Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1891-08-07
ALAED COURT CASE.

Broadhead, will probably present the
first petition to the new Court of
Claims that tribunal viii receive after
its organization Being one of the
most sccretivc men and modest
withal, Colonel Broadhead spent sew
eral days in New York last week with
out even the wide awake reporters of
the metropolis learning what he was
here for. After his departure for
home, however, it became known to
your correspondent that he had come
to consult with his fellow-counsel and
to take dcpositions in the famous Casa
Grande land grant case with a view to
establishing the Identity of Mrs. Rea-
Wis as heir-appareat to all the broad
acres involved. Vigorous opponents
of the new Court of Claims VIII ere
Hong be pointing to the Casa Crande
case as a fair sample of the assaults to
be made on the treasury as the result
of that body's creation, for this claim
involves at least slOO, 900, 600, being
Cor 10000, 600 acres of land in Arizona
and New Mexico On the property
the town Of Phoenix, Ariz., is located
as well as valuable mines, including
the Silver King.
The story of this grant reads more
like fiction than fact, and it viii be
hard, no doubt, to convince the
Judges that it is not indeed fairy
tale, gotten UP to assall the Treasury
of the United States Colonel Broad
head is associated az counsel, your cor
respondent is Informed, with Robert
G. lngersoll, Frank IIurd ex-Congr
man Phil Thomson and II. r. Brown.
They claim, on behalfof their client,
that sheis The only living llineal des-
cenGant OF the Baron of the Color
ados, a fayorite at the Court Of Philip
ofSpain in the last ccnturyat a time
when all the property wTested from
the Mexican Government in 1916 by
the United States was part OF his
Catholic biajcstys domain. On ac-
count Of brilliant services rendered
his sovereign the Baron of the Color
ados was in the year 1871, as a mark of
that soyerelgu's affection aud esteem
granted a tract Of laad in what is now
Arizona and New Mexico, which.
measured in the American way,
a.lounts to 1000 COO acres. This was
the largest grant OF land ever made to
a single individual in the history of
the world On 10 and through it flow
the CSila aud salt rivers, so ndispaa-
sable to the irrigation Of the territory,
and under il lie all the coal fields yet
unGeycloped in that section. The
Southern Pacific Railway brings it
into Communication with the rest of
the world. IL embraces three times
as much land as does the famous Max
well grant Therefore, sl00,00o000 is
a very low estimate of its value.
The Baron at once visited the New
World and built a castle, the ruins OF
which are yet to be seen ia Arizona.
He spent several years in the country
and was lord Of all he surveyed, and
more, too. Finally he returned to
Spain, where he suddenly sickeGed
and died leaving an only son, who
inherited his entire possessions. The
new Baron Of the Colorad9s at once
set out for the Occldent, and resided
for years in the ancestral castle erect
ed by his father. Then he returned to
Spain, and there he also died, but,
unlike his father, he left heirs hclc in
America.
Mrs. Reayls herself has aad a ro-
mantle career and her life, il " ritten
in book, would make as entertaining
reading as fiction itself She is
handsome woiAan of 80. and the Cas-
lillian blood in her veins, added to her
personality, gives her . dis
tinguished air. She, also, was born in
Arizona but while she was yet CHI d
her parents died and she, for some
reason which was not made clear to
your correspondent, was taken to
California She wasnot exactly stolen
though her Journey there was enforc-
ed one and made against the wishes OF
her collateral kindred. She was. ON
her arrlyalln the Golden Gate, adopt
ed into a prominent family, and there
she grew 10 womanhood, being given
good advantages. a few years ago
Captain l.. Reavis. while burrowing in
the old Spanish archives of the south
west, discovered the story OF the Casa
Grande grant, and he at once set out
to lind the heir. This he finally sue
ceedcd ia doing, and on better ac-
Quaintance they were married Since
the celebration Of their uuptials he
has devoted himself to gathering testi-
moRy to further the prosecution ofhis
claim. Though stillelain,lng Califor-
mia as their home, both Mr.. and Mrs.
Reavis are npwin New York and their
stay here viii be indefinite One
thing which win grow opt Of the pres
entation of the Casa GFande case win
be the very intricate national question