Arizona republican., 1904-01-08

iSNA e9t~iAt Niuiiil5 tLC i'eOhi liiSAAiN years ago. brought them the desired wealth. They owned some valuable properties there, both business and residence and he finally opened fine
 museum near the corner of Spring and Third street. constructing a good stone building. It was filled with many wonders Of nature and many fine paintings from his own brush, as he had been employed by most of the railroads in the country and had seen most of the greater natural wonders and transferred them to canvas. He then paid a visit to his former home at Cornwall on tAe Hudson and the meeting with his aged mother who had mourned him as dead, was a most affecting one and as he says, the real pathetic incident of his life.
 Returning to Los Angeles, the boom
 went up in smoke, the museum busi- ness failed and himself and wife were again reduced to very modest sur roundings. But there was no dis couragement. He was an artist, and
 to an artist material things count but little after the necessities have been provided. He toured the Yosemite and r the Sierras generally picking out the strange things in nature and making many pictures that brought him good returns. During his life in Oakland
 he lived neighbor to Edwin Markham, then unknown to fame. That genius, too timid at the time to succeed, ofteI. submitted his manuscripts to MT. Won Keith for criticism or correction. His record since is known of all men and
 MT. Von Keith is proud of the fact that
 he formerly urged Markham to seek 1s..r, l,s ;.la-
 l Two or three years ago he came to
 Arizona and his principal occupation. aside from making pictures, has been | the exploration of natural wonders | that have appealed to him. He has been looking for the location of valu-
 able nitre beds for one thing and has
 made discoveries of various kinds that
 he thinks are valuable either to him self or others. He has travelled all
 over Arizona and in these wanderings,
 usually accompanied by his wife, he | has explored over 200 caves, more than
 most people know exist in this country. | Since his last visit home he has
 | by correspondence kept posted a few I Of his old friends, respecting his whereabouts and among them Amelia
 Barr. About two years ago his mother | died and the estate where he formerly ! lived and then occupied by his mother was placed for administration in the
 hands of man named Champion and
 another named Rome. Both of these
 men have since died and their attor-
 ney, MT. Clarke, who was also an ac- quaintance of his, he is informed by | Mrs. Barr. killed Himself. The old
 home went into decay, became the haunt of thieves and was destroyed by those in authority, stolen goods havit $: | been found beneath the floors and
 there being other evidences that it was Ia fence" But the property is stiIi
 d valuable one by reason of its loca-
 ton. if his title to it can be estab-
 lished. Mrs. Non Keith recalls with pleasure that Theodore Roosevelt, then a young man, once climbed to- theIr horne on the dizzy heights, partly to
 see the pictures but more particularly
 to see and romp with the children. But this is only one thread in the
 life story of Mr Won Keith. The others would be equally as interesting if as
 closely followed out. He is the nearest
 heir sef about geo. to an estate in Eng
 land running into the millions, and be- longing to the Houghton family, whence comes his middle name. Other
 members of the family have sought for years to bring the settlement of the estate to an issue and he is frequently
 besought by his kinsmen to join more heartily in the effort as they get to-
 gether from time to time and try to devise ways and means. When first l iuterrogated he thought that was the
 estate referred to by the reporter. The l Houghton family is also a we'll known group, among the most widely adver- tised being those interested in the pub l lication house of Houghton, Mifin 6 Co.
 1 Still another thread in Mir Won
 Keith's remarkable story, runs back tor l Plymouth Rock days. He is d lineal l descendant of Captain Francis Wyman
 who settled near Boston in 164S, and
 was prominent in colonial affairs. The captain built what was then considered
 d mansion, q structure that is still standing and his descendants are now many of them, busy devising ways and
 means by which the old house may be
 again brought within their ownership and preserved as a historical eonnee- tioN between the past and the present.