The Arizona sentinel., 1911-03-09
Rec0IIsetioas Of Capt. Mellon
Editor Yuma Sentinel:

Tie present revolution in Lower
California is the third il my mem
ory In 1853 Gereral Walker, the
blackeyca nan of destiny, invaded
tie peninsula for the purpose Of
,aklng 1t to form slave empire:
The lard was not suited to his pur-
pose, so he abandoned it and went
TO Nicaragua where he was shot in
the early sos for filibuEtering. II
1889 there was a revolution in
California and the first man hung
in Yuma was endeavorirg to join
it. A man named Dow, a bleed re-
lation of Neal Dow, the temperance
reformer, CT M-inc, had a colLr-It
to cut Ei3cd fer the steamers on the
Colorado, below Yuma. Dow hired
Germ, II 10y ard a Mexican to go
with him; loaIod a skitf With grub
and dropped down to what is now
known as soldiers camp" where the
Mexican murdered both Dow and the
ooy. The murderer then went on
down the river with the skiff ana
stopped at emp Of the Cooopahs,
Witch was commanded by Captain
Sun, the best Indian 1 ever knew.
The Mexican offered the Indians
the boat and grub if they would pilot
aim 10 the revolutionary camp, then
located at San Fillipe, about ninety
1Iiie:; southwest. It was a tempting
offer, and many Of the Indians wished
20 accept it, but Captain Sun strung
his bow aLd gave orders to bind the
Mexican and bring him TO Yuma;
telling them the boat belonged to-
the steamer ard that something WIS
wrong. On the way to Yuma with the
prisoner The Indians found where he
cid tie killing, and found the Ger
man boy's body, lodged on shelf
under the bank. When they reach
cd Yuma he was quickly hanged.
The above story of the killing Of
Dow and the German boy I got from
Donda Jaeger and, also, from Capt.
Sun, through an interpreter, in 1854.
IN 1860 l was second mate of the
bark Comet, a packet, beween San
Francisco and Honolulu 1t was in
the lust named port that l met Cen
,eral Sanchez who; with four COM
panfons had escaped from Lower CaE
ifornia, where they had been in a
revelation. They made their escape
on the whaleship, Speedwell, from
Scammon's Lagoon. They were well
supplied with silver dollars and made
them fly wsile in Honolulu. George
Murphy, who afterwards became a
noted ad.or, was then III Honolulu,
he was a song and dance man had
| come to the islands to entertain the
Whaleships, but ne went broke The
morning we were to slil for San
FranciNCo he came On the quarter
deck and asked permission to sing
and dance to raise money with which
to get a steerage passage. He was
| given permission and instead of rails
ing steerage passage he raiaed be-
tween S400 and $500. On the wharf
and ship there must have been six
hundred people. General Sanchez
and his companions threw in a doub-
lie handful Of silver dollars when the
hat was passed around. l always
thought that MuFphy's success on
he Qu~rter deck CT the Comet gave
him the nerve to so on the regular
stage. I have often wondered what
was the end of General Sanchez. He
was a fine fellow, and if 1 could
have t2lked Spanish in those days,
or he English, I Would have heard
many tales Of adventure in Dpw,er
California for lie tried to tell Of his
escape. Had it not been that the
Speedwell was in Scammon's Lagoon
he and his companions would have
been shot.
Why anyone would fight to
capture Lower California is beyond
my ken. 1t would make a good line
fence between the United States and
Mexico and would have lessened the
bother We have had in controlling
the Colorado river. There is not
over 10000 inhabitants between Cal
exico and Cape San Lucas, and from
the mouth of the Colorado to Mule
ge, $50 miles, leaving out the Santa
Resale mines, there is not twenty
people living on the gulf side. I
know something about the part just
mentioned for in 1854 three of us.
tramped eight days without water,
and then found a tank with about
three gallons, then tramped about
three Gays more before finding
anoOther tank. If the socialists. want
Lower California l will not follow
them. Ny tramp in that country gave
Stewart White his subject for the
the story COLORADO Rogers"
Well, friend John w. D., ( waS
thinking over the long past this
evening, and it came Into my head
to scratch down some Of the mem
ories, ard some Of my thoughts Of
the present, and after it was done