Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-07-25
HE BURNED MONEY.
Career OF an Arizona old Timer"
Who Destroyed Money he Came
to Need.

i What stories can be told Of early Ari-
zona! Days when everything was dear
but mans life, When there were no
smaller denominations Of money than
quarters and the express on a package
from San Diego was s1S. Then it was
that Indians made a mans life as
nothing, and the soldiery were the bulk
of the white population.
A week ago the CITIZEN readers saw a
paragraph reading: Letters of admin
istration have been granted g. j. Phil
lips in the estate of Dewitt c. Thomp-
son, by the probate court" Letters OF
| administration IN the estate Of Dewitt
q. Thompson. And who is Dewitt G..
Thompson, and was the estate valua-
BILE one?" A natural question, but ir-
dicating one who has not merited the
long earned title of sold timers" No
old Arizonan would ask that question.
Dewitt G. Thompson, or as he was best
known, Clint Thompson, was a man
with career hardly paralleled even in
Arizona. Beginning with the end, his
estate was almost no estate, and he died
la poor man at Orc Blanco two weeks
ago.
In 1868 the palmy days Of the terri
tory were at their zenith, and Clint
Thompson was one Of the territory's
great lords of creation. He lived on the
fat OF the land, and enjoyed life to the
limit or the circumstances of those DAYS.
Sam Drachman tells that one very warm
day Thompson came into his store.
dressed IN the coolest-a shirt and a
pair OF linen pants. The very natural
theme or the weather was discussed as
Thompson stood wiping the perspiration
that almost blinded him. "Sam, give
me cigar" he said, and took money
from his pants pocket. 1t was in bills,
loose hves and tens, and they were OF
course very moist. "Ah, they are nastyIF
said he, in tones OF disgust, and deliSer-
ately tore the handf. to tatters and
threw them away. "Don't man, don'tP'
said Drachman. You'll see the day
you'll want that money" Here's more
of it, and it's nasty too" was the only
reply" and another $50 or $40 followed
the first.
''Yes, remember him WELL" said the
man OF pure HaYanas. "He did live to
see my words come true, and for years
would have gladly helped him, had he
asked it. He was poor enough in his
last days. He made his money from
army contracts, and those were the DAYS
when TIE army people almost begged
for supplies. Prices? Yes, indeed. In
1866 some Of the posts paid as high as
% cents a pound for barley. The be-
ginning of Thompson's downfall was
on a barley DEAL He had $4,000
worth of barley in his barn, that he had
raised in the Florence region, and Col.
Head came to him in his arm chair
and offered him four cents a pound for
the crop. No, you can't have it for
that said Thompson, and he leaned to
q more comfortable attitude. Il want
four and half cents for that barley. or
/ won't sell it. And he didn't sell il.
First the colonel would pay but four
cents, and later came orders for the re-
moval Of the garrison. This meant no
market for the wheat and no $4,000 for
All anxiety on his part was
kindly removed by the weevils which
got at the bins and destroyed the
whole"
Judge Wood also remembers Thomp-
son. He has seen the man light many
q cigarette with five dollar bill or per-
haps ten, and walk off. Often he
threw away money to see others scram-
Die for it.
During his years of poverty Thomp-
sons aim was to recover a claim of
5000 for damages from Indian depreda.
lions and it was his last thought in life.
In his last hours with others he was
lraughting his will-his last will and
.estament-bequeathing his claim to his
wife and and appointing Mr.. Phillips,
he Orc Blanco merchant, as attorney
or her, but it is void. 1t was never
signed. Death stepped in before the
for him were complete.
Therefore the letters were applied for
ind granted as the next best means for
securing the claim, which is a good and
Talid one, and will undoubtedly be paid.
making the widow as comfortable in life
Is Thompson himself might have been
n his last years, when he could look
back and regret that he had not saved a
ittle-just small per cantum-of the
thousands OF dollars he had wasted.