Arizona republican., 1900-09-10

another in Chihuahua. Mexico. and third Tn St. Louis.
 "Ia all the annals of crime there's no parallel to this The case is re- markabls as the greatest fraud ever attempted against the government in
 it's own courts" wrote Attorney Gen eral Olney in his Cficial report in 1895
 Had the claim that Reavis set up to
 his llttla cmuirc in the heart of the Southwestern territories been estab- lshed, he would nave dispossessed
 some tS.Go0 settlers If their homes. and
 he would probably have been the rich est landlord on earth,
 While studying the Willing claim of tide Reavis came upon several Spanish land grAn,s made in the early eigh- teenth century to territory now in New Mexico ami Arizona. The crudity of the descriptions of the grants, the loaseness of the naming of the metes and bounds frel the Missouri real es-
 tate agents ina aaination, and aban- doninE all else he made the confirma-
 ton of one of the aG-ient Spanish land grants his life work It was grant
 made in i7iS by the king of Spain to Don Miguel de Pera1a Ge la Cardoba for so le 11O0.Gc0 ares of land in what is now central Arizona. Reavis con- | fessed nt his trial that that was the | germ of the famous Peralta land claim. 1 Willing said he was a great grandson 1 and the only iiueal descendant of Don ! Miguel de Peralta. ReaVis and Wiling i went to Arizona to follow the investiga- | ton of the title and to press the claim ! in the courts. but while Reavis was | looking over the. records In the old | Spanish mission in Los Angeles, Will ! ing suddenly died at Prescott, Ariz | Two doctors swo1e that he died of poi son. Reavis has, ned to Prescott and { gathered up all his dead clients docu- 1 ments and effects.
 l Reavis's active and incessant work
 upon the Peralta claim began. He showed a deed of the claim from Will
 ing to himself. He induced several
 wealthy men in Los Angeles and San
 Francisco to give him thousands of dol i lars for stock in the Peralta Estate company which he formed. With the proceeds he hired lawyers and went to 1 Mexico ari Spain in the interests of
 the Peralta land grant. By 1881 Reavis 1 had got tlge ,her so much evidence in | support of his ownership of the Peralta
 grant that he filed in the office of the
 United States surveyor general of Ari- zona a formal p-tition praying that the | Peralta grant be recognized under act
 of congress of July 9. 1854. relative to | Spanish and Mexican land grants eX- isting as the time of the treaty of peace at Guadalupe. Mexico. The people of l Arizona and New Mexico were thrown 1 into cons ternatiOn at the news that ! Reavis was legally the owner of all the property upon which they had spent ! their savings and years of toll. Dog l. ems of local lawyers said that Reavis' s 1 title seemed iniisFuJable. Reavis pre-
 tended that during his several years of | nves,igation he had found that the
 grant comprised F ,G00000 acres. instead
 of 1.10O,O as he and Willing had be- Havad. He threatened immediate dis
 pos-ession suits to people who dehed his claim to ownership of their lands 1 buildings. mines and other property within the boundary he set up as his.
 Surveyor General Johnson of Arizona refused t1 recognize the Peralta grant although badgsred by Reavis's attor- neys from every side.
 Ths United States government em- ployed a dozen men during several wears to search out the claims upon which Rcavis based his title to the
 enormous land gram. The long suits that Reavis conducted in the United States courts at santa Fe. N. M.: to
 establish his title. and finally the trial of Reavis himself for conspiracy, re-
 vea,ed she persistent manner Of the
 building up of the formidable bulwark of evidence to subsJantiate the ReaVla
 tile.
 Heavis was born il little Missouri town in 1S47. He was a tin peddIer ana drifted into real estate dealing. A man named Willing brought him at St. Jo-
 seph. Mo. during 1873, claim wnl2h ba inherited through a Mexican grand
 motner To some coo acres of land in Pima. Maricopa and Pinal counties Tn l Arizona. Willing said the claim had nevfr been adjudicated in the Amerl- can courts under the treaty of Gu@da- lime. Reavis consulted local lawyer and began work upon prosecuting the claim. From the Knowledge he Salheu during the investigation of his client alleged rights. Re3Vis got his hrst !deds ! toward tha establishment of clam tO the richest part of the territories. Cruue at the start. his dreams of wealth ana his conce Dtion of the empire he misht become possessed cf grew with time and circumstance.
 Reavis suddenly became rich. Hun dreds of cattle ra1chmen were fright
 ened at his assertion of title to then ranges and a- his threats to dlsposseSs i They made terms with him by the pay
 mert of small fortunes for releases III ona dav at the Royal hotel in Prescott the cattlemen of Yavapai county alone lranari over to Reavis and his lawyers
 .17 oOO for, releases Reavis's claims cIouded the titles tp homes, business blocks. mines and every form of real
 estate within the great area he asserted
 was covered by the PeraHa grant. Fol a few years TO ore da"ed buy any req T estate within the boundaries of the
 grant unless a reIeas- was given by the Peralta Estate company, which meant IReavis principally. So there were
 thousands of settlers. miners, sheer I herders. alfalfa raurhnen. owners oi
 homes. and stores in Phoenix, Globe Florence. Clifton. Mgrenci and "thel | ,..,,.- ,,-1-., H., =. luV releases from