Tombstone epitaph., 1918-12-01
TOM TURNER SlAckEO THE THIRST OF THE
 WILCOX CITIZENS

The recent visit to Phoenix of Tom Turner. former sheriff of Santa Cruz county, and now engaged in the cattle business on the California side of the river above Needles. recalled some stirring incidents of his career. which has been mostly in Arizona. says the Phoenix Republican.
 MT. Turner came to the territory from Texas when a very young man and he settled on a ranch on the San Pedro below Benson. He had little money. which he invested in stock. One night a band of Mexican cattle rust,ers invaded his ranch and ran of 26 head of horses. Turner took the trail the next morning and over took the thieves in the north end of the Chiricahuas.
 In the fight that ensued he killed three Of them A fourth made his escape The Mexicans had been guess ing pretty close at the proximity of Turner One bullet cut hole in his sleeve and another went through the feshy part of his leg.
 Turner knew very little about the law. but he had an almost supersti- ,iors regard for il. He knew that the killing Of human being was pretty serious business He did not know what might be done to him, but he feared it would be a plenty.
 He rounded up his horses in sor, O. natural corral and set out for Will COX. where he arrived the next morn ing He was directed to the justice of the peace. a venerable and solemn svisaged parsonage to whom he related the story of his adventure The jus [ tice offered no comment, but invited Turner 10 breakfast.
 Then he rounded up a coroner's jury and with Turner set ont fc- :tac scciTiS of the tragedy. An inquest was held and the bodies were buried and the party returned to Wilcox No fntima. tion had been given Turner as to his probable late The party went into the back room of a saloon for an ad. judication of the affair. Turner was invited to tell his story to the jury, He did SO The old justice removed his spectacles, polished them at length
 and impressively readjusted them stroked his long white beard and looked severely at Turner.
 Young man" said he. you have committed a very serious offense. an you deserve the severest punishment this court can intiict upon you Damned if don't fine you the drinks for the town for letting that other Mexican get away"
 Turner al once began the payment of ,he fine It took him all day to round up the populace of Wilcox, but eventually he treated every man who could be induced 10 take a drink. Il cost him s14.
 When Turner was elected sheriff of Santa Cruz county, he found the GUS .om of pistol totong prevalent. It was worse there than in any other place in the west. There were not many homicides. fact probably due to the universal armament of the population Every body was afraid 10 start any thing.
 The clerks in the stores all packed guns. When they left their work al night they buckled on their six-shoot CTS and infested the dance halls and gambling houses Turner determined to break up the pistol packing custom
 He frs: published or posted a notice that it was contrary to the law and gave warning that the law would be enforced Soon thereafter, one night he entered the Palace, kept by M. M Conn, the largest gambling house in town. with a revolver in each hand He was followed by Deputy Sherifl Bo J. Whiteside, armed with gunny sack
 There were about 150 persons in the long gambling rooms. Turner ordered all of them to stand facing the wall. whitesides went along the line "frisk. ing it. He found gun on almost every man. Thence Turner went to another house and collected other weapons.