The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17
AiNSWORTH Y ARIZONA.


life in Tucson? Why. it would take days
ami books 20 tell the story"
Coz. Aiusworth of the war department
was ia what is called his happiest vein
col Ainsworth spent many hot and dus-
. Is years iu the sun-blis,erei southw est
lie was in Arizona Ions before the rail-
T road. Ia fact, IN is TO Doe doubted If he
would ever have returned If the rail-
roads hadn't come after him. lie has ex-
i perienced tarantulas singing lizards,
Apaches. sand storms and ella mon
sters, as Wen as everything else animate
/ and inanimate natural to Arizona. lie
/ has eaten Of the toothsome tamale, and
slipped the inyigorating mescaI Natural
~ he knows all about Arizona, and can
/ tell one many stirring things about that
] desert land if he be so inclined. Aware of
/ this the Post reporter had put a teU
/ questions to Col. Ainsworth. which pro-
/ yolSed the opening paragraph.
Tucson was a blessed spot" said Col.
/ Ainsworth, signing deeply, lin the old
{ stage days and before the voice OF the
/ railroad was heard in the land. The
I houses, stores, and saloons We're adObes.
ana little board and canvas shanties. The
| streets were curbless, gutterless, sewer
less; they didn't need any cutters, for it
only rained in August and September.
mere, We're no hotels, and the stranger
spread his blanket at the stage station,
the corals, in the gambling houses, or
tnc stOresi anywhere, in fact, he choose
Nv erything was free and easy. You met
an sorts of people from Bob Crandau, a
college gradute and professional gam
pier 70 JACK Dunn, who had fought un-
der forty nags, Travelled further than
Cdpt- COOK ever did, and was just then
doins ms turn as government scout
against the Apaches. There were law
yefs, doctors, merchants, freighters,
stage drivers, miners, murderers, cow
boys gamblers: all sorts of good and
l ca 81
and familiar terms with everybody else
Really, i look back on those days with
ItBIet 4 would like to experience them
The gambling element was the most
! enteIprlslng. In a day when lumber was
sported board floors in their places, while
store Keepers We're content with floors of
pounded earth The gambling places ran
all night. When one faro dealer tired out
ana turned in, another silently took his
place. Roulette wheels, high ball. MeNi-
can monte, and poker We're also rife, as
ADVERTISEMENTS. The places were full of
smoke and interest. As you passed along
Inc sweet there would come floating out
OF these arenas of fortune such eXclama-
" Make your bets. gents; make your
bets. The game is made; all is set an the
BY the signs you knew the trade was
brlSk, even II soft futter of red, white,
yellow ana blue chips had not already
AT the far end of the sun-blistered
street dead burro might be ripening in
!" Whose burro is that?' you might in
| quire, Indignantly.
-" 1T belongs to Jesus Maria Gallegos,
senior, might be the reply OF the polite
MeXlcan inquired of.
q" Why don't he remove it,?
'Manana, senior, manana,' meaning
that Jesus Maria Gallegos would drag OF
| deceased tomorrow. But tomorrow
never came. Arizona was as much a land
of tomorrow as Mexico itself
occasionally there might be little
excitement in some of the gambling
places, though as a rule, all was sedate
wild man would blow in and become ex-
uberant But he was quickly depressed.
My name is Slap-Jack Billy and I'm
the Pride Of the Panhandle said one
young gentleman as he burst into the
oriental saloon on one occasion. I'm a
| coyote and IT'S my night to howl. / kin
| whip me weight in wolves, for ber-lud's
/ NEE color, l kerries NEE cortin on NEE
/ back, nth hummin' o. pistol balls bee
| Jingo, is me-e-e-u-u-sic in NEE ears
AT this point Slap-Jack Billy was
knocked down by blow from the fist OF
Gents re" remarked siaP e.G B 8iSoi as
| he gathered himself up with a gratihed
air. this is shorely the socialbilist crowd
And we lickered
New and then the all day and all night
! business of the town would prove amaz-
ing TO some pale tourist from the east,
who had just stepped off the stage
Aren't you open little late, he
WOulu say 70 the DdIk6eDHl, as ne came
! In to the Oriental at half past four in
| the morning, and found everything as
smoky as a volcano, and as hummngly
! busy as a hive of bees.
Well it is a leetle late the barkeep-
| er would reply politely, al he set forth a
/ bottle OF distilled tarantula it is a leetle
| late for night before last, but it's Jest in
the shank of the evenin' for tonight
LOT course. Tucson had its drawbacks
| Centipedes might stroll about the counte-
| nance OF a man as he lay wrapt in slum-
/ Der; rattlesnaIes would come and bunk
\ calmly in with him. and quarrel in a mo-
/ ment il they didn't get half the blankets
! Now and then some singing lizard would
\ get in his vigorous work. A singing IL
! zard is . very sincere and earnest worker,
/ and looks something like a diminutive
| lobster who is suffering from curvature of
| the spine. His stinger is in his tail and
! when he applies II TO his victim it has all
/ the iirst effect OF being shot with a Colts
/ 40. But after all compared with the Joys
/ OF Tucson, rattlesnakes, centipedes and
/ singing lizards are more trivial details
/ about which no one cares.
| Yes, there are tarantulas there, big
| marry spiders that hop about like ballet
| dancers, and with the vindictive ferocity
/ or wolves. never met but one fellow who
| wasn't afraid of a tarantula. The fellow
/ in this instance was one of these big flies
/ what the children Of the east caIl the
| Devils Darning Needle. ] saw one of these
! insects after a tarantula one day. and
/ from the first of it the tarantula was try
| ing to get out of the ring. He wasn't game,
/ or else the purse wasn't big enough But
| the Darning Needle was too swift for him
/ ne DuZZeu ABOUT until ne got INTO proper
/ position and then with a dash like light
| ming struck the tarantula, seemingly in
/ the back of the neck. The blow stunned
| or dazed the big spider, and the Darning
/ Needle few away as one who had won the
victory.
l am told that in that swift dash at the
| tarantula the Darning Needle deposits it's
| eggs which subsequently hatch and make
! a meal OF his spidership. You Will therefore
/ see that his anxiety to get out of the way
| had good foundation.
IAN sorts of people come to Tucson. as
| have stated Some evening, as YOU Sit
| in some saloon-these institutions are
used as the clubs of the town-you will
! look up and note two sisters of charity
going their rounds Clad in black with
their hoods and their white faces. they
look through the cigar smoke like pale
pictures set in jet They are begging for
their hospital al Santa Fe. Quietly and
without word they make the rounds Of
the gambling tables. Every gent cashes
in a handful of chips, little or big ac-
cording as he is on velvet or in the hole.
and passes the proceeds to them over his
shoulder. While they are present the
lingual eXuberance of the players abates.
When they depart it breaks forth again.
Everybody gives TO them, as their nos
pital is one of the best things in the
southwest and every sport knows that