Graham guardian., 1898-03-04

While thus engaged he made the nes s
of George M. Willing, Jue
who claimed to own an I'M M -,
ense property in Arizona. VII w. w.
NJ introduced him to one W. w. 'o'
,,tt, who had been connected with e.,
ono very questionable transae, n" NJ
ions growing out of claims based ea GO
mon old Spanish grants in the clty "f
# St Louis. Making some ar, " ~
rangement with Willing, who hau y,
presented for his inspection some y,
SPANISH documents, Reavis agreed y, ~
70 assist in investigating and per " :"
fecting the title under which VII :;
ling claimed. The first document =
presented for Rcavis's inspection
purported to be grant, made IN
the year l74S, by the king OF SPAN
to Don Miguel de Peralta de Ia
Cordoba, for tract of land en-,
hrocing three hundred square
SPANISH leagues, or q little more
! than 100000 acres. This was
the beginning of the notorious
Peralta grant, which, in the course
of few years, under the benlgnanV
influence of the climate OF Arlzona
and the skill of the great necroman
, GER Reavls, grew to the mastod ono
. proportions of nearly 12,5O0,ooo
9 acres. Tho second document was
a deed made in 1864, by Miguel
, Peralta of San Diego county, CAN
G f,rnia, to Willing, by which the
!. latter became sole owner of the
;. property, cu l.,
If Willing and Reavis finally de-
O cided to go to Arizona to lnvesu'
Al cate the title and take steps TO
). have 1t recognized by the United
lie States. Willing went direct Io
5. Prescott, in 1876, and there died
Is the night after his arrival, under
m circumstances that gave rise to thu
IN suspicion that he had been poison
ne ed. Reavis went by way OF Sa'
If; Francisco, to get possession OF
an dsed which Willing had execute
- in blank years before to get hin
to self out of trouble; and arrived q
no Prescott after Vikings deatl
where he represented himself to
ere a correspondent for the EGam'ne
ms He obtained from a gentleman wh
nh. had taken charge Of vikings G
an fects, gunny-sack coutalnlI
ms. various articles belonging to l,
out deceased, among which were u
-rv yrant and deed above mentione
lie claims that it was his intenll'
,all to return these to Mrs. Willing.
nil. Armed with these weapons, III
nm via continued to work upon I
ion case until 1888, when he filed WI
rod the United States Surveyor Gen
low. al for Arizona a petition, ask
ded the approval of the Peraita grs
de. under the Act of Congress of JV
mn. %, 1854; presenting in support
ond. his claim the original grant. q
nent eert,,in meSne conveyances she
rded ing him to be the owner by p
GOV. chase. The details Of this feat
+ an of The case are not pertinent
this artical. 1t is enough to
o IN mark that unfavorable report '
GREW finally made upon the claim
rfect Surveyor General Royal A. 10
Ro. son, to whom much credit Is
His tor having investigated the al
very ed grant under many disadva
,ed Il ges, and in the tace OF strong
Ma position in high official quart
= re. Mr.. Johnson in his rel
, in. branded the grant and mesne
rpevs veyauces as forgeries. This
A.. port was not made until 1889,
war. from 1883 up to that time Re
av;no had not been idle. He had ra
a bis himself from comparative pov
the to opulence. The public annou
We it mehI Vi MS oi"ini i''0 I"u'oU {,
CONSERVATION among the peopl
20 of Arizona. Thousands of set
ooeans. upon the public domain, who
'ro ~ initiated titles under the h
sb M stead, preemption and mining
t,arn1 found themselves suddenly
,tiors. fronted with this stupendous Ct
orie. They realized that II his it'll
and the grant was vailed the go
,isbed ment could not give them title
ictims their homes and properties
,Inttor was evident that if Reavis's pr
,+oo,Iv tions could be sustained by !
the LAND had belonged to him
,yor. his predecessors III interest
roro the middle OF the last cent
~ the Many hastonod 20 make terms
All him and purchase qult-clalm {
,or,ort From these unfortunateS he Fl
,rII aI d rich harvest. Not satisfied
ID NOT this easy methsd Of robber
/ srlcr- formed three corporations,
,.itohly called The Casa Grande Land
.onvict Improvement Company, an
issonri ganlzed respectively under
ho Con, laws of New Jersey, Wyomin
no arc Arizona. From these three
hc D,ss panies he realized S65,000.
retnrr. Southern Pacific railway paiC
NJ I3d5. S5O,O 900 for right.otway tn
, Of a his alleged grant. The
Louis. King mining compsng gave
chants 10000 for a release Of his
N for a on their mines. From VI
housos, sources he received sums ir
ne in. few hundred dollars to $
te. and items Of as much as $4,000.