Arizona republican., 1922-05-14
UndeIivered Letters of so Years
Ago Are Found With Skeleton of
Pony Express in Abandoned Cabin
BY Robert S. poman


| OATMAN. Aria stock Of dyna-
mite used in routing out nest of
rattlesnakes which had made their
| home in an abandoned field stone
cabin near here has unearthed mys-
/ terry which has caused more excite
ment in Oatman than even the re-
cent discoveries Of high grade gold
| ore
! ]. II. ("Arizoro") Drake and II. L.
/ Sinmonds of Oatman recently
| stopped over night in the cabin. Dur
| ing the night they awolle to find the
cabin floor literally alive with snakes,
which had been aroused by a fire of
| driftwood from the Colorado river
which had been built in the fireplace
| of the cabin.
! Drake and Simmonds beat a hasty
retreat and spent the rest Of the
night outdoors. In the morning
/ Drake placed a stick of dynamite
| under the hearthstone and the nest
of snakes disappeared in a shower
/ of gold ore and dust. On entering
! the cabin Drake found that the dyna
mite had uncovered a cellar to the
/ cabin. After a careful inspection he
! descended by n shaky ladder which
/ hadn't been used in years. The
! ca bin in question is not far from the
! Moss and Hardy mines, the first OF
! which was opened up in 1851 and the
| latter in 1862.
! In the cellar Drake found the bones
/ OF what had been either a mule or a
pony. Still strapped to the skeleton
! of the pony was a leather mail sack
such as was used by the pony express
riders in the early days. Inside the
/ leather sack was q carefully wrapped
! package done up in waterproofed
covering.
/ When this package was undone
more than 200 letters We're found.
| Most of the letters had been slit
open and their contents removed but
several of no value apparently, still
| had yelloWed letters inside. Whether
| the discovery of these letters reveals
the commission of n crime of 60
years back, whether the pony and its
rider were killed and their burdens
stolen, provides a topic of discussion
! in Oatman Of paramount interest.
! The murder theory has the most ad-
herents District Attorney III. G.
Topp declares that if there is any
one in Oatman who knows anything
of the crime he will have them be-
fore the bar of justice within "a
hours Mr.. Topp is known locally as
"Fighting Topp," probably due to
the fact that he is as sturdy as q
battleship.
Some of the letters dated from 1S49
to 1852, but others had been written
as recently as 1860 TO 1862. Many
were addressed to Miss Anna f.
Whitaker of Ashford, Windham
county Conn: q few TO Miss Eliza
beth Lathrop of Westford, Conn;
some to Miss Emily p. Smell and the
A Il -
rop Of Hartford Conn but the ma
iority were to Lieut. George II.
Whitaker of Company F. First regi-
ment OF California volunteers. Lieu
tenant Whitaker, Judging from the
addresses on the envelopes, had been
stationed at Fort Yuma; at Fort
Craig, department Of New Mexico
(now in Arizona), where his superior
officer was Colonel Carlton, and at
Fort Whipple. now Whipple barracks,
Prescott. Ariz. These letters date
from the early Civil war period.
Othe~ letters were addressed TO
Lieutenant Whitaker, evidently dur
ing the 40 gold rush, while he was
at Gibsonville. Sierra county, Cal,
at San Francisco and at Downieville,
/ Cal. These letters bore dates of l649,
/ 1850 1851 and later.
Mr.. Drake took the package into
Oatman, where they were put under
! glass on the bulletin board. Old
timers by the score inspected them.
| Finally silver Greek" BaylesS and
/ Jack Stickels, vice president Of the
| Oatman Arizona Mines company, re-
called that Fred II. Thoms, S5 years
old and father in law of A. l. jamie
son "a Los Angeles broker Ewing at
! 470 West Highland avenue. Sierra
Madre. Cal), had known Lieutenant
! Whitaker in the early days. Thoms
was postmaster at Sutter Creek,
Amador county, Cal, during the gold
I rush to California. He is now en-