Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-02-21
TIE DUKE OF TOMBSTONE,
From the chicago TImes.Hcrald.

ment marvelle0 at the reCkleSSneSS OF
man who hathed three times a day
aud water five cents a gallon at that.
Edwin Fields in those days changed
/ his white flannel suit whenever the
smallest blemish in the way of dust
was noticeable and rode behind a pair
OF horses that were Il sensation in a
community where burr0s we're the
highest type of draft animals. Now
he is ''poor old Ed Fields" and when
he gets out of the county hospital,
where a Harrison street ambulance
took him last night, be will be taken
to the poorhouse at Duuuing to spend
his few remaining years in contempla.
tion Of the time when he owned a large
part OF the city OF Tombstone and a
mine worth more than half mil
lion.
Too poor to ask for help, yet sorely
in need of it, too proud to ask for
money and yet having a brother whose
| fortune is vast, he was taken from a
lodging house at 6S Thirteenth street,
against his will, on the strength Of a
certificate obtained from DR.. A. w.
Cowley, who had found that his mind
was failing and that he needed COM
forts he once would have scorned.
DR.. Joseph II. Greer Of 307 Oakley
avenue, knew Fields in Arizona, and
has assisted him from time to time
during the past three years while in
Chicago.
II went to Tombstone in 1879" said
DR.. Greer, and Fields was there be-
fore then, although the town con-
tanned but seventy.1ve people at that
time. He was sQuatting on some min
ing property which was not supposed
to be of much value. But the town
grew to 10000, aud be owned two
thirds OF the town site, so that his
rents increased until they gave him
an income of over $1,000 a month.
The mine which he owned was called
'Ehc Gilded Age and proved to be a
rich property. Fields title to it was
a little shaky, but he was backed 10y
Boston and New York capital, and in
Che end secured perfect title. He
sold the mine in 1881 or 1882 for $780,
900 in cash, every cent Of which went
to him. After the town grew and
Fields amassed his wealth he assumed
a mode OF life that made him the most
conspicuous character in the west.
He was known everywhere as the
Duke of Tombstone on account of
the gorgeous manner in which he
carried on his tablishment He rode
behind handsome pair OF bays and
kept a negro valet lie dressed dur.
ing the summer in white flannel and
changed suits three times a day.
! When water was selling in Tombstone
at five cents gallon he took three
baths day, and broke bottle OF Flori.
da water in each bath. He started as
a nine days wonder and was the most
talked Of man in the country.
Il left Tombstone and settled in
Chicago. One day during the Worlds
Fair period a seedy looking individual
stepped into my office aud l recog-
nized Edwin Yields. | asked him
what he was doing, and he told me,
with a mouFntul smile, that he was a
store man at the Southern hotel.
His salary. he said, was $l4 month.
Where had his money gone? l asked
him that one day, for could not un'
derstand how man that never drank,
never pla ed cards or gambled TO my
knowledge, could have squandercd a
cool million dollars, which amount he
certainly possessed at one time. lie
told me that he had lost most of his
property in speculation on the Board
OF Trade, and had then taken to the
bucket shops, where the rest of his
money had taken wings. He was at
that time, even with his pittance Of a
salary, drifting daily to the bucket
shops in vain endeayor to retrieve his
lost fortune. lie lost the most CT us
money in St. Louis, but carried on
his speculatlous both in that city and
in Chicago.
81 do not know his birthplace, but
he was an eastern man, and was well
connected. He has a sister living at
Steubenyille, Ohio, brother at Far
leys, New Mexico, who owns a big
sheep ranch, and another brother who
owns an immense cocoanut plantation
in the Samoan Islands, such has been
his pride, or his perverseness, that he
never would seek aid from them
He has roomed at the house of Mrs
Fitch, on Thirteenth street, whenever
You Can Believe
The testimonials published in behalf