Arizona republican., 1900-09-10

and old Spanish headquarters in old Mexico. The same investigators were fa,,r months in Madrid and Seville. Every poin; cf evidence that Reavis had prepared during eighteen years of labor and scheming was investiga ed. MT. Reynolds found where Reavis had offered a bIibe to q priest in Gaudala- iara to let him inrerp5,ate a few words That started MT. Reynolds on new tack. It was found by close examine tion that the Mexican government ar chives had been polluted by Reavis; that he had craftily removed pages from records and substituted other pa ges referring to some Peralta and the Mythical barony If Arizona.
 The Spanish artist who had made with brush and palm the illuminated heads of his old tattered parchment documents was found and his depo- sition taken.
 Mir. Ma!let-Prev0st observed in his study of Reavis' old papers, that while the Spanish In the major part of the sentences was ccrrect, it became peas ant or Mexican spanish in all referenc- es to the Peraltas and the barony of Arizona. There were several glaring I Also in the royal Spanish cedulas there were two grave historical inconsistent cies For instance, one cedula offered by Reavis was dated 1742, and in it was reference to the general of the inter nal provinces of New Spain, whereas there were no internal provinces in New Spain until 1776.
 Investigation showed that there was not one line in any unnuutilated Mexi- can or Spanish records to show that any such man as Don Miguel de Peral ta de Cordoba ever lived. and that the barony of Arizona existed only in Req wis imagination. Priests told how Rea- wis had bought ancient portraits of Spanish grandees which he swore were pictures of rich, naughty Peraltas. Marriage, baptismal and death records had been ingeniOUsly doctored to show documentary facts concerning a myth icaI family. The all-important cedula showing the appointment of Don Mig uel Peralta as baron of Arizona was shown -cn microscopic inspection by MT. Mallet-Prevost 70 have been in its original form a csdula from King Phil ip V. informing the royal citizens of Gaudalajara of the royal appointment of Count de Fuencjara as viceroy of New Spain. In enc ancient book Rea- wis had interpolated twenty-two inge- nioUsly and patiently written pages about the Peralta ancestry, so that only persistent investigation revealed the fraud.
 Other investigators employed by MT. Reynolds for the government came for ward and swoIe that Mrs. Reavis was a half-breed Mexican who had lived in Sacramento valley since she was a little girl. They produced photographs Of her when sine was a child. She had not been in Mexico until she went there with Reavis 10 prepare for the prose cution of the Peralta land grant claim \ witness from Pomona, California showed where Reavis had taken out a license to marry witness daughter two years after he said he married the heiress Of the Peralta grant. Another witness testified that Reavis had ap- preached her win an offer of marriag if she would join him in his legal fight to palm herself off as the great-great- granddaughter of the baron of Arizona A young man testified that ReaViS spent nearly d year in seeking some origin, young Mexican WOm of hay origin who would be q sagacious het
 to the bar.ny of AIizCna. Still an other witness testified that Reavis met hi wife on q railroad train between Sa eramen.o and Red Bluff, and that Ee sps-t months i1 coaching her on thz PCr5.ta ancestry before they were mar Ii i-'.
 The corrt cf private land claim; unanimously r5jected Reavis's claim The same day he was arrested for con- spiracy. He was tried speedily. Mrs Rlavis wer5 on the witness stand she brok7 c VII and confessed that she had been mayriel solely because hel husband wanted some one to help his claim to the mythical harony of AriZ- ona. Amid her tears sha told how she had been taken to Mexico to acquain her with the lccul color of her suppose hCme there, and how she had beer drilled Caily for years concerning whl she was JD say concerning her chiidiSi recollections and the Peralta history. Reavis was convicted and sentenced
 to the United States penitentiary d Santa Fe for six years. That was ir January. 1895. He earned ime by gooC conduct and lat September was set a | liberty. There are four indictment:
 hanging over him. but he is a shrunken i haggard man. in wretched health, ant
 it is not likely he will ever be tried O, any of them.-Los Angeles correspond
 ence in New York Sun.
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 BUILDING A RIVER