The Colfax chronicle., 1897-10-16
II miners Story.
BY ALFRED B. CALHOUN.
THERE were a dozen Of us-mine

prospectors and engineers sit
ting about the camp fire one evening
at the head of Granite creek, Arizona
territory.
Prescott, the capital of the terri
tory, was at that time in its infancy,
an annex, as it were, to Fort Whipple,
just below it, on the creek.
Cochise's Apaches were making
things hot in that portion of the terri
tory at the time, but even if there had
been no hostile Indians in our vicinity,
it is safe to say that all my companions
would have gone armed to the teeth
from sheer force of habit.
The conversation ran on lynchers
and road agents, and more than one
story was told that combined all the
elements of tragedy, given with a
broadly humorous manner that was alb
solutely grotesque.
'Did any of you fellers ever hear of
Jake McCabe, as uster hang out round
Tucson a few years ago?" The man
who asked the question Knocked the
ashes from his pipe and looked round
on the fiame-lit faces before filing up
again. He was tall, bronzed man of
35, with slight drawl in his tones and
a manner that was tantalizingly delib-
crate.
The men about the fire shook their
heads. Except Abe Owens himself none
of them were in Tucson at the time
STAYED. Yet il was allowed that they
might have known Jake McCabe un-
der another name. particularly if he
didn't travel on the square"
Just here it may be well to state that
the vernacular OF mining men is en-
riched by the terms of their calling.
which they apply in fgurative sense
that makes them unintellieible to the
uninitiated. Pan OUT is one of these
words. Men ''pan out" the gravel in
the river beds for golden particles, and
they "pan out" men that they are study
ing, or horse doesn't pan out as
well as the feller that sold him said. y
And so the term is used in a hundred
curious ways that are seemingly for
eign to its literal and original signifi-
cation.
Abe Owens wasn't much on chin
ning'-the latter word Chinese term
for talking-but in response to the
general demand he told all he knew
about Jake McCabe, which ran as fol-
lows.
We shall not attempt TO reproduce
the quaint phraseology of Abe Owens.
There had been great many mail
carriers. prospectors and ranchmen
killed between Tucson and the Rio
Gila, and for some time it was sup
posed that the Indians were the per-
petrators of these crimes.
But even those who were most ready
TO believe that an Indian is capable of
any and every barbarity were forced to
the conviction that the murderers were
white men, and that plumber was the
object. At first there was an attempt
made to scalp the victims, but an old
scout declared that il was not sIniun
work." and finally the bodies were left
where they were shot down without
any mutilation.
AS there was no law at that time
that could be enforced in that section.
a sense of self-preservation led to the
formation of vigilance committee.
every member of which was enioined
to consider himself special detective.
But these precautions did not lessen
the danger One week after the Wig
lance committee had published its
purpose, mail carrier was found dead
on the Fort Bervie trail. His horse was
gone and the mail-bags rifled.
Suspicion directed her finger at two
men. who were unacquainted and as
different in appearance and mode of
life as 1t is possible to conceive.
James Nesbitt was a man of 30. with
pale, serious face, and an abstracted
manner. He associated with no one.
and he had no business that the miners
could see that would enable him 10
keep two good horses and black sery-
ant. He frequently made trips into
the mountains, would be gone for days
and always returned in safety.
The other was Mexican herb doc
tor, who, it was reported, had once been
q member of the gang of plnnderers
commanded by the noted outlaw Joa-
quin Muriata.
But DR.. Pintara had some practice
among his countrymen and the half
breeds. and this served to shield him
from the charge of having no visible
means of support.
Jake McCabe was the most promi-