The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1902-01-09

To the recently arrived tenderfoot.
the southwest Of today is as diiferen,
in comparison as a Sunday school is tc
circus. Ia the last two decades the
people have changed materially, the
country has changed also, and to the
old settler the times seem 10 be out oi
joint.
With the advent OF many railroads,
and the consequent retirement Of the
O,d fashioned stage coach, wo appear
to have been translated to another
sphere entirely. The Wild and Woody
West, or at least this portion OF it ex-
lists in memory only, which is fact to
be deplored by all.
We appear to have been moved east
ward, and all over this broad domain,
different class Of people are met with.
They are not OF Us, but are apparently
totally distinct elan. There Gus
toms are foreign to this latitude, their
vernacular at variance with ours, and
their every move savors OF superiority.
They cOndescendingly associate with
y
They are after our shekels; this, and
nothing more.
To the old time Wcstcrners, this is a
dcplorable condition of affairs, but in
the language Of Il poet, what are we
going TO do about it," We are here,
cannot get away, and perfOrce we are
compelled to take our medicine, and
say we like it,.
This by way OF Introduction. New
for the facts in the case. The scene
we have chosen is distant by rail, but
scvcntv-one miles from Clifton, which
at the time referred to was Il suburb OF
Lordsburg, New Mexico. There was
no railroads in those days between
those two important points, and the
sole method OF transit was Pomeroy's
stage coaches, which travelling by Il
schedule peculiarly their own. were
wont to roll in at any or all hours of
the day or night, and not unfrcquently
to the great disgust Of their victims,
who were humCrously designated rs
passengers.
When Lords burg was first settled il
became the rendezvous of Us tough 4
lot OF citizen as ever went unhuug, and
as the Southern Pacific roads reached
there, the town was over run with
thugs and thieves of every conceivable |
variety. Last, but not least among the I
gentry to arrive, was the suave conf
dcucc men with their horde Of strikers
and retainers. Every other house in
town WAS either saloon, or what the !
French term, a maison dc joie, ard the
slick gentlemen were invariably ac-
corded IL warm welcome. They made I
their money easy, and they spent it
like princes. Their motto was to take .
from those that had, and give to those .
that hadn't.
The theory upon which they operat- /
cd seemed plausible, and even had |
biblical sanction to some extent, but it .
worked an injustice just the same. /
Shortly after the completion OF the
road, the Southern Pacific put on emf
grant trains, aud the passengers on
those trains appeared to have been
providentially provided for the cspcc-
ial delcctation of the confidence men,
and they worked them for all they
were as rule, teld over at Lordsburg
for several hours, and rs those aboard
were moro or less comfortably fixed
financially, and were headed for Cali
fornia, where gold was enormously
supposed 10 be lying around loose.
The suckers proved easy victims.
Red Wheeler and his gang were
conspicuous for some time, but they al
ways managed to keep well to the
front, aud as the railroad pushed ON,
they followed Us a matter o. course,
always being in the push. Tom Ais
ton frequently stepped of to see the
boys, aud he was generally we'll re
ceived, as aside from his peculiar style
of raising the wind, Tom was not bad
fellow. He was generous to a fault,
and never held up man whom ne con-
sidered could lily afford contribution
to the cause.
With the passage of the Southern
Pacific toward III Paso its goal the
town lapsed into state of inocuous
disueude, as a stuffed prophet once
remarked, bat it was only for brief
period. Prior to this time Lordsburg
had become somewhat of Il business
center, by reason of the freightiug
traffic 10 and from Clifton. The
Leszinskys, who then owned all OF Cliff
ton worth owning. employed an army
of frcighterS to haul their copper bull
lion to Lordsburg, and load with merch-
audise and coke on their return trip. (
II. Lieberman x Co, OF Wilcox, es- q,
tablished the first mercantile business F.:
in town, the better to accommodate
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