The copper era., 1911-02-03
AN EARNED APPOINTMENT.
How SiIas St. John Qualified For
 Position In Pioneers Home.

Phoenix-Silas St. John will have charge of the Commissary and ac- counts of the Pioneers Home in Prescott.
 He is perhaps the oldest Arizonian in point of residence. He first came to the territory in 1854, and though his residence has been far from COZ. tinuous, he has had some stirring pioneer experiences here.
 His first visit to Arizona was made as an agent of the Adams Express company, or rather as an inspector of the company. He had long been con- nected with the company in New York. In that service he left an arm at Tucson in this wise:
 About the middle ffties, with a force of three men, he was making a trip over the old Butterfield stage route, inspecting the stations of the express company. When he got into the southwest he added three Mexi. cans to his force, and the company pursued its westward journey. One afternoon the party reached one ot the stations, onoccupied, however some distance west of the present site of Bowie. The next human habitation was Tucson.
 That night Mir. St. John was arouse ed from his sleep in the station building an adobe hut, and saw a man stand ing with an aS poised. He sprane from his cot and threw up his Jeff arm in time to intercept the blow which fell on the arm midway be tween the elbow and shoulder.
 His assailant sprang toward the door of the hut, and MT. St. Johr seized a revolver from his bed anc fired shot at the fleeing man, wht seemed to stumble, but he gathered himself and ran on. Hearing nC sound from his companions, who vert sleeping outside the building, h, made aninvestigatiou and found tha the three Americans were murdered The MexIcaus were gone.
 Then began three days of horror It was in midsummer, and when tn, sun came up MT. St. John was at tackled by a fierce thirst which h, had no means of relieving. His frs task was the disposition of the mu tilated bodies of his companions. Al most helpless, he could only partiall, cover up the bodies and guard then against coyotes and the buzzards which Hooked later. The inflam nation of his own wound increased and when the west-bound stage cam, two days afterward the driver fount a wildly delirious man. The bodie ot the dead were then buried, an, MT. St. John was taken to Tucson where for a time his life was des paired of. The arm was amputatet near the shoulder, and gradually MI St. John recovered.
 Some months later the skeleton o a man was found not far from tn place of the encounter. Beside tn bones there was great shock of re- hair. One of the Mexicans of the St John party had such a shock of hail so that MT. St. John has always be lieved that it was a mortal woun that made his assailant stumble.
 After that MT. St. John spent great deal of time in the territor and assisted in the survey of at leas one of the Indian reservations whic now lie in Maricopa county,
 After returning east he remaine there for several years. He cam back about 1896 and has been a re sident of the territory since. So re sidence and priority fit him for tn position to which he has been aI pointed, but he is still better fitte for it by his executive ability an clerical skill.