivi-
duals, and inasmuch as he himself en-
is hardly to be blamed. The following
extract is from the six chapter OF his
book;
But there is one thing
Of which some people become possessed,
often times against their viii, something
which in the very nature of things,
through the vicissitudes OF life comes to
them unsolicited and Unexpectedly,
fastens its fangs on their very existence,
clings to the victim through each sue
cessive period and stage of life, and goes
with all its hideousDess, with all of its
glory or infamy as the case may be. to
the grave with its possessor. This IN
desirable and unwelcome legacy, which
is bestowed upon some people whose
lives are a series of misfortunes, is cal
led-A Nickname.
After discussion of the evils attend
ing on the possession of bad nickname.
Bill suggested the following remedy for
their suppression:
LET us all congregate in one country;
Arizona would be a good place, and if
you gentlemen will vote for me and elect
me to the legislature, will endeavor to
get the penal code so amended, that # a
man is convicted of niclinaming one of
his fellow men, he should be hung by
the neck, his property forfeited to the
party SO nicknamed, and a monument
erected over his grave 10 mark his rest
ing place and serve as warning to the
rising generation-.Here lies the body of
--. He was good man, but was
hung all the same, for giving another
Western nickname
The story Of how Ellison was daubbed
with such striking surname as ICY
clone Bill is neatly told in the seventh
chapter, and greatly condensed, is as
follows:
1t was years after the civil war, Eli
son was stopping with a friend
in one Of the western counties
Of Texas. H. had a neighbor named
Mac, who was very fond OF sur
names and who never let an opportuni-
ty go by of applying some other than
his Christian name, to who ever he knew
The author, however, had been neigh
Dor of Macs for several years, and had
begun to think that he had escaped his
second baptism. One day, however,
William was engaged in Jerking" a
to be-a little Northerner Without any
preliminaries the visitor began TRADE
upon the men of the South and ended it
by scourging the southern women. This
made Williams hot southern blood boil;
he bad just finished jerking hiRd quar-
ter of the beef, and with the bone which
he had in his hand. he dealt the stranger
blow which sent him sprawiing down
the canyon. On his way the traveller
met old Mac, related to him how that
fellow over there had without cause or
Drovocation knocked him over with
bone. how he tubmbled down the creek,
and describing his emotion on his down
ward course by saying that he thought
cyclone had struck him, was
Macs first chance and he took it. Ever
after, that William Ellison was discard
ed and for the sake Of euphony, Cyclone
Bill" adopted.