The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-23
AN ARIZONA
MAIL ROUTE.
A Story Of hair-Raising Night Rides
in Apacheland.
A WHOLE FAMILY BUTCHERED.
An Encounter on a Lonely Trail With
Victim Of S1vagcs-Narrow Is
cape From an Indian Band.
The Southwest in 1878

/ -
Is one or the disappointed people in this
| locality. and the reason IS that an old
| sunshOt wound lncapacitated him from
/ service with Rooseyelts Rough Riders ia
the Cuban campaign Il fen says be,
| that n / could have been with the BOYS
| down there at Santiago. ] might have
| rounded out career of adventure that ls
somewhat unusual evea in the West"
| Major Barber is one Of the best known
/ men IN Arizona and New Mexico. His
| experiences twenty years ago are
among the most thrilling that have come
| into the life of any one in this region.
Il had my livellest experiences I'm
| southwestern New Mexico and south
eastern Arizona In 1875 auI lS19." he said
Il had been In the Deadwood and
Leadyille mining eXcltements when !
heard at the latter camp that wonderful
| gold finds had been made by cowboys IN
the region OF Tucson Ariz The reports
that came ~ me secretly We're % the
effect that gold nuggets worth g
and 50 were as plentiful as cockieburs
down there. that some OF The boys We're
| just shovelling mp gold dust, and one OF
| our former partners there was already
worth his thousands. Three OF us besides
myself went crazy az the news. Keeping
our information secret we sold our camp
outfits and prepared az once % 60 20
the paradise for poor gold miners. We
got a man 20 buy two of orr prospect
holes at Leadville We set out for All
IONA with exactly $l.fD in our common
purse.
4 LONG TRAMP.
eve tramped all the way from Lead
Vile across the Rockies and down
through the San Juan range. past old
HI.ra..r
a distance of 100 miles Of the hardest.
toughest desert mountain trails. as we
followed them. For days we saw no pale
face, and once we lost the trail and fol-
lowed It 100 miles into the Navajo Indian
reservation. on July ID we reached Alamo
Creek, seventy miles east Of Tucson.
There we began panning for gold along
with 800 other men. We worked ike beav-
ers, and when we reached bedrock be-
meath We panned gold that ran 40 and
so cents 20 the pan. We were all terribly
excited, and forgot all the pain and hard
ships Of our tramp 70 get there. We
bought a claim adjacent TO ours for 500,
and dreamed Of the millions we were soon
TO possess. Planning was too slow, and
also. the mines did not yield so plenuluily
after the first few days We saw that the
way to develop our claims was 10 run
"A
the pay dirt All the other miners said We
were lucky dogs. and that We had fallen
into a fortune if We only managed the
property right To do sluicing on our
claims we had 10 buy a slender water
right for SEQ and build a pine board
humo about go feet long. Lumber and
labor cost five times then what they do
now The hume alone cost 500.
"When we got 10 sluicing and had our
sluce boxes I'm order. we began operations
with a gusto. For week we sluiced,
hardly stopping 30 eat or sleep, 50 excited
were we at the fortune that we were sure
was right in our gra-p. We had put all
but so OF our money into our mining OPP
eratons and We reckcncd on having
about 5000 returned 20 Us IN pure gold
when the weeks siuicing was finished !
can't tell YOU with what anxious hungry
eyes we dived into the slulce boxes when
We turned the water of and began the
clean up Neither have ! words that can
describe our feelings when we scOopcd no
all the gold there I'm a teaspoon. Aitogeth-
or there was less than s. worth. We knew
that some one had saltcd our claims. and
that we had been duped out OF about
1900 We knew there was no redress.
and. moreover. we would have died rather
than Let any one know that four miners |
from Colorado could DE swndled on any |
gold proposition hy cowboys.
BLUE PROSPECTS,
"Hear,sick at the sudden vanishing OF !
all my beautiful plans Of what I would do /
with my fortune from the mining claim. /
/ slung my bundle of blankets across my /
shoulder and started 10 tramp 20 Tomb /
stone. / had exactly s. left as my share /
of the money We brought 20 the Terri /
tory. Tombstone was eighty miles distant I
ana there were rumors that the newly /
found quartz mines there were turning !
out we'll / reached the settlement now I
known at the railroad town OF Benson. ] I
was then about the bluest / ever was, /
and did not care what fate befeil me.
"'While I was sitting on my blankets |
in the adobe Mexican store at the settle j
ment a man from California came I'D.
He introduced himself as James Nixon
and said he was connected with the
United states Post Ollce Department.
lie had great trouble ia getting men 10
carry mails ia that part Of the Territory /
because OF the rlsl. Of life there was in
the work. Several ma- carriers had been /
killed by Apaches and Mafi-op2s in that
region in the previous TWO years. AID this
frightened other men from succeeding 20
the Jobs as mail carriers. lie ADDED that
the opening Of the Tombstone mines had
made the mall routes iu that region more
important. and chat Die had been author
lied By Grid and the Schaefellin broth
ers. who owned the Tombstone proper
ties. to offer SIS a trip over and above
the government price % any rider who
would carry mail from Rincon. y. NJ.
to Tomb tone. a distance across the coun'
try Of about 10 miles.
I'm a minute i accepted the job. Be-
fore night / had signed DaDers for a wear Z
AT mail carrying. The pay for the years
service was 70 be- about 5000. 1 believe
4 dozen cow-punchers about Benson said
was tho biggest chump a-gOing and that
never would make three trips; that the
Apaches were thick 30 the very region
through which j rad 10 travel 10 make
good time 10 and from Tombstone 1
confess I was pretty sure when / went 10
Tombstone I'm the following three days 20
get my horse and TO take final instruc-
ions and credentials as mail carrier.
hat ! was 10 die by the hands OF the
most frightful sayases on the continent.
But / had signed 4 contract and had
20 go.
Because OF the hot weather II was
hought best that I should ride as much
IS possible at night Besides. there was
ess danger from bands Of Apaches and !
.Iaricopas i'm the night. Imagine my feel !
ngs when I started on iiery broncho I
rom the mining camp OF Tombstone one
,vening In August on my nrst ride over
nv mail route. I had food enough for
hree DAYS and was armed with a carbine I
ma two pistols. / left letters In the care
Il a friend at Tombstone 10 be sent 10
ny Massachusetts, relatives Il l never
anne back. and / even had my hair clip
ed to make sure that l should not be
I