The copper era and Morenci leader., 1916-08-11
OLNEy MADE GOOD IN PUBLIC AND
 PRIVATE LIFE

Picking their way carefully in the first bluish light of early dawn along the rocky canyon of the Blue river, Ia little band of horsemen emerged one morning at the confluence of the stream with the San Francisco. Hard ridden and almost spent, their cow ponies showed every sign of weariness and dejection, as did also the two men who rode ahead, bent low over their | saddles, their eyes on the ground. | Looking closely in the dim light you might have noticed that their hands were tied behind them, listening in the stiffness of the canyon, you might | have heard the clink of irons as well | as the occasional rattle of spurs. Behind rode two men. One, slight l of build and. boyish in appearance, seemed the leader of the party. In spite of the long hard ride over noun tain trails, he showed no sign of fatigue, and his eyes constantly went from the rough track underfoot to the captives in front of him. At the fork of the rivers, it was he who gave the quick short order to proceed, and it was he who turned the horses away from the green plot of grass in the river bottom to the hard trail ahead. Down the San Francisco they made 
 blazing in their faces, the two deputies Irode into the little frontier settlement of Clifton with their prisoners. With their coming groups of men, cowboys, prospectors, gamblers, all the popula- tion of the little frontier town appear ed, seemingly from nowhere. As they lrode up, a sheriff stepped out and motioning the crowd back, held the horses while the prisoners dismodnt- ed.
 Well George, you got 'em all right, didn't you?' yelled voice in the crowd expecting thrilling account of the capture of the desperadoes. But George A. Olney, deputy sheriff of Graham county in 1881, merely ans wered in his quiet, unassuming way,
 later, after brief rest, and a change
 of horses, he was ready to start for
 Tombstone with two of the famous
 gang of five Bisbee murderers, whose
 graves may still be seen within the
 limits of the town of Tombstone.
 'FWho is this man Olney who is
 running for governor?" asked a man
 the other day. The answer was writ
 ten large in Graham county in 1881
 when the young deputy sheriff rode
 in after intercepting the two desper-
 ate murderers in the Blue river can
 yon. He is a man who has made good
 in that which has been given him to 7 do.
 Some Early History
 The wonderful thing about it all is
 that young Olney persisted in this way
 of his making good. Having served
 his apprenticeship as a cowboy on
 the ranges of Graham county he came
 to Arizona from Texas, his native
 state, at the age of fifteen. Olney
 began to take an interest in the cattle . business for himself By industry and n thrift he saved some money and in
 vested it in a bunch of cattle. WheI c he sold them, the proceeds went back s into more cattle, and then the per b. formance was repeated. Graham coun t. ty, which knew him first as a COW O. boy, then as deputy, began to sit III l. land notice the quiet, unassumins te man, and not long after the darins -s capture of the Bisbee murderers, tht 's boyish deputy was elected to the of S, flee of sheriff. It took real man t Id hold down the job of sheriff in thos, Ig days, when professional bad men ant Ia their gun-play added that touch o t. spice to western life which moder1 lg writers still copy. At the close of hi n term, Olney was reelected and again h. when ms successor Tn OffIce defaulted J. he was appointed to fill out the un Id expired term.
 I'd Stafford, the growing center of tn le cattle industry, now become his plac of of residence, and shortly called hin
 to the office of mayor. His friend ts over the county knew him too vel le however, and he went back to tn e. courthouse as a member of the boar to of supervisors, representing the inter te ests of all the people of the county h. and doing everything in his power t ge see that everybody got square dea to It is small wonder that he was re IT. elected by a large majority.