The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-10
YIGILANTES IN ARIZONA.
HOW THEY WORKED WITH GOOD
MATERIAL TO GOOD ENDS.

stone-A City Marshal Who Was a
Type Of Els olass-Men Who Died
With Their Boots On.
FROM The 81. Louis Republic
TOMBSTONE, ARIz, Jan. 13.-In the
evolution of a frontier town there are
usually four periods. The first is the shoot
ing element; the second, the choice of the
best shot in that element for city marshal /;
the third, the vigilance committee, which
hangs the marshal, and the fourth, the mob
which hangs the leaders of the vigilance
committee. That has been the order Of
progress in many Of the towns OF Arizona.
1t will continue to be in all future booms as
long as southwest human nature remains
what it is. The evolution in future may be
more rapid. but it will be along the same
| lines.
| USUALLY BAD MEN.
bad men" are always elected marshals
in frontier towns. No other rule would be a
safe one What is needed is q man who has
the nerve to pull quick and shoot straight
and too often these qualities are conjoined
with all the attributes which the vernacular
OF the southwest has compressed into the
word 'cussedness." Bill Hlckox, the first
marshal of Cheyenne, was probably an ex>
ception to the rule and about the only one
to be found. In Nevada and Montana, DUR
| ing the silver era, the very worst men Of
the mining communities were always chosen
| TO get rid Of the others who were only few
degrees better than themselves. They did
| the work, but as a rule after they had either
killed or driven away the gang, they organ
lied new ones, of which they became
| heads, and used their official opportunities
| n onr{ob thop,caIxyao Tha% hoS
experience Of most western towns.
THE TROUBLE IN TOMBSTONE.
When Tombstone sprang into sudden
fame it had as bai an element of this sort
as ever afflicted any community. The min
| ing camps of the northwest had been broken
up, Virginia City had fallen into decay,
| Texas was filing up with a law-aud-order
element which was driving the crooks out Of
the towns and cities of the Lone Star State,
aud Denver, Cheyenne Leadville and other
| Pacific railroad and mining towns had set
| tied down into decorous and law-abiding
places and set adrift large numbers of men
who could not endure life under such con-
| ditions. When Tombstone took boom, all
| Of these elements conferred there. There
appearing to be something peculiarly
fascinating in the name of tho
place to men the highest ambition of
whose lives was death with their boots on.
Hundreds of them poured into the new
camp and at once began to make one of the
widest and most abandoned towns which
has ever figured on the frontier map of any
| country. OF course first conditions could
| not last. There were business interests in
the place which demanded both protection
and degree of law and order necessary to
| the reputation of place which was sup
| posed to have a future. A city marshal
ives wanted, and, according to the western
rule, he was hunted for among the most
abandoned and desperate characters in the
place. Strange to say, and contrary to the
rule in such cases mot one could be found who
would accept the position. even with the
| large salary which was offered as On induce
ment and the opportunities for rich plum
| der such position opened. There were too
many desperate men in camp at that time
| to make such an official position in Tomb
stone either desirable or comfortable. Crime
| and lawlessness was making its last great
stand against the advance of law and order
and nowhere else in the country, before or
| since, has there ever been such an aEgrega-
ton Of shard and tough characters as was
assembled in Tombstone during the first
| year OF its existence. And yet, among all
| these elements, there was no one man of es-
| tabished reputation as a dead shot and
| cool hand who was willing to assume an
| official responsibility and make himself a
| target for assailants concealed behind dead
| doors or windows of saloons, dance houses
or gambling dens. People who had been
| through such phases of existence in western
| towns before, and knew that Tombstone
was more dangerous for the exercise of
| official authority than ever Dodge City had
been in its widest days. were not anxious
| to take hold and put on the star which
should be the mark for men boastlng of
! their craftsmanship to shoot at.
THE MAN OF THE HOUR.
In this dilemma people began looking
about for a tenderfoot. A city marshal
must be had. He was indispensable, and if
no old timer could be induced to act the
next best thing was to engage a man who
might be persuaded to take the risk under
an imperfect appreciation of the extent of
| it. The difficulty after this determination
wasreached was to find some one VINO, with
out frontier record to inspire the respect
| Of the bad men in camp, would still be able
| to hold his own. Providence sent to
| Tombstone about that time a man
named Hank Wilson He hailed from
Boston and was about as i'll
natured and ill-fsvored a specimen of
| human nature as the Hub" ever turned
out. He was not tall, but had most prodig-
| 1ous Muscular develOpement, which gave his
body q width out Of proportion with it's
hight His head was of enormous size and
| set upon shoulders of giant beradth, To
| add to the grotesqueness of such figure he
was bow-legged. Not figure for running.
| AS it turned out, Wilson never felt bis lack
| of speed, for, though he was shot from be-
| hind he was not aware Of the presence of an
enemy.
| How this man came to be selected as mar
shall Nobody ever knew. There was no cor
| porate body to confer the title upon him,
and he was never selected in mass meeting.
| He was asked, however, by a number of
| merchants and property owners to act as
night wat 1hman, and the next evening
about sunset appeared on the sire ats with
double-barreled shotgun under his arm and
a badge on the breast Of his coat. Nobody
| disputed his authority and nobody
laughed at him. for although Wilson
was not known to have killed his
man, he had the reputation of only waiting
for a chance to do so, gained partly thr ough
his vicious and ill-tempered disposition and
! partly through playful habit he had when
in conversation of circling a huge revolver
| about the head of the individual to whom
he was talking. 1t was also due largely to
his ability, which he took every occasion to
display, of cutting off the leaves of trees
and bushes in his pistol practice.
HE KILLS HIS MAN.
After Wilson had walked his beat in quiet
| for about two weeks he began to put on the
! bearing and manner of a man who con-
sidered himself ''Chiefn The challenge
though not expressed in words, was implied
! in his every action as in his attempt to ex-
arOisa arbitrary authority Tr Waa 1pdar-