Bisbee daily review., 1906-05-27
BEN DANIELS VAS LIKE A VIKING
 IF OLD DAYS
The Story of Arizona's New United States Marshal Is an Interesting as Ii Is Out of the Ordinary.
Daniels Was in Dodge City, Kansas, When hTat Burg Was the Outpost of Civiliza- ton.

The story of Arizona's new United
 States marshal is as interesting as a
 novel. and the presidents letter to
 Senator Clark on the nomination is
 one of the best bits of literature that this literary administration has
 evolved. Whiting to the Wyoming
 Senator in defense and explanation of
 his nomination of Mr Daniels to be marshal of Arizona, Mir. Roosevelt calls attention to the fact that Ben served under Bat Masterson, in Dodge City. Kansas, in the 70's, when Dodge City was the toughest town on this continent and only the gamest kind of a man could do good work in such a position" Those were the ecstatic times when the celebrated Wild Bill was at the zenith of his career in and around the old Santa Fe trail, and kept order only by being the deadest shot in the town. Bat Masterson and Ben Daniels were hardly such terrors with gun as Wild Bill, and their fame has come to them in a later and more eifete civilization. but it is to be cheerfully conceded that they did their share in the conquest of the West from the "bad men" whom the Civil War let loose upon the great plains.
 The effect of the war upon the re-
 moter West has beens but little real ized. Hundreds of young men from the southwest who had followed the Confederate cavalry chiefs like For rest, or guerrilla raiders like Mosby and Quantrell, 6rifted on fo the iron tier after the collapse Of the Confed- eracy, and the western armies of the north also furnished their quota to the same band of adventurous and reckless spirits of the plains and the
 mountains The war had morally de- moralized many of them, and they quickly became the desperadoes who ranged from the Dakotas to Texas. and from the great river to the foot hills of the Rockies.
 The president evidently had that state of society in mind in introduc- ing the story of MT Daniels career.
 He was born and brought up in the West when it was a very wild West. indeed" writes Mir. Roosevelt, "and his early life was passed in conditions which have now as completely van fshed from this country as the age of the Vikings has vanished from Flu rope; and Daniels and the men like him who were the only ones who could grapple effectively with these condi- tions, bore no small resemblance In both their virtues and their faults to these same Vikings"
 A frontier scout and ranger at IS, Daniels was iz fight after fight with the Indians" and for ten years 'he lived a turbulent life on the remote frontier of civilization"
 Like some of the most distinguish ed frontier heroes, Daniels served the cause of law and order at times most valiantly, but like them. too. he had his lapses. Even Wild Biii was no saint. And Bat Masterson was never in the habit of saying his prayers So it happened, according to the presi- dent. that young Ben finally got in with set Of men of bad character and took part in the robbery under arms of a band of horses or mules from government agency The old CT criminals escaped, the younger man was captured, tried and convicted and served term in the penitentiary."
 MT. Roosevelt now believes that the mule episode should be forgiven by his countrymen, in view especially of MT. Daniels splendid record since from jail "A more gallant, more loyal and more trustworthy sol dier never wore the United States uni form" The picture the president draws of Ben Daniels in war is most affecting:
 He was devoted to his comrades in sickness as he was indifferent to his own life in battle. He nursed his comrades when down with the fever, with assiduous care, at the very time that he himself was so sick with the fever that he came right to deaths door. In battle I repeatedly intrusted him with the performance of hazard Dus duty. For example, I iptrusted him with the leadership of the sharp shooters, who were to lie all day in the jungle between the Spanish lines and ours so as to keep down their fire on our trenches. He was always at the front in any emergency, and his coolness was absolutely unshaken. either by day or by night, and when the fighting was over and the fatigue had been so great as to exhaust all but the very strongest, I would en- ploy him, although very sick man, In conducting on foot the carts con taining the fever-struck men. whom we had to send to the fever hospital in the rear. being certain hat he would care in every way for those in his charge"
 The presidents appeal to the Sen ate in favor of Comrade Daniels evil dently had the desired effect. One very prominent Senator remarked when the case was under considera- ton: Although I am not a champion of this administration, I heartily en- dorse the position taken by the presi- dent when he says, I am not willing that the United States should lose the value of his proved courage and efficiency. Still less am willing tol admit that even a grave offense in 2 mans yo-th cannot be wiped out by 3 record such as have givez above, and we rust take for grant. sSs- .slss is;,ss7.s -sf -.,,;;-s.i's's |