The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1901-04-25
Early Days in Tombstone.

I . d prNiNt W EdIepIe III Los AuZtlEs hiul1
Review.
You ask mean old Tombstoner-t
give you a sketch OF Tom bstone in il
early days, for the Arizona Number
Yes, with pleasure, touching upon som
Of the incidents and little of the lif
in those old days-the time of tn
Scieffelins, Gird d Co; when the son:
OF the drill and the sound of the six
shooter rang merrily together, and olC
COchise, Juh and Victoria were in {
class by themselves and gave solid in
siruction to Geronimo. Chatto anc
] Mana in the art of hair-lilting and cary.
ing the poaching settler who dared tC
build his cabin within hundred mile:
OF the sacred precincts OF San Carlos
agency-the nursery OF the downtrod-
den and helpless Apache, accoI ding 10
the Boston humanitarian idea.
l find in my journal an entry dated
at Tucson, Tuesday, February IL, 1880,
which '--.cs,5 - t-llaws: t.sE.arly break
fast at Katie's before light" (Katie's
last name ESCAPES rr1H-.,s--~;-----------,.
moment, Duu an Tombstoaers will know
who | mean when l refer to the stam-
pede from Tom to Lower Califor-
MIA, via Guaymas, when Katie headed
the crowd in her buckskin trousers and
other logs, and preserved her dignity
at the same time.) "Stage on hand
about O'Clock. Six of us on top, with
driver; Bob Lewis, exp. NJ. of Cleve-
land: w. Z. Stanley. a fine old boy, my
subsequent partner; Redfern, as true as
steel; and one Stewart. Ny friend,
Milton Clapp, and faced to the rear
and completed the top load. Pheasant
day. Twenty-Five miles out we changed
horses at Cienega Wells and nowled
along pleasantly another twenty-five
miles to Ohnersorgen Station, on the
mesa, where we met relay of six fresh
horses. and found orders to drive fast
to beat the opposition stage. Fine
drive, but driver was forced TO be very
cruel to the horses to obey orders, and
the sixteen miles to Contention were
made in an hour and a half-about
eleven miles an hour. The horses were
in dead run and jump all of the time.
up hill and down, passengers wildly
clutching anything stationary, with
feeling of relief in one direction. that
no ApacDes or Rustlers could catch
them. When at last we climbed down
from our perch, one of the fine leaders
was found to be nearly dead. and all
the horses were badly winded. Four
fresh horses carried us the remaining
ten miles, and we reached our destina-
tion (Tombstone) at $3.50, only to find
ourselves nearly an hour behind the
opposition stage line. Kinnear's a
rough place, consisting of one street of
shauties, some with canvas roofs.
Hard crowd. Stopped at restaurant
(Erown's, as | now remember), and
bundled in there bag and baggage.
Good meal after a wash. Some street
shooting in the morning, followed up
later in the afternoon, about the time
of our arrival, by two other parties,
apparently not friends, from their
marked hostility towards each other
with rifles and siX-shoOters, which
were finally captured before any gore
was spilled. No law apparent other
than miners law, and that doesn't sit
and deliberate very long, but acts
promptly. we understand. The street
looked oddly enough to me tonight,
and reminded me of frontier oil town.
Good drainage. Mingled with the
hardy miners tonight. Talk of killing
some one in the air tonight. Every
one goes heeled. Jumping mining
claims seems to be the chief cause of
trouble. About 1000 people here,
with good big future ahead"
But. ''tempora mutantur!" While
Tombstone was in those days the live
liest mining town in the United States,
it gradually settled down TO the pos
session OF more or less peaceable COM
Our reception was lively
enough, especially so for "tenderfeet,"
but as we had come to stay, we didn't
take us long to become identified with
the town and its customs. although we
got along very well at "breakfast" time,
the necessity of cutting a
notch on our Colts to whet the appe-
lite.
Churches and schools multiplied; |
nevertheless, the early attempts to
tame the unruiy and bring all under |
proper restraint by the aid and help |
Of the institutions provided for the /
moral betterment of all were at times |
attended with amusing results. l recall |
the attempts of the Rev. Mcintyre, the /
irst Clergyman in the place, early in 1
50, to hold church services. Seated /
On old boxes and boards in large |
tent, everything went all right, but |
when a hall was hired and a little /
luxury indulged in, church matters be-
came confusion worse confounded. The /
hall faced on Allen and Fremont
streets, had common platform in the |
center. which was divided by a curtain,
80 that sounds were painfully per-
,eptible from the Fremont-street side,
aud poor McInty-e's amens had to be |
we'll sounded in order to be distin-
yuished from "AlI hands round" in /
the dance hall on the opposite side of
The muslin curtain.
L remember a funny incident, too,
which occurred in the little Episcopal