Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-09-17
THEY OUTRUSTLED
 AN ADEPT HUSTLER
How Dr. Perrin Lost Fortune by Hav- ing Stock Stolen By Men He Trusted Interesting Story of the Penitcntiary at Yuma.


 edited by Herbert Brown, former sup. erintendent of the Territorial prison at Yuma, it tells of some of the troubles of Dr. Perrin.
 The conviction of Dr. Edward B. Perrin, of land frauds is of interest to Arizonans. He is the heaviest land owner in Arizona but his operations have been confined to the northern portions of the territory. He was also, at ont time, one of the largest cattle and sheep men in the country, but thieves "stole him blind. y When the writer was superintendent of the Ter ritorial prison the doctor came there for the purpose of interviewing cattle thief he had been primarily interested in eonvieting. The fellow s name was Hutchinson, For two years he had been foreman on the great cattle and sheep ranges of the Perrin Land and Cattle company. The doctor was anxious to learn how 2,50O head of sheep had been taken from certain corral and spirited away. He promised Hutchinson all the joys of an earthly paradise if he would .put him next" to the way the thing was done At first Hutchinson refused to "peaeh" and when urged by the writer to do so, said: "You do not know Dr. Perrin as well as I do. His promises are not made to keep,D but finally he told him that it was not 2,50O head of sheep that were taken at the time referred to, but 5000; that they had never been in the corral but had been herded below. They were driven in to the timber and divided among the thieves. As they did not have enough to make a good division they went back and stole 800 more. They were mostly disposed of to the butchers in Prescott and surrounding camps Perrin stated that he had had at one time 100 COW ponies on the ranch, but they had been stolen down to about six or seven. Hut crimson told him of sixty that had been driven into California, in one band. and sold. Among other bits of information he gave the doctor was of a bunch of so beeves that had been sold to parties in Jerome. At the time those beeves were taken to Jerome there were three men and woman, all employees of the doctor interested in the transaction. As they spent money freely, and as the woman and her husband wished to re- turn east, they forged the doctor 8 sig nature to draft and "had money to burn The Doctor was particularly anxious to know the names of the par. forgery and when told, the old man shed tears, for among the names was one of his most trusted employees. Be fore leaving, the doctor pressed Hutch inson to tell him about what was the value of the property taken while he was foreman. After considerable hes itation he said "about $l2,000" but in a later conversation with the writer he said that $ll2,000 would not cover the loss as the doctor might know if he could get a true statement of the con dition of his herds.
 Evidently he did not know, for he said that the great herds of cattle and sheep had almost disappeared and he had nothing but the Baca "Eloat" left and probably that would have been gone also but for the rocks that held it down. The doctor felt particularly grievcd over the loss of pair of valu able mules owned by his son and driven to blackboard. The son was advised one day that some of the missing COW ponies were to be found in certain wood. He drove to the edge of the wood, tied his mules and entered to look for the horses. Of course they were not there, but when he returned to his blackboard his mules were gone. They had been stolen during the short time he was away from them.
 Among his many grievances the doe tor told of being in one of the towns on the A. & P. railroad when train load of sheep came in to go through. Being interested in sheep he went down to look at them. To his surprise he found three carloads with his brand on them. As he could do nothing there he went on the same train to the next town, where he swore out a complaint and had the sheep turned into corral in charge of an officer. They were all there when "night drew her sable eur tain round, but the next morning they were gone and he never heard of them afterwards.
 If it were possible to put into print true story of the actual loss the doe tor sustained while cattle and sheep ranching in northern Arizona, it would make book stranger and more inter esting than fiction. But according to the late decision of the courts that the doctor was the most accomplished rus tier of them all. In company with a man named Benson he stole l2,000 acres of government land, the only one thing, as he himself said, the other fellows