Arizona republican., 1902-09-27
BLOODY TRAGEDY
 NEAR HARRISBURG
Lige lGtSfOrd Killed by George
 Wells
The Slayer, Perforated With Bullets, Came to Phoenix Yesterday Morning and Put Himself Into Hospital.

George Wells was brought in from the Harqua Hala country yesterday morning suffering from a gunshot wound in the forehead and another ili the left side of the body in the region of the heart. The shooting had oc- cured in a drunken afrray with a man by the name of Lige Letsford, near Harrisburg, in Yuma county. The suf- fering which Wells was undergoing gave his story of the affair an inco- herency which is not very satisfying.
 He said that he and Letsford, who had been good friends, were in a saloon and had been engaged in a game of cards in which there had been no quar- rel. After the game they were stand ing at the bar when LetsfOrd pushed a rusty six-shooter toward him and told him to defend himself.
 That is the old western way of lay ing the foundation for a plea of self defense. Wells told Letsford that there was no need for either of them to shoot the other, but while he was remOn- strating Letsford fired. The bullet struck Wells sQuarely in the forehead and he was partially blinded by the stream Of blood which shot from the wound. Letsford fired again and missed, but his third shot took effect in Wells side. but instead of penetrating tho body, ploWed it's way underneath th- skin around it.
 Wells then fired his first shot and Letsfard fell mortally wounded, the ball cutting through the intestines. Wells tried to fire afterward at his prostrate foe. but could net discharge the 'weI- pom. He tried to get another but by islanders prevented him. A local phy- siciIn said that Letsford could not live. Wells came across the country tn Congress Junction and caught the | Phoenix bound train yesterday morn ! ing. Conductor McGrath telegraphed ! ahead for a physician, who met him at | the train and took him to the Sisters i hospital. Before going to the hospital ! he was able to sit al a lunch counter and eat hearty meal. An operation for removal of the bullets was performed ! yesterday afternoon. The bullet in the | forehead had penetrated to some depth
 below the skull but the physicians in attendance believed he would survive
 the wound. Neither Wells nor Letsford
 are well known here.
 | In q newspaper account or Ine SnOOl- i ing which appeared yesterday after noon if was stated that it occurred neai Agua Caliente and that Wells had been taken on the Buckeye stage to Con- gress The description of that route | Detrays an unfamiliarity with the ge- | ography of the territory, which would not be worth mention but for the fact
 that the shooting has been located near
 Agua Caliente. Persons who own prop
 erty in that neighborhood do not want
 any tragedies credited to that locality
 unless they actually occur there. That
 is one of the most peaceable neighbor-
 hoods in the territory. There was q
 killing there a month ago. There had been none before within recent years and there has been none since, but 6 Phoenix paper recently printed an ac- count of a feud there which threatened
 to depopulate the community when as
 a matter of fact none existed.
 It was even stated that the wOmer
 were taking part in it and that two of
 them were hunting each other with guns It happened that at that par ticular time these two women were col laborating on a crazy quilt which they
 have not yet finished. Participation 1T
 the construction of a crazy quilt is one
 of the surest signs of q cordiale en-
 tente among those who gather abou
 it day after day and week after week
 A prayer meeting: is a more likely scen'
 of q homicide.