Bisbee daily review., 1909-02-23
OPEN LETTER OF RANGERS
 ID PUBLIC
Captain Wheeler Says Rang. CTS Are Duly Grateful, and incidentally Replies to Ger, tain Charges Made

Former Captain Harry c. Mhse4s.
 of the Rangers in tle following letter to the Review expresses the apprecIa
 ton of the man of the organization for the hearty interest and support
 gwen the service .n years past by tbe putlic;
 Ed tor Bisbeo na'ly Reyiew-I sas fer myss I and my boys that tho sting and bitterness of defeat so recently suffered by us, is forgotten and lost
 ,igat of in the knowledge whica has
 scme to us, iadiv dually and as aA
 Sganizntion. of he goCd will and ap- preclaticn Of our people, our frienus and ne ghbors- 10 all our friends we
 xtend our sincere gratitude. They made a fight Tor us, which from fcrce Of circumstances We could not make for ourselves. We arc grateful tU every man, woman and child in this and other counties, for petitions ana letters sent to the Territorial fathers in CUT behalf.
 We realize the fact. that the fut.Iity of your effCrts, made over ann ma ton a matter of common. and thel v- HCre a mutual. regret, ye l do assure our friends that any sorrow We mey .eei over the Act of Repeal is more than assuaeed. in the knowledge pos sessed by as, of your gOcd will ana
 r endship.
 We wcald not care to. dwsH apon t1e Act Cf Repeal.- passed by the 2sts Legislative Assembly Of Arizona, were 1t nor fer a few statsments made by individual members of that Honorabie bcdy.
 Mc do net question the motives Of 2 majority of those who dea't us eE- ieath blow as an organ zation. Hayias been so lcng guided ourselves blindIy
 t tunes, from . sense q duty. t is lot for us to question of others Jnu motives actuating them. and therefore Se do not question, but feel assures that by the majority the actual die 1ates Of conscience were followed ana carried cut. We feel no bitterness toward any who honestly fought us; NC trust that in the end will be proseu he wisdom of the Act abolishing u-, however much We doubt th.s will be SO.
 We believe our representatives Fred Sutter, Osoac Roberts and Ben Good ( oh would have saved us had such teen within their power. Had Mir. Goodrich and Mir. Sutter both been of
 Ae Assembly,, instead of being in op- posltc houses the Governors veto would have been sustained, but it is dseless to argue what might have cen The Rangsrs are no more. The wisdom or unwisdom of the Act
 z Repeal will be evident to all .n the lear future.
 Yet while we are not bitter toward hose who killed us, as an organiza- lon, there were some, who seemingly not satisfied with tAeir work (The Act Of Repeal had passed before
 peechesD arose and needlessly, and falss G attempted the assassination T the personal characters of men who lad never in any way harmed them. It was a cowardly and a cruel thing. th.s attempted ruination of the char acters of a faithful body of men; men who having been denied the right to be heard. being denied the right of seT defense. little, expected to be made the victims of a personal attack
 l. being the captai nof the company. f,'- my boys sake. requested to be
 laced under oath before d committee Of investigation; We feared 10 possi- blc interrogation and l was to resign my captaincy regardless of whether the Rangers lived or not. We were not, however, accorded any hearing. No investigation was permitted, ..J chance of self defense allowed. We judged from thts no attack would per sonally be made upon us, nor upon anyone connected with us. We were deceived for We were doomed to suf- tlr an attack. from Mir Tnomas Weed in of Pinal county. Mir. Weccin arose ana publicly stated that the Rangers had been assessed by the Governor for S3,000.00 of tha'r salaries for cLm- pa gD purposes. Just think of that statement, Think Of all it meaus! Only men without honor would either demand such q thing or submit ss ~uch q thing were the demand made. Further when you consider that a the twenty Rangers eighteen are usla- oerats. the shame of the assertion. were it true, becomes more manifest. Men of one political faith buying tleIi positions rom another administ ratiOr.
 De that as it may he was guilty of falEehCod when he made his statement the assessing Of the Raas- CTS for any purpose. Mir. Weedin ap- pears to be a man of force and should rave some character A false and ma. .eious statement coming from him, n gdt injure, therefore I believe it e duty to myself, my boys and oLr 'T.ands to state publicly that Mir i Weedin apparently did delibeTatsiV ane i make a False statement l i; saying the Rangers were ever ss I sessed dr ever gave any money O. thing of value for any political pUr | pose whatsoever.
 As to Governor Joseph H. Eibbey, | le will always rank first in the hea-t | )f every Ranger. He was like c. iat1er to us, fair, just and kindly in III things. We dared perform our du- ies against all alike, the high and the ow. the m'ghtiest and the lowest All le ever demanded of us was "Be stice rou are right" H there ever was . loble man 'tis Governor Kibbey. We were with the people and of the peo- lle before We were Rangers: nov --e Ire of the people and with the people i ,tiI.
 We are citizens of Arizona, have fSA IAA hRtttNHs te4AA AACAO se shall remain.
 Tao organ zation of the Arizona Rangers Is indeed dead. but the same 'pirit which made of the boys, faith ul and efficient officers. will make of IS loyal and earnest citizens.
 We win do our part as citizens. help bear the burdens of c'tizensa'p and Te Will share 5a all the pride and ''easurc and tae gicry of simply being