Arizona republican., 1905-05-15
A PIONEERS DEATH
Bullet Ends the Life of
 Henry WiCkenburg
The Dead Han Was the DisCOverer of the VuIture Nine and One of Ari- zOna'S Oldest Residents.

Henry Wickenburg after whom the l town of Wickenburg fifty miles north west of Phoenix, was named. died yes terday afternoon, presumably by his own hand His body was found in a grove between his residence and that of J. w. Etter about , o'clock last evening. by the children of MT Etter | The news was received here last night by telephone.
 The residences named are tn the su- burbs of Wickenburg and are a hun dred yards or so apart. Mr. Wick enburg has been living for sometime past with Mr. and Mrs. w. $. Holland who. it is said have taken good care of him, though of late he has been suo- iect to attacks of melancholy when he has been won't to look on the gloomy side of life. Yesterday afternoon he left the hoIse about 1 o'clock, the last time he was seen alive as far as known last night.
 When found a little after , o'clock. there was a bullet wound in his right temple and in his right hand he gras- ped 32 calibre revolver. Both the forefnger of his hand and his temple were powder burned. an evidence of suicide. The bullet did not pass through the head there being but single wound.
 Justice of the peace Hector Riggs was informed as quickly as possible after the finding of the body and as acting coroner he empaneled a jury consisting of J. k. Murphy. J. w. Etter. flames Munchus. Henry COweH D. L.. Murray and J. R. Dunn. The jury viewed the body and the surroundings i and examined what few witnesses were available at the time after which the ! inquest was continued until 9 o'clock this morning. So far as could be learned last night there was nothing to support any theory except that of sui eide. though further inquiry will be made today.
 MT. Wickenburg has no relatives here and it is believed his only relative | in America is a nephew who is sup posed to live ;n Omaha. It $ under stood that he had a sister and perhaps a brother in the old country. But he enjoyed the personal friendship of all the remaining pioneers of central Ari- zona by whom he was held in the high 1 est esteem and Of many who have come to this country in recent years and 1 chanced to form his acuuaintance. He l possessed all the virtues of the sturdy frOntiersman, endured with them the ! hardships attending the settlement of a new country such as desert perils before the advent of the railroads tho fighting of bandits on the one hand and blOOdthirsty Apaches on the other. oftentimes with limited food supply and only a fading hope of financial gain to encourage further effort. As he was one of the first to settle on the banks of the historic Hassayampa river. when the Hassayampa club of ! Pboanix Orpranfzad he xvae r,1o1a an honorary member.
 MT. Wickenburg was born in Prussia Nov. 19, 1919. He served in the Prus- sian army after which he lived in Rot terdam for a year and came to the United States in 1S47. In 1851 he ship ped as fireman on the steamer Cortez rounding the Horn and arrived in California in 1852. He found employ ment first in the placer mines at Ophir not far from Auburn. He was quite successful getting together a consider able amount of money. In the early ffties he left the diggings and with others dug at Fresno the first artesian we'll in California. Shortly after that, was spread the news of the wonderful gold discoveries in the placer fields around La Paz on the Arizona side of the Colorado river. a considerable dis tance above Yuma. There is to- day the ruins of an old city there which at one time became quite a pop ulous place and the real port of entry into Arizona from the west. But it is only a ruin and does not support even a postOffice, being inhabited only
 by the desert tourist or an occasional lprospector going over the old grounds
 for in those days that whole section of country was turned over in the search | de In ,r-bi faxr he
 way were found for a time in large . quantity.
 Mr. Wickenburg joined a numerous
 party and came to La Paz with an
 overland train from the coast. Fortune
 did not favor him in the placer mines
 and he went up the river to Bill Will Hams where there was then a small . copper camp. He was joined there by
 a man named Buckskin Smith and an
 other named Morris. They journeyed up the Bill Williams and then up the . fSanta Maria finally making a more or . less permanent camp not far from the present town of Congress, and where
 mineral prospects seemed to be better
 At this point the Indians pointed out |. to him the mountain known as Rich
 Hill and which has been the source o1
 many fortunes. But they were far from any source of supplies and the camp
 was broken uo some of the members
 going In various directions. MT. Wick enburg and others continuing in .
 southwesterly direction to Tucson. He
 entered the government employ there
 worked his way back to Yuma ir
 charge of an ambulance. He kept ir , mind the story of the Indians about
 Rich Hill and as soon as he could, witt
 a man named Douglas, another named
 r. w. Smith. A. H. Peoples, P. Weaver
 and severel others, organized an eXpe- dition to search for it. To shorten the story, after another side trip to Saca-
 ton for supplies, the Rich Hill placer' fwere found and the town of Weaver
 was founded. There was a great rusl
 and prospecting parties scattered
 through other gulches. MT. Wicken-
 burg headed a party down the Has