Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-25
GREEK MEETS GREEK
Arizona Strangers Were Eff
fectively Strangled.
REFORM WENT STALE
TIME CAME WHEN vIoILANTEs
NEEDED DEvITALIzINa.
Philosophy of Live and Let Live Work
ed Both Ways From the
Middle.
REFORM WENT STALE

Middle.
II notice by the papers that the surviv-
ing yigiiantes of San Francisco got to-
gether out there the other day and cele-
brated the fiftieth anniversary-I believe It
was the fiftieth--of their voluntary disband-
ment," said prominent Arizona man who
is in Washington in the interest of separate
statehood for his territory. .'They met in
hall and praised themselves for having be-
longed to that oid-time vigiiante outfit and
patted each other on the back for the lynch
ing work they did in the gold-fever days
on the slope, and. got away with 1t, as
usual, in the view OF the younger genera
ton, that they were great layout gen.
orally.
Maybe they were and maybe they
weren't There are different views as to
the vigilantes of San Francisco. The truth
full history of that organization hasn't been
written yet. The people who have written
about the sloper Vigilantes have invariably
taken the moral end OF the outfit. But there
was another end, and big end. Some of the
most noted Ca1ifornians. men who achieved
their prominence and wealth In the frst
gold days, have told me, in years gone BY.
that the Vigilantes organization, In the
MAN, was a pretty wicked sort of a fitout--
that, under the guse of cleaning the COM
munity of thugs and bad actors, the power
OF the organization was used for the salts
faction OF private vengeance, for the con-
fiscation of the property OF the accused
ones. and SO on. Many an innocent man,
according to stories have heard from the
mouths of Californians not accustomed to
lying, was put to death by those NIgilanteS.
The Vigilantes had all the power and they
used 1t to suit themselves. There never
was an outfit Of this character yet that no
matter how high the purposes 1t may have
conceived at the beginning, didn't degener-
ate into a cruel and merciless above-the
law mob. The Vigilantes knew no law ex-
cept their own mandate and there isn't any
room in this country for alleged wrong
Fighters who live and act outside the pale
of the law.
Always overdo It.
Maybe you don't know that the White
Caps outfit was originally an organization
intended to operate all for good and mod
eled a good deal upon the order OF the
vigilantes, except that the White Caps be-
lieved in operating secretly. at night, while
the vigilantes. owing to their invincible
power. did most of their work In broad day
light. The White Caps originally organized
themselves for the purpose of stamping I'M
morality out of their communities. They
punished men who abused their wives or
didn't take care of them. whipped thieves
drove loose characters from their neighbor-
hoods, and all that sort of thing. But ev-
erybody knows what a vicious and criminal
organization the White Cape eventually De-
came.
"rm not saying that the vigilantes
weren't right once in a while, especially at
the beginning of the organization, before
the spirit Of get even with somebody,
right or wrong crept into the councils OF
the outfit. But it's pretty certain that
they were oftener dead wrong than half
right. 1t is possible that l may be
prejudiced, for I never liked the Vigilantes'
methods It is undeniable that they were
what you'd call a necessary evil in many
parts of the west. But they always overs
did the thing. They grew arrogant domi-
neering, and. finally, vicious and simply
murderous. They invariably wound up by
wanting to be the whole works. Then,
in most cases, something would happen to
wind up the Vigilantes.
st happened to be on hand when the
something happened that pulled the swift
curtain down on Vigiiante business in
Arizona There has never been a Vigtlante
in Arizona from that day to this. There
are some who may hold to another opinion.
but think that the Arizona Vigiiantes got
what was a-coming to them.
Arizona Strangers.
s.The thing happened in Tucson in "a.
'.They weren't called Vigilantes In Ari-
iona. They were referred to as Strangers.
The; Strangers got a pretty tight hold on
luce3On. hey Wcich pOpuidis Jul tHCy
had the majority. They called themselves
.sheriffs posse and for long time they,
rode over Tucson proper and roughshod.
They turned several tricks with the aid of
hemp that were nowhere near on the
square and they kited several men who
were thought pretty generally to be inno-
cent by Tucson folks who didn't take any
manner of stock in the Strangers nor in the
Stranglers' sudden and haphazard method
Of doing things.
$50 that when this thing that I'm going to
tell you about came off there was a pretty
strong undercurrent of feeling against the
STRANGERS not only in Tucson but through
out the territory. Nobody talked much
about it, but some pretty influential men In
Tuscon were known TO entertain the opinion
that the Strangers had become decidedly
too large as to their individual chest meas
urements and that the outfit needed some
trimming and pruning here and there.
1.-THE beginning of the Strangers finish
was when one of the most prominent of the
Strangers began picking on the Harvey
boys-Joe and Ed. Old man Harvey ran
hotel in Tucson, and the boys were his
sons. Joe was about thirty-three and Ed
was twenty-eight.
''They were both square men, as men went
down In the southwest at that time. They
didn't pretend to be sandtified, but they kept
as well within the meaning, intent and
spirit of the law any of the rest OF US.
There was no reason on earth why they
should have been singled out to be picked
day this prominent Stranger that / men-
toned strolled into old man Harvey's Tue
son hotel. Joe and Ed, to while away the
time, were playing seven-up for dollars at
a table not far from the hotel desk. few
bystanders were poking around.
jos Kept Mum.
..Tbis Stranger man began sitting 1t into
Joe Harvey in pretty strong sort of way
about a stage robbery that had been pulled
off not far from Tucson about a week be-
fore. Joe wasn't coward-not by a hull
row of new dobes-but he was perfectly
well aware that If he went at the Stranger
he'd not only get 1t in the neck himself, but
that his brother and his old dad I'D prob
ably have to dangle.
Anyway, Joe wasn't fixed. He had laid
aside his belt for more comfort In sitting
down. So he didn't say much in reply
to the prominent Strangers digs. Ed, his
younger brother, fumed, but he didn't cut
in until the prominent Stranger walked
over to the bar, at the far end of the hotel
Office to get drink. Then he said. In
an angry undertone, to his brother:
Joe IL you're not man enough to take
your end against that juniper. am.
sI'm not fixed said Joe.
.sE,d PASSED his brother a gun under the