Arizona republican., 1909-10-01
ARIZONA EXPEDITION
 AGAINST T|BURON
AN ORGANIZED VISIT TO MS
 FERROUS ISLAND.
An Earlier and Tragic Voyage !;
 Thereby Recalled.

lilt lstdHu ol llOuToil, WHICH lies III
 the Gulf of California so close to the mainland of Sonora that at low
 tide the Seri Indians, who inhabit
 the island, can wade across.
 This expedition was conceived by
 a member of the former Arizona
 rangers in the vicinity of Bisbee,
 and the construction of a party of
 fifteen, to include rangers and other
 former Arizona officers. was begun at Bisbee a month ago. After a nu
 cleus was formed the rest of the party was made up by election. Ham,
 ilton has just been notified of his election. Other members of the
 party are Lieutenant W. A. Olds, who
 passed through town day before yes
 terday on his way from Flagstaff, where he was to be the star witness
 in the Schwartz murder trial; Doc Jones of Prescott. Needham and sev-
 eral others.
 The party will leave for Guaymas on October 15 and from that port
 it will go by small steamer to the island. The object of the ex- petition is to explore Tiburon for, the shore. On account of the repu- ti.tion of the Seri Indians, the party
 will be well armed.
 Very little is known of Tiburon, which is about thirty miles long and four or five miles in width. It has seldom been visited except by MeXi- can soldiers, who have gone across to punish the Indians for depreda- tions against the cattlemen on the mainland Of the Indians almost nothing is known, but it is supposed that they are members of a tribe which formerly lived in the vicinity of the present state of Hermosillo, one of whose suburbs is an Indian village called Seri. There are many points of resemblance between those Indians and the inhabitants of the island.
 The island has been the objective point of at least two unlucky adven- tures The more recent one was that of R. E. L. Robinson. d sensational newspaper correspondent. who lived in Phoenix fifteen years ago.
 Robinson was always contriving to keep himself in the public eye. He professed to have been graduated from West Point. once he arranged. when the river was high. a boating trip from Phoenix to Yuma. one of the preliminaries was an under standing with a Phoenix correspond ent that some time after the depar- ture of the expedition q report should be sent out from this place saying that the boat had been capsized and that Lieutenant" Robinson and his companions were drowned. But the boat never started.
 Leaving Phoenix, Robinson went to Yuma, where after a time he pro- jected the trip to Tiburon with two companions in a boat called the "Sloop Examiner" CRobinson was correspondent of the San Francisco EXaminer)
 Not long after his departure.- q Yuma newspaperman said that Rob inson had commissioned him to send out report that Lieutenant Rob inson and his companions had been killed and eaten by the "Cannibals" of Tiburon.
 Nothing was heard of the expedi- tion for months. At last report drifted up from Guaymas that a half crazed man had found his way there and had told strange story of the murder of his companions by the Indians of Tiburon He said that he was member of the Robinson party. The boat touched at the island and Robinson and a com panion went ashore armed each with Winchester and a revolver They were met by several Indians, who | evinced great friendliness. Robinson entered into a conversation with | them in Spanish. and they told him that there was much game around i the point of a mountain near by | They conducted Robinson and his l companion in that direction, and soon | after they had disappeared from view | the survivor heard a shot. Next he | saw the companion of Robinson run | ming toward the boat pursued by the | Indians. who overlook and killed him. | The survivor pushed out from the | shore and made his way down the | gulf.
 When this story reached Phoenix | it excited derision, for it was known i here by that time that Robinson had | himself to be eaten by | Cannibals. He was expected to ap- i, pear on the horizon at the psycho- | logical moment with a lurid story ! of his escape. But he never came
 That was in the spring of 1895. | The extraordinary stories which had | been sent out regarding the Seris ! and their habits attracted the at tention of Prof. w. J. McGee. the | anthropologist, at that time at the ! head of the American Bureau of | but now connected with | the department of agriculture. and | he set out to investigate. He left | Tucson with a party in the fall of | the same year and spent some time | on the island, going pretty well over | it. He investigated the story of the | death of Robinson. The Indians con- | firmed the narrative of the survivor | in every particular as to which he | had knowledge. They said that after | leaving the boat and having passed | around the point of the mountain | out of sight of it, one of the Indians asked Robinson to let him shoot the | gun. Robinson. evidently deceived by |