Bisbee daily review., 1918-02-20
AN ARIZONA MELoDRAMA.

people. have made of the democratic
 method of raising an army. A solitary
 case of open and armed opposition
 proves by the furore which it has ex
 cited the statewide peaceable accept
 ance in Arizona of the military obi
 gation.
 All information obtainable about
 the Powers-Sisson gang indicates that
 they were outlaws in spirit and half
 way outlaws, in fact. outside of the
 consideration of military draft law
 but rather of theswin of the law.
 Jef Powers, father of the boys, the
 Citizen has information, had been en- gagged in litigation for years, and had been sa soured by his defeats that he counseled his sons to regard the gov ernment as a government of the rich for the rich, and that justice was un- obtaina5le for such as them It is said that for years ne had planned this rebellion in case the law should come for him or any of his sons with a warrant
 The mysterious death of Ola Pow CTS, the twenty-year-old daughter. who was fni ced to live with these hard men in a remote mountain camp 30 miles from the nearest settlement, and the knowledge that her father had forced her to grow up illiterate and terrorized in disregard of the customs of civilization. had called Sheriff Nc Bride to investigate the circum- stances. It is not improbable that fear of disclosures in this respect. or mere resentment of the laws inquisitive- hess, reinforced the gangs hostility and determination not to recognize the law. Many aspects of the case show that the Powers and Sisson were not mere conscientious objectors to the draft. modelled from the same in tractable spirit as those mountaineers who have from time immemorial in sisted upon their right to distill liquor from their own corn and apples with out paying the government its tax, but that the draft simply furnished the hFst occasion for a clash with the law by men who were intolerant of any interference with their affairs.
 By laying down their lives in the pursuanre of duty. sheriff McEride and his deputies bore out the best traditions of peace officers in Arizona. It is reminiscent of the sacrifice of w W. Lowther. a peace officer of Bisbee, who advanced to arrest James Daly m 1890, although warned by Daly ti-at he would shoOt He had been warned of Daly's dangerous character. but replied that he must do his duty. Daly shot him and es- caped Mcbride knew of the threats that the Powers. boys had made and it. is unfortunate that he did not aD- proach their cabin more warily.
 ShoT'd the federal authorities sue ceed in locating an aeroplane which can be obtained for the man hunt, it Will bring into the same chase one Of the oldest and the most novel means of pursuing criminals. Sheriff Niles is using three bloodhounds Of the same familiar black and reddish as those which pursued Eliza to the edge of the ice. The value of an ae-oplsne in such q hunt is specu- lative. especially if the outlaws travel only at night and hide in canyons dur ing the cay. but il would certainly add to the story. In the case of fugitives fleeing in an automobile over open de. ert roads. an aeroplane would unquestionably be effective in lOcat- ing them. It is even easily coneeiy- able that it might attsck the fugitives with a machine gun should they refuse to halt
 AssiduOus as have been all sheriHs Of solthern Arizona in taking and keeping the field in pursuit of the outlaws. it looks as if swifter action, better cooperation and more direction of the camDaigu