Williams news., 1914-01-29
THE GHOST OF AN
 OLD PIONEER SEEN

Sunday evening about dusk Wright Clark and "Tax', Ownby
 were coming down the trail from the top of Wilson Mountain where they had been to take some horses. They were nearing the canyon known as Wilson Canyon when suddenly their horses becam fright ened and began snorting and prancing. The horses were To k ing at what appeared 10 be scrub cedar tree few feet from the trail when the boys looked to see what caused the trouble From the cen ter of the tree there arose the shad- dowy form of man. He seemed to be attired in buckskin trousers and jacket and wore high crown, broad brimmed slough white hat. He was about six feet in height and wore long hair that hung about his shoulders and a long gray beard. He carried in his right hand an old style rifle, the length of which seemed to equal the height of the appari ion. The figure en- circled the boys once, dragging the gun over rocks and through brush without making the least noise He then came to stop and set the old carbine down with the motion of thump but no sound was heard. This looked rather queer so there was no tarrying in that locality for the boys. They rode on looking back as they rode. They saw the mans shade disappear in the same scrub cedar from which it emerged. The boys rode few yards ill sill ence, their horses trembling and covered with lather due to the fright the animals received. Tex Ownby wa; the first to break the silence. He remarked, "Did you see that?'', Clark feigning that he had seen nothing, replied, "See what?". Then Tex went on to ex plain the ghost and it's maneuvers. Clark then entered into the conver- sation with zeal and they dis cussed the vision they had just | witnessed and they thought of old man Wilson the hunter and trap per who was killed in the canyon they just crossed, by bear some eighteen years ago and concluded thls was visitation by his ghost. At the time the man was kille John J. Thompson, the present postmaster of Sedona lived where the Cypress Hotel now stands and broth er-in-law of the Janes boys occupied the ranch where h c now resides. An aged hunter and trapper, Wilson by name, lived in the country about and made his home at first one place and then another. At the time he was kill ed he was stopping with Mir. Thompson. It appears that the day he was last seen alive. the
 James boys were down to visit MT. Thompson and when they re- turned to their home Mir. Wilson returned with them. He accom- panied them to the Gardens where the James boys lived and went from there up to a canyon that
 bears his name. While up there he saw bear. He shot at it
 wounded it and instead of reload ing his rifle which was an old muz
 gle loader he gave chase to the bear. The bear followed the can yon until 1t reached the head of 1t which was so perpendicular that it could not get out; so the bear re- traced his steps and met the illfat- ed hunter whom he proceeded to tackle. Wilson climbed up into a cedar tree but the bear got him by the foot, dragged him out and kill ed him. Two or three days elaps- ed before any alarm was felt at h is absence, when some of his neigh
 bors made a search and found
 where he had been slain by the
 bear.
 MT. Frank Owenby often goes
 (Continued)