Tombstone epitaph., 1890-01-18
P. 0. s. of 4.
An Interesting Communication From the Pres.
 ent District President.

AZd ot next month III an approprlat
 manner it will not be out of place tt give short history of the order sine its organization in this Territory. Tn following information was given us b,
 J. J. Patton, who was one of the frs
 members, and who is now and has
 been for several years District Presi
 dent of Arizona:
 On December IA, 1882, District
 President H. M. Van Arman insti
 tuted Washington Camp No. l, al
 Prescott, the capital of the Territory
 at that time, with eleven charter
 members. The order, with this small
 beginning, fourished for time, add
 ing many new members, but in the
 month of June, 1883, when the Camp
 was seemingly in very prosperous
 condition, they ceased holding meet
 ings, the membership scattered, and
 although the charter has never been
 surrendered, the Camp has ceased to
 exist. Brother J. H. Carpenter, who
 was Recording Secretary of the Camp,
 but now a member of Camp No. l, of
 Tombstone, has kindly allowed me
 the use of his old minute book, from
 which I gleaned the above informa-
 ton.
 On the 18th day of May, 1887, Camp No. 1, of Tombstone, with forty three charter members, was instituted by Brother Zallanger, who came from Denver, Colorado, for that purpose. The brothers all took hold of the work before them with great enthus, iasm, and we soon had a membership of eighty or ninety. The fortunes of the Camp have been varied, but the Patriotic forty-three who started it still hold together, with but few ex- captions, and are as enthusiastic for our grand principles as they were when we first started. We have for our semi-annual report 116 names in good standing. We have lost during the last year thirty-ive members from different causes, mostly because of the extreme dull times and scarcity of money; but the last three months of the year were very successful, we hay ing gained seven or eight new mem bers, the gain for the year being thir- teen. The outlook for the coming year is fattering.
 Washington's Birthday one year ago was celebrated by this Camp by flag presentation to our public schools Six beautiful emblems of our country .one for each room-was presented, and are each in its proper place in the school rooms to-day. This year the 22d of February will be celebrated in a manner befitting our noble order. A grand entertainment is to be given by the Camp, the gross proceeds of which are to be donated to our public schools for the purpose of establishing pub lie school library.
 Camp No. ?, at Phenix, with four teen charter members, was instituted in the winter of 1878, but for lack of interest never fourished, only adding three or four members in year and half, when they surrendered their charter; but have some hopes of re- the Camp.
 Camp No. 3, of Tempe, was organ ized in the spring of 1888, with B charter members. They also soon be- gan to languish and finally, in Nov ember, 1889, surrendered their charter
 Bisbee, the great copper mining district, is the home of Camp No. 4. This Camp was instituted July 2S, 1888, with thirty three charter mem bers. The first thing I knew of their wanting Camp of the P. O. $. of A., in that city, was the receipt of letter with the charter list filled out, and a $50 bill enclosed to pay for their charter. As soon as the proper auth critics could be conferred with and the necessary supplies had, went over and put the Camp in, being ably as sisted by several of the brothers of Camp No. l. Camp No. 4 was com posed of good material from the be- ginning, and although they have had their "ups and downs," it is one of the best working camps in the order any where.
 I visited Camp No. 4 on Christmas Eve last, and we had splendid time. Their camp room is small, but there were present about forty-fve of the brothers, all of whom seemed to have the good of the order at heart, and anxious for the upbuilding of their own Camp in particular. They now have membership of between seventy and eighty, which is good showing when we consider that the whole po- pulation of the town will not exceed