The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-07-07
Respondent All That Was Left Of
Moiave Indian After Mix
Up With Dynamite.
JOHNS JOKES FELL FLAT
Flapper Named Starlight Was Co.
respondent and jury included Such
Prominent Citizens as RattIesnake
Charlie and Gold Tooth Nellie.

Oatman, Arlz.-This town is Just
quieting down after the decision In the
divorce case of Oatman VS.. Oatman.
John Oatman, q Mojave Indian. was
sued by his wife Estelle. They were
married In 1908 and have ten chill
dren. Six years ago John used dyna-
mite in working claim In the Ont-
man gold mining district. Through
some misunderstanding with the dy-
Mantle John lost one eye and most of
his scalp and was obliged to call In
Doc Hoag-"Painless Hoag"-to pull
out all that were left of his teeth and
give him u set of artificial ones.
These, with glass eye and a lux
urious wig, made John practically as
good as new. But Estelle seemed to
feel from that time on that some
thing was missing from the husband
she once knew.
Johns Little Jokes.
Something little less than love
seemed to fiji Johns heart too rs the
years rolled By. Bootleg peddlers
found John willing customer, and
he tasted deeply, as Estelle said after
ward Of coffin varnish, forty rod and
sheepherder's delight. Buoyed up by
these, John tried to make Estelle's
life less humdrum by sneaklng up be-
hind her in tine dark after he had
stripped and rubbed phosphorus over
his body. Instead of being pleased.
she screamed He then tried to amuse
her by doing the old tribal dances Of
the Mojaves. This also fell fiat. Moth
ing seemed to please her.
The ten children were little better.
From time to time John would sud-
denly remove his glass eye and snatch
off his wig, exposing his dynamited
scalp, but they only bawled. Even
this harmless amusement was denied
him at last, for he had been In the
habit of putting up his glass eye In
poker game. If he lost he simply
ordered another by mail. But event
ually the firm that sent them to him
refused to give him any more credit
and he was obliged to go about with
no glass eye at all.
While he was in this pathetic con-
dltion his wife cooked up a dinner of
Jack rabbit for him one day and he
ate it--under the impression 1t was
fish. What made this truly serious
was the fact that the Yavapai tribe, to
which Estelle belongs, always eat jack
rabbit. but the Mojaves never do. This
mas been understood for hundreds of
years by both tribes and never 10
lated until Estelle!s act. The substi-
tuition preyed on John frightfully, and
he worked late at night making home
brew from cactus.
About this time John and his wife's
father, the old gentleman known as
George Forest-of Cattle, sat down on
the dirt floor one night during Es-
Jelle's absence to stage a friendly lit
tie battle between -tarantulas and vim
agrones, which bite like tarantulas or
worse, cooping the contestants In Es-
telles best sugar bowl. John alleged
,afterward that the old gentleman Sc
cretly. spriniiled ant powder all over
Johns tarantulas, thereby causing
them to curl up and die at a critical
moment in the fight, and that as a re-
suit of this underhand work he lost to
his father-in-law all the money he
made panning gold during the previ-
Gus summer.
Aversion to Wife's Mother.
When Mrs. Oatman returned home
John annoyed her by scratching
matches on the soles of his bare feet.
She wanted him to be nice to her
mother, Mary Forest-of-Cattle, but
he replied that no orthodox Mojave
Indian ever looked at mother-in-
law, pointing out that he hadn't
locked Mt the old girl since their
marriage in 1908, and stated further
that he didn't intend to look at her till
the Colorado river froze over.
Shortly after this Estelle began to