Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1895-12-28

were wintering forty miles above
Eesiie's old camp and here, incre-
oioie as 1t may seem, they
round Leslie. He was so badly frozen
that to move him would have
been almost impossible without sacri-
hclng his life. The boys with whom he
was stopping were giving him the best
treatment they knew of and there were
hopes of saving bis legs and hands. 1t
was impossible for him to escape SO we
lett him there. His experiences from
the time he he left the cabin in his IN
derc!othes until picked up the following
day must have been horrible. Fifteen
below zero and clothed in nothing but q
suit OF underwear and pair of slippers
be had walked and run almost forty
miles, test Of enpurance which not
| one man in a thousand could possibly
have stood When found he was truly
IN a pitable condition. His feet and the
lower part of his legs were frozen like q
stone Both his hands, his nose, ears
and cheeks were as cake of ice and the
poor devil could barely articulate and
make himself understood. After reach
ing the cabin his rescuers never for
| moment imagined they could save his
life, out as "Hell takes care of his owp,"
so Leslie finally recovered. The men
sent out by the miners meeting had re-
turned and it was fully two months
afterward when Leslie came stalking
into camp. He had learned his former
partners were about one mile from the
main camp and as but few knew him he
thought himself safe from arrest. The
mans sudacity was certainly uuparallel
ed. In the game he was playing he had
just one trump card left, and being anx-
Gus to rid himself of the living witness
es of his cOwardly attempt at murder,
he determined to play that last card for
al 1t was worth. He came to me one
morning, told me who he was, and asked
me to write letter for him to Pstter-
son requesting him to return some let
ters and his clothes which he had left in
his old cabin ia bis flight and which he
supposed Patterson had taken when be
and two partners removed to our camp.
Seeing nothing wrong in his request i
complied, signing the letter with my
name. This handed to him and he
promised to send it to it's destination by
an Indian. Instead of doing so he at
once took the letter to his cabin and at
ter practicing long enough so he could
initiate my chirCgraphy fairly we'll he
added postscript to it. Hsre is where
he overreached himself as he did not
know OF the popularity of the men he
attempted to intimidate. He attacked
them most scurrllously and said at that
at recently held miners meeting 1t
was resolved to make them leave the
country and advised them to leave gs
quietly and quickly as possible, signing
my name at the end of it. This fell H.
the Patterson camp like bombshell, as
they knew me well, and they were on the
best OF terms with every man In the
camp. Patterson at once came to our
village to refute the charges and learn
the meaning of 1t all. AS soon as his
tall form hove in sight Leslie saw him
and made bolt for canoe which was
beached short distance from his cabin |
As be ran he was seen by an Indian to |
take something from his pocket and hide |
it in the snow, and the Iudian, with the |
curiosity Characteristic of his race, fol- |
lowed him and picked it up, it proving |
to be two small walls of strychnine, one |
with the seal unbroken and the other |
about half full. Leslie was captured |
without any difficulty and brought be- |
fore miners meeting which was hasti- |
ly summoned. The trial, during which |
he was perfectly unconcerned, resulted |
in his being ordered out OF the country |
under penalty of death should be return.
He was given a canoe, blankets, tent,
and provisions, but no rifle and turned |
loose on the river. He stopped tempo
rarily at the mouth of the Pelly river.
and here he was in possession OF gun
which he must haye stolen from an In
dams grave. He afterward came on to /
Juneau WI ere he remained some weeks, |
and here his craving for sensation and |
the natural devilishness of the fellow
again cropped out. He mailed a letter
in the Juneau post office written by him.
self to which he signed the name of Cor
rigan and addressed it to S. Mcmahon
stating that the whites and Indians on
the Yukon were at war. and named a
number o. well known Juneauites who
had been killed. The letter created q
big sensation, but his advice to remain
away from the Yukon did not deter the
fearless prospectors from making their
trips as planned. It Jared badly for the
lndiaDe, however, as new Corners who
had believed the report watched them
closely when any were met and il they
looked sideways they would generally
get filed full of holes. Much innocent
blood was shed on account of Leslie's
malicious lie. He finally left Juneau
and as far as | know has never been
heard from SINCE"