Arizona republican., 1911-08-06

CT a number of large properties were added to the original Greene interests, and the name of the company was changed to the Green Consolidated
 Mining company. Finally it was changed to the Cananea Copper com
 pany. the name by which it is now
 known.
 q have not seen much of MT. Greene for years. but when he came to Phoe- nix we always saw each other Col. Greene came into prominence in
 the late nineties with the development of the great Cobre Grande mine in
 Sonora. about forty-five miles south of the Mexican line. He had been in possession of this property for several years. having acquired it from the es- | tate of General Pesquiera. Though it was known to be rich in copper, the great wealth of its deposits was not realized then and beside it was not until late in the nineties, that is, about 1898. that the price of copper had
 reached such an altitude as greatly to
 stimulate development. Then Col
 Greene sold the property to George Mitchell, who had for long time been connected with the United Verde, and Mitchell proceeded to the organization of the CObre Grande company. Mitchell disposed of great deal of the stock among his friends in this territory at prices averaging, it is said, about $25O a share. though earlier sales were made to his more intimate friends. it has been stated, at less than one dollar a share.
 In a short time a controlling interest in the property was sold to group of eastern men, headed by J. H. Costello, of Buffalo, N. Y, who assumed the obligations of Mitchell to Greene. By this time enough work had been done on the Cobre Grande to give some idea of the great wealth of the property and the price of copper now was bouncing.
 A contest for possession of the prop erty was inaugurated in a suit begun in the count of this county and which dragged along through various phases. Suits wee also instituted in Fl Paso, Mexico and one in West Virginia, where in the meantime the Greene ' litigation covered a period of several years and at length had a most un-
 usual ending. Perhaps nothing like it had ever happened in the history of litigation; everybody that had any thing to do with it became rich; the lawyers all made fortunes and all the stockholders were put in the way to make fortunes. The law suit was fountain of PactOlus; whatever touched it's waters turned to gold.
 According to the terms of settlement all stockholders of the Cobre Grande were given an opportunity to exchange their stock, share for share, for Greene Cor solidated. Those who did not wish to exchange were to receive s2.50 a share. A majority of the Cobre Grande stock was sold but much of it was re- tained and a few months later the holders had the pleasure of learning that it was selling at more than $40 a share.
 Not only had all the participants in the litigation prospered but the prop erty itself had benefited by the adver- tisement. Sufficient capital for its de- velopment poured in eagerly and op- erations were carried on on such a scale as promised to make the Cobre Grande the greatest copper mine in the world. For years the Rio Tinto had popularly been supposed to occupy that post of honor but now it was about to be displaced by the Cobre Grande.
 That might have come about for other properties, some said to be richer even than the Cobre Grande, were add ed to it by the new company. Col. Greene, the president of the great com pany was now on the crest of the wave. He went to New York, opened offices and threw himself into the maelstrom of Wall street with the usual result. He was shorn of much of his wealth and lost control of the company. But he was still a rich man for he had ac- quired great timber and landed inter ests in Mexico and in the meantime, while a copper king, he had become a cattle baron.
 After losing control of the Greene company, Col. Greene set about the development of other mining properties
 in Mexico, gold and copper, and there after he spent the most of his time in
 the west looking after his new in terests
 At the height of his prosperity Col.
 Greenee, who had for years been a
 widower, married Miss Marie Proctor, daughter of Frank Proctor, well known cattleman of Tucson.
 There was one tragedy in the life of
 COi. Greene, the killing by him of Jas.
 Burnett, an eccentric pioneer justice of the peace of Cochise county Jus
 tice Burnett and Col. Greene were the owners of adjoining ranches on the San Pedro. Both had dams for the inn pounding of water and as usual in
 countries where water is scarce, the
 neighbors quarreled over it.
 The ranch of Burnett lay below that
 of Col. Greene. One day in the spring
 of 1897 daughter of Col. Greene ac-
 cOmpanied by young lady of Tomb
 stone were along the San Pedro when suddenly a flood swept along the
 stream and both girls were drowned.
 The dam of Col. Greene had broken. | There seemed no reason why it should | break; there was no unusual weight of
 water behind it and an investigation
 showed that the timbers had been cut. ! Col. Greene suspected Burnett Of having caused the death of his daugh- | ter for no one else cOuld have had a