The copper era., 1909-08-12
Harry Wheeler on Gambling at Prescott.

Harry Hneeler on ddnDllng al PFeSCOIt.
 Harry c. Wheeler, ex-captain of the Arizona Rangers, has given out a very strong letter, commenting upon the recent outbreak of the Prescott gamblers, of which the following are excerpts: ..
 Having noticed articles appearing in the territorial papers of late re- garding the open gambling in Pres colt, where it was alleged that the acting mayor and the chairman of the county supervisors were in the open violators of the territorial law against gambling, and further hay ing noticed the apparent apathy, if not exact sympathy, of the local au- thorities, 1 feel that here is one of the main reasons for the opposition to the ranger force in that section, peculiarly exempliied.
 All parties knew that if the rang CTS were still in existence and one, just one, of them had happened along in Prescott and found those games in operation, that the county jail would have soon been filled with the offend CTS, acting mayor, chairman of the board of supervisors and all, and the ranger would not have waited for anyone to swear out any complaint either.
 The stand of the sheriff's office and l l 3c ha did not know anything officially and that they could not act unless some one made out a complaint is childish, absurd and false and should not fool anyone with grain of sense.
 The gamblers never bought the rangers, and the gamblers never gambled openly in any place where a ranger was likely to stroll. Neither did prostituted women, nor minors line up at the bars of the back alley and wild cat saloons. If that dele gation of women in Prescott called upon a ranger by wire, POO miles away (when the rangers were in force) he Il would have gone to Prescott and made the arrests himself. and if nee essary the com plaint could wait till afterwards; if necessary the ranger would have made the complaint him. self.
 Texas has placed four more com. panies of rangers in the field to com. pei the tough element to obey the temperance laws of that state. We will soon have temperance laws in Arizona, it is to be hoped: but there will be few convictions, if any, if the local officers all take the same stand that those Prescott fellows took. Just think of sheriff, receiv- ing more pay than half a company of rangers received, sitting back and waiting to get official notice of pub lie crimes being committed in his very office almost. 1 received a let ter from a former district attorney of Yavapai county asking ald to SUD- press crime of the very nature above mentioned. Where were the local officers at that time?
 If the women of the territory had known it, they had an ally in the ranger force that would have helped IhCH tO olO1h uP dll IHOSC Ol lhCi that threaten their homes and the moral welfare of their young boys The women of Texas once saved the ranger force of that great state from the onslaught of the same element that is ruling or trying to rule Ari zona today, because TeXns womer understood their rangers and the women of Arizona knew nothing about them at all.
 We have had here along the border : since the abolishment of the ranger service, 200 head of horses stoleu most Ot them now down in Sonors and close to Arispe. We have had ( dozen assa assinations and attempted assassinations along the border since February 15, and the tiger is growl ing more or less at the same time.