Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-05-18
the PIONEER PERIOD
OF TOMBSTONE CAMP
A Participant in the Events Of Those
Stirring Days Describes the Begin
ming of the Reign Of Order.

Comstock was proprietor of the Grand
Central hotel at Tombstone in the ear
Hest and palmiest days of that greatest
of camps i'm its time and was one OF
the fairest and most daring of gam
blers until that industry was suppress
ed by the law.
An old acquaintance stated in his
hearing yesterday that he was posses
ed OF a greater fund of thrilling stories
OF Arizona than any other man now
living i'm the territory. He said that
he was possessed of one such story
which had earned for him the reputa-
ton of being the champion liar of the
territory until he had related all the
circumstances of il. He said he had
once seen a man who had been dead
for twenty-four hours sit down on a
stool and pose for his photograph. The
photograph by the way was taken by
ii. Buchanan still living in Tucson and
still engaged in the business Of max
ing photographs.
IL came about in this way: Along
in the early seventies one Braasselton
said by some TO be the original high
| wayman in Arizona was killed in n
flight with officers a few miles out Of
Tucson. His back was filled with
buckshot and one shot entered his
face at the base of the nose. The body
of the bandit was taken TO Tucson and
carried to the court house which is
now used for the city hall building. II
was held there for twenty-four hours
when the authorities decided to have
a photograph taken for the benefit of
inquiring friends or relatives who had
i h..
Mr.. Buchanan was sent for and he
| came with his picture taking appa-
ratus. The body of the dead Tobber
was stood up in one corner of the room
in front of the camera. While the
photographer was adjusting his box.
the crowd was appalled, TO see a move
ment of the corpse. Though the feet
remained in their position on the floor
the body sank slowly down relaxed IL
was thought by the extreme heat of
the day. A bystander who thought
| quickly seized stool and placed at
behind the corpse which continued to
unbend until il came to the stool upon
| which il sat rather awkwardly, much
| like a man not in full possession of
his physical faculties but without any
| assistance. 1t then remained station
airy and in that shape the picture was
| taken.
Mr.. Comstock is New Englander.
\ He landed at San Francisco i'm 1853.
| little more than boy. by the way of
| the Straits of Magellan though he had
| already seen much of the world. In
| those days there We're no reform
| schools and when a boy proved incor-
| rigible he was sent TO sea. usually with
some formality. The selectmen of the
| town passed upon the degree of his
| incorrigibility and the length of his
voyage was thereby determined. Some
times he was sent on a vessel for 4
| short voyage but il he was extraor-
binary obstreperous he was sent as
| far as the East Indies. Mr.. Comstock
however was not regularly committed
but shipped of his own accord after
| having been unable to agree with the
| foreman of the carding room of fac
tory who had insisted on "belting"
him. There was no betting" on the
ships. The boy was given lessons in
human conduct at the point of a pair
of heavy sea boots or at the ropes
end. He returned from the voyage
either cowed for life or "hell-hard-
ened." If the latter. he was capa BILE of
becoming a useful citizen or a danger
Gus criminal.
Mr.. comstock was in Alaska more
than forty years ago and after that
he resided for years in Montana. Ne
vada and California until he came to.
Tombstone. He said that he had read
in the magazines OF the regeneration
of Tombstone. The articles had been
made more interesting by attributing
the more orderly conditions TO the
bravery of some single man or group
of men. For instance. the Earps are
credited with having brought order
out of lawless chaos. 1t was not so.
said Mr.. Comstock: the peaceful or
derby citizens themselves had done il
and he added: THE most violent, dar-
ing, lawless element that ever existed
in any place always proved as fragile
as an egg shell when the quiet property
owners of the community rose to the
support of the law" He said: Take
Dodge City or Abilene; We are told
that they were made safe places TO live |
by some fearless marshal. The marshal
who was generally a killer and bad
man himself may have made things a
little better by killing some other bad
man Dul liidl lift
no safer. II was only when the peace |
full taxpayer rose up behind the law
and the community became really safe.
Then all the bad men hunted new.
fields
So it was in Tombstone, with the |
Earps on one side and their enemies
on the other. Things grew SO bad |
that meeting was held by the peace |
full element for the purpose of organ |
izing a vigilance committee to visit |
punishment on all offenders. Mr. Com
stock said he opposed this move and |
told the meeting that law and order /
must prevail at some time in the his !
tory of every community and the SOON
er its prevalence was effected the bet
ter. In his wide experience i'm Mon /
tana he had never known a vigalantes /
organization which did not itself be- Il
come criminal and have to be extin- II
guished. This view of the case pre-
vailed: the people decreed that the n
laws should be enforced and they were
enforced without trouble or bloodshed
because the lawless knew that the end II
was at hand and yielded without
struggle.
To all parties interested in fire in