Arizona republican., 1905-11-26
YUMA OF EARLY DAYS
Miss Posts Contribution to the His-
 tory of the Territory.

One of the most interesting dele gates who was in attendance upon the meetings of the territorial federation
 of women's clubs was Miss M. k. Post
 a delegate from the Woman's club at Yuma. During the session and while considering the work of the department of Arizona history Miss Post gave most entertaining talk regarding the early days of Yuma. For this she was most admirably fitted, having gone to Yuma in April of the year 1872. Since that date she has been all
 lied with the educational work in Yuma county, teaching in the schools or acting as principal, and has during the past year had personal supervision of a room in which there were some III pupils Miss Post speaks very fluently both the Spanish and English languages and she has found it a great help to her in her school work.
 When the first legal hanging car ried out under the law of this territory was being arranged for the site chosen for the erection of the gallows was directly opposite the school house in Yuma. It was not exactly in accor- dance with the mind of Miss Post that her school children should wit ness the affair and she accordingly dismissed school for a week. The hanging was on the third day of May in 1873 and the man hanged was a Mexican named Fernandez. His crime was murder and he was convicted of killing a man by the name of McCart- ney, but who was known all over the west by the name of "Rawhide" It was the custom of "Rawhide' to go on sprees at different periods of the year, and on such occasions he would lock himself into an adobe building which he owned and in which he had a very large general merchantile stock housed. Where he had come from no one knew. and according to the eti- quet of the times no one asked.
 It was while locked in his store on one of his trunks that Fernandez dug his way through the adobe wall and murdered him. The crime was not discovered until several days after it had been committed and the Mexican had had time to work several nights and carry goods from the store build
 ing, secreting them in the bushes around the town. Finally the crime was discovered, Fernandez was arrest ed and he confessed. Goods were found in almost every hiding place around Yuma. They were all taken back to the store and the officials held an auction sale from which nearly s100000 was realized. AS "Rawhide" had no relatives the money went to the school fund of the county.
 In the winter of 1S72-3 the name of the town of Yuma was changed from Arizona City to Yuma, the name it ny, aCin
 celebration was had by the residents of the town and great things were pre- dicted for its future. Many of these improvements have taken place, and Miss Post has had the pleasure of sec ing them realized.
 Miss Post very entertainingly told of the entrance of the first telegraph line into the territory. It was built from San Diego and was for the use of the government. In all it was $50 miles long and finally built to Tucson and Whipple. This was in March of 1874. Following the telegraph came the railroad which reached the Cali fornia side of the Colorado river at Yuma in March of 1877 and a few months later the bridge across the river was completed. Yuma then as sumed metropolitan airs for with the telegraph lines and railroad her citi- zens were indeed optimistic. Some even predicted a second San Francisco, others were more reasonable and con- tented themselves with thinking their town would some day be as large as Portland and the new cities of the northwest However, all agreed that her future was assured.
 In 1872 a diamond swindle attracted the attention of the whole country to Yuma and before it had been branded a swindle there was a great rush to that locality. It was the same Clarence King, who died in this city several years ago and who was then at the head of the U. s. geological survey that made the discovery that the al legged diamond fields had been plant ed by swindlers. In a suit brought in Yuma county, Philip Arnold was con- victed of being at the head of the swindle and he afterwards served a 1 term in prison for the part he took.
 Miss Post also tells of many of the trials and tribulations the city of Yuma has experienced in attaining the l