Arizona silver belt., 1893-08-12
iunusIoN AND FACTS.


 elephant and kindred curiosities bor- dering upon the wonderful in nature, and at the same time demonstrated that his estimate of Brother Jonathan's credulity was eminently correct Act ing upon that hypothesis great dai- lies" manufacture fiews out of whole cloth, give it currency, and eallitjour- nalistic enterprise,
 And now at this late day, the Yuma Times chides the budding correspond ents who dish up remarkable occur rences for Hive journals" having the Largest circulation of any printed in the nineteenth century, on steam press of unrivalled capacity,n The Times suggests tar and feathers as a means of ridding their town of those literary architects who throng that To- cality It says the daily literary diet which they dish up for enterprising journals are "stupendous tales of earthquakes, lakes of ink, mud volca- noes, impossible railroads improbable hotel schemes on mud flats, buried stone cities, irrigation systems costing millions of dollars
 These callow newsmongers, upon whose chins the downlike unshorn velvet has just begun to sprout, are uos s,one In the literary line in Arisoe na. There are others of unripe years in worldly wisdom, whose pen tips are unsubdued, and who indulge in dia- tribes peculiar to themselves, and such q one is ''The Arizona Kicker.n In it's last, it essays a report of trial, in an Arizona court, for damages instituted by denizen of Hungry Gulch, who wanted to go somewhere, saw train coming, thought he would wait it's arrival, and being tired sat down on 8 rail, was run over and denuded of a leg. He was patched up and gradual ly becoming sober instituted suit, al- leging that that leg originally was worth S5, GOO to its late proprietor. At first blush the railroad company con templated proving an alibi on the part of the train, but thought better of it and did not take the trouble to do even that, They took the much sim pier method of proving to an Arizona jury that the plaintiffs neither limb was cork leg.
 As fitting sequel to the above, we reproduce the account of the hanging of Hackney, the senior editor of the ARIZONA SILVER BEET by ths thnmbs which appeared in the Ph6nix Ga zette of the 7th inst. It is as follows:
 Many people are aware that Hack ney, of the SILVER BELT, hates and de- spises the military, but few know the reason why. His dislike to blue cloth and brass buttons was said to have arisen through the following incident During the latter days of the war Hackney was running a lively paper at Silver City, New Mexico. or some where in that vicinity The federal army of occupation wa3 decidedly off cious in ite Interference with custom and local law, and so the editor wrote a scathing editorial in which he de- elared that the military power should ever be subordinate to civil law. The commandant of a nearby post was SO incensed at the article that he placed the bold journalist under arrest, had him conveyed to the post and triced tip by the thumbs for a while. Lucki- ly he was then lighter weight than now, and so he survived.p
 This is all news to the alleged victim of military despotism. If such a hang ing did occur he says he must have been ehloroformed, a charitable act on the part of the military, as he has not the slightest recollection of so painful an inflictione exceptupon the person of Joseph C. Knapp, presiding Judge of the 3rd. Judicial District who had visited Santa Fe in obedience of Ter Iitorial law requiring him to be pres ent and participate in the holding of a term of the Territorial Supreme Court.
 His offense iii the eyes of General James II. Carleton was that he would not stultify himself in lowing to the dietum of the tyrant who ruled New Mexico and Arizona with an iron rod, although those Territories were ex- empted by proclamation of President Lincoln, in conformity with an act of Congress, from the category of the re- bellious States, districts thereof, and Territories.
 Knapp and Hackney were not alone in the fight in behalf of the people of New Mexico and Arizona against the outrageous acts of Generals Carleton and West. Steven B. Elkihs, then g resident of Mesilla, New Mexico, and late Secretary of War under President Benjamin Harrison, vas zealously and actively cooperating in that behalf, and in doing so knowingly jeopardized his personal liberty. The triune stood as one man, not against the boys fin blue cloth, but against the wanton acts of their ranking commanders who, had they received their deserts, should have been tried by drum-head courtmartial and dismissed the army.
 Carleton, during the unpleasantness, for an attempted assault upon th5 late Epifanio Aguirre, was invited to a per sonal encounter upon the field of honor, and failing to respond to the challenge, was waited on by Dr. Michael Steck, the second of Aguirre, and presented the alternative of a prompt response, to fight OF apologize, or upon failure to do either, to suffer the indignity of being posted as cow ard. He showed the white featherand was on time with a written apology.