The copper era., 1905-04-13
DEPUTY SHERIFF HOBBS
 ARRESTED FOR MURDER
Alleged to Have Been Committed on
 Board Ship off Chilean Coast.

! dl4l lOl HIS al tSNH DdI tib nut I Nfib
 the warrant to him. They were
 joined at the depot by another ranger
 who had been in Clifton some days. l MT Hobbs was taken to q room in the l Cascarelli building, where irons were put on his feet and he was closely guarded the entire night.
 The news of his arrest soon spread about town. and caused q consider able amount of excitement, as it was i known that much friction existed be-
 tween the rangers and the deputy sheriffs.
 Jud Webster called to see Mir. Hobbs and was allowed to converse
 with him for d few moments. At
 that time Mr. Hobbs did not know
 why he had been arrested. MT. Webster informed the rangers that he would be pleased to make q bond
 for the appearance of the prisoner
 the next morning but was given an
 evasive answer.
 A little later Lawyer Laine called
 to see him and while he was not ex-
 actly refused the privilege, he was given to understand that he could not
 see the prisoner. The rangers in
 formed him that Mr. Hobbs was
 wanted for turning loose lot of l MexiCans who were arrested by
 rangers on Chase creek during the big flood of January l0. Later they also volunteered the same informa-
 tion to Officers Spaw and Burdctt. It will be remembered by readers
 of the ERA that on the day of the flood, when nearly half the town was under water and many houses washed away, several rangers on Chase creek arrested thirty-siX MeXiCans for theft and drunkenness, and kept them under guard for three or four days, until they could be given pre- liminary examination. There was much unfavorable comment at the time by citizens of Clifton for these wholesale arrests, as nearly all of the Mexicans were working men with families. some of whom had lost their homes by the flood. The rangers desired to turn the men over to Deputy Shcriif Hobbs. who refused to receive them for the req son that the jail had been flooded and he had no place to put them. District Attorney Rawlins, of Solomonville. was requested to come up from Solomonville to prosecute the case against the MeXiCanS. When he arrived and investigated the cases, he dismissed all of them but one This, with other little af- fairs, which had previously happened. brought on friction between the rang CTS and the deputy Shcritfs, but for tunately these differences were ami cably settled shortly after tho. trial of the cases.
 On Saturday morning five rangers. accompanied by Constable Foster, all heavily armed with Winchesters and pistols. left on the train with the prisoner.
 A cprescntative of the ERA talked with Mir. Hobbs at the depot. and was informed by him that he was ar rested under warrant charging him with committing murder on the high seas, and that he would be taken to Phoenix for an examination before q British consul for deportation to Scotland for trial.
 The charge was so utterly ridicu- lous that when the writer reported it around town he was given the ''horse laugh.' No one believed it. Later. however. it was asccrtaincd that A. T. Thomson had seen the warrant. which charged that Hobbs had mur- dered the mate of q vessel and shot the captain on d British vessel off the coast of Chile in the year 1902 1 This confirmed the statement made l by Mir. Hobbs, but as he had resided | continuously in this section for many | years. except for d few weeks which | he spent in the northern part of the | territory in the early part of the ! year 1902, the public was worse mys- titied than before. The people who 1 were living here at that time knew that it would have been impossible for Mir. Hobbs to have embarked on q | vessel, raised q mutiny on board off the coast of Chile, made his escape and returned to this section during the short time he was absent from Clifton.
 The gravity of the. Charge and the under which the ar rest was made, were of such an un- usual nature as to create much un- favorable comment. It was further learned that Mir. Hobbs had request ed to be allowed to go to his room in order to prepare himself for trip. but was refused. It was later stated that his brother, Gus Hobbs. of Dun can, was not allowed to converse with him as the train passed through Dun- can. All of which, with the further fact that some of these rangers had | known MT. Hobbs for years, and must have known that he was not the man wanted. soon created the impression that the arrest was piece of petty spite, and nothing else. The rangers were not censurei for serving war rant placed in their hands. but they