Arizona republican., 1910-10-05
WEAKENED BY AGE
 HE WANDERED AF|ELD
J. T. Spence, Lost Overnight, Was Found and Turned Over to
 the Sheriff.

On Monday an elderly man was | found wandering around the country about four miles northeast of town, | unable to give an account of himself. | The fact was reported to the sheriffs office and he was brought to town and | kept Monday night in the belief that l he was mentally unbalanced. Yesterday the case was brought before Probate ! Judge Phillips and he proved to be eX-
 actly the right person, not on account l of his official position but because he was perhaps the most intimate friend l the old man has in the community. That acquaintance, however, began | through an official duty. The old man
 was recognized by him as J. F. Spence, who lives with a family by the name
 of Self, tenants of a property of which Mir. Spence is officially the guardian
 and morally the owner.
 Judge Phillips says he is in no sense demented but is 73 years old, quite feeble and weak and perhaps a bit senile and forgetful. He wandered
 away from home Sunday night, got
 lost. could not be found by the Selfs,
 slept that night in an irrigation ditch
 and the next day he did not know
 where he was. The Selfs were much
 distressed concerning his safety and made inquiry of the police, but learned nothing until they were told by Judge
 Phillips. As soon as they learned the
 facts they took MT. Spence home and said they would keep close watch aft CT him in the future.
 The story of Mir. Spence's later years is rather a pitiful one. He owned a house and several lots in the Brill ad- ditiOn a number of yeafs ago and had a daughter who married a man named Painter MT. and Mrs. Painter went to Mexico, he engaging in the laundry business. Not long afteTward he died and Mrs. Painter and her little son came back to Phoenix. She lived with her father and materially helped him in paying eff the mortgage on the place.
 In his gratitude. and feeling that she would eventually become his heir he deeded the property to her, expecting to live with her the rest of his life. But though Mrs. Painter had always been healthy and strong, she was taken sud- denly ill and died. Then a sister of Mir. Spence came from California and took the boy to care for, but she also died not long after. The boy is now 13 years old and is being raised and cared for byla brother of his father, a physician in New York.
 On the death of Mrs. Painter, Mir Spence was naturally made adminis- tratOr of the estate and the guardian of the child, though he no longer had a legal right to any of the property which the boy of course inherited. Neverthe- less in the settlement of the estate he made no charges for the fees of ad- ministering and by an arrangement agreeable teyalA = the relatives and Judge Phfhips fies@ was to be allowed the possessfon-of the property and the right to live in it and care for it, which he couldin not do more jealously if the title rested in his name. He has made his home there and lived on the rents, abiding when he could with the tenants. The Selfs are Gesirous of do- ing all they can for him, but he wan dered away Sunday night without their knowing it. and as it was the first in- cident of the kind they were not sharp ly on the lookout
 MT. Spence as a young man served on the police force in St Louis and later was a constable in Texas during | the days of the bad" men From ! newspaper clippings and other docu- | ments he has shown Judge Phillips | from time to time, it is quite evident l that in his day he was man of valor, | of good impulses, and an honored and | respected citizen