Weekly journal-miner., 1909-12-29

detraeted from rather than increased the chances of an applicant. Captain Wheeler in this respect surrounded himself with a body of men, generally young, who could stand any hardship. and it is not recorded that any of them fiinehed when the time came to display the stuff that was within them.
 A short time after Wheeler became captain of the rangers he moved his headquarters to NaeO, for strategic reasons, and from there the eomings and goings of that remarkably eff cient little force of men were direct ed. Seldom were they more than 9 or 30 in number, yet so well did Wheeler know his men and his eoun- try that, scattered as they were, along both north and south line, they were homogeneous force which kept out lawry at a minimum all over the broad territory.
 As captain of the rangers, Harry Wheeler is best known for the esprit d. corps which he injected into the force and for the energy he display ed. There was nothing of the grand stand about him when he was direct ing his little command, and he never gave an order that he himself could not execute, whether it was to arrest notorious gun man or make a five hundred mile ride He was a work CT, not a desk man, and the trail in Southern Arizona that has not felt the impress of his pony's hoofs has not been made. The border line be- tween Arizona and Mexico being naturally a point of vantage for wrongdoers, especially cattle rustlers, it was in the south that Wheeler was generally found, and during his cap taincy cattle rustling was reduced to as near a negligible degree as was possible under existing conditions. Many a hustler was caught, many others were driven into Mexico and then kept there and still others were dissuaded from rustling through the moral effect eonduced by the efficiency of the ranger body.
 Wheeler is among the most modest of men, his gentility of demeanOr approaching that of a woman. An eastern man, whose conception of the captain of a force of Arizona fight ing men would include every exag- gerated idea the tenderfoot has of the west, would never, after sizing him up, take Wheeler for the man on the job. Rather he would be talk en for a dapper second lieutenant just out of West Point. The character of the man is best indicated by his hesi- taney to talk about the affairs when, in pursuance of his duty he has been compelled to take a fellow rlan's life. There have only been cwo CT three such instances during several years of a career, every day of which he was rubbing up against element of outlawry and constantly exposed to danger. The Tracy affair at Ben son, when he directed a fatal bullet after a woman had sought his protee- tion, and when he himself was ser. iously shot, is of too frequent occur renee to elaborate upon. There was another affray elsewhere in the terri tory when his bullet prevented a bad man from getting him first.
 Wheeler has always been known as a Democrat in politics, but as an off eer it is not known that he ever let his politics influence him in the per fOrmanee of his duty, and the fact that he was appointed by a Republi- can and that at least half of his men were Republicans shows how non partisan the ranger force was. Wheel CT was never known to finch from his duty, for any consideration of pol AtlCo UT pllNdlc 4ulcI0Sl, dS uldu11cSL- ed at Naeo when it became his duty to keep illegal voters from the polls. That act required no physical nerve, but there were other considerations involved that would have seemed in- surmountable to men lacking Wheel | er's strength of character.
 
 ideal officer as the new Arizona has, for he combines all the nerve and ready efficiency of the old time Ari- zona officer with suavity and re- sourcefulness of the present day met ropolitan Hawkshaw.
 SILVER STRIKE REPORTED.