Arizona republican., 1899-05-16
TWO ARIZONA CHARACTERS
They Are Depicted By COrreSpOnd-
 enf Curtis in His Breezy Way.

| his paper. The following extracts | from a letter in the Record dated Al l buquerque, May 6, would indicate that Mir. Curtis stopped at least twenty minutes for refreshments al Williams and Ash Fork and aIn- braced the opportunity to gather few l points about those thriving cities and their inhabitants. To be sure, MT Curtis speaks of Ash Forks but that
 may be due to hurried glance at he inscription above the door. MT. Cur tis is a hustler from away back and he goes on the run. If any of his
 facts" are distorted it Is because they are not quick enough for him.
 Near Williams station on the
 Santa Fe road lives man named
 Bill Soggs, a cattle king" he writes,
 ''who has enormous ranches in Yav-
 apai county covered With cattle and
 sheep. They coHnt him worth S1 ,000
 900. but he cannot read or write, 'Or
 do sum on paper He is remark
 able, however, for the faculty of mak-
 ing his calculations in mental arith,
 metic and in keeping all of fis ac,
 counts in his head. He never makes
 a mistake in figures. He knows the
 owner of every brand of cattle and
 sheep in the southwest, and can tell
 offhand the price of steers and lambs
 and every other kind of merchandise
 in which he deals on any date for a
 number of years back He knows how
 many cattle each of his neighborS has
 shipped annually for-the last quarter of a century. and will make a calcula-
 ton as rapidly ana as accurately as the cashier of any bank ir, Arizona, He has money deposited in har
 7 I.-, ,JN.o- +t, amount of every deposit and the amount of every check
 Every spring and every fall Soggs goes to Kansas City n charge of his own stock He waters and feeds them himself No labor is too hard for him, no exposure too severe, and he scrimps himself as if a few cop pers were an important item in his life. He puts up at the cheapest lodg- ing house he can find and comes b1cl1 from Kansas City to Arizona with s45, ,000 or S50,O0O on his person look ing like tramp. If Soggs can get a railroad pass he is happy; if he can't he buys a secOnd-class ticket and carries enough luncheon in, a paper bag to last him over the journey.
 fSoggs has a wife, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are en- ployed upon his ranch near the town of Jerome. They have never been farther away from nome than Pres colt, where they make an annual visit and buy a wagonload of flour, sugar. coffee, soap and other household sup plies and some cheap and durable ma te~ial for their own garments. Every body knows Soggs is rich and people laugh a good deal at his penurious- ness, but the trouble with Soggs is that he has never known what enjoy ment is. He has never discovered the of the word comfort and lie does not know what his moncy can buy.
 There is another man of similar character and condition at Ash Forks, the junction where the road to Pres colt and Phoenix connects with the Santa F'e line. His name is Pat Dris- coll. He came over from County An tnm n 1853, and was a lab0rer in tho mines of Nevada and California for thirty years, working most of the time in the tunnels underground About 1883 or 'S4 he wandered down into Arizona. and after prospecting around for several years, finally struck mine hat paid him s2,000 a month. 1T vas he first time he ever had anything 1AIAL 1CC-ACd 1lhS SQCCGSS, DUL Il9 say that to him that hath shall be given and Pat Driscon has never done a thing but pile up money 7ver since. People say he is worth | more than $1 100000. He has an in come of from s15.000 to S20.00O month from his mine. He is one of | he largest stockholders in the Santa | Fe. Prescott & Phoenix railroad and | )ne Of the largest property owners in | Ash Forks; but he is a bachelor. lives | done in an untidy cabin and does not | spend more than s25 or $3G month | or himself. He cooks his own nleals. | lever has but one suit of clothes and | he highest form of luxury he ever in- | lulged in is a 5-cent cigar
 ''DriscOll has not been east of fh1 | river since Ee came out | ntO the mining regions forty years | lgo. He has not crossed the great di- | vide for more than . century, but | ,vsr since he struck that pocket he | las continually been talking Of going | During the Worlds Fair he became so much interested that the betting was bout even as to whether he would go | ,r not. But the fact is, Driscoll is lfraid to face the world ,Ac would | lot know how to act outside Of the mining camp. He would not know | what to. do in a city, and, while he is lfraid of nothing dead or alive in this lesert and in these mountains, he would be like . fish out of water If ron took him into anotber clement.
 '' Melody knows what is Soing to ,ecome of Pats money when he passes n his checks. He has no relatives hat we have ever heard of said an Ash Forks man the other day, and he las never intimated his intentions.'
 If any one should give either SOggs
 IT DriscOH a good square meal of
 food and a comfortable bed
 e would not enjoy it. He would not now how. When the sailors of the nboat Nips:c were furnished with steaks down at MOntevido hey protested to their captain ommittee of she1lback men-of-wa-s- nen waited upon him and asked a hange of ration They said they Tanted meat with a body to it. ometh;ng they could 'chaw' on. And