Arizona state miner., 1924-08-16
AN INDIAN SCARE ON THE SAN
CARLOS ~ y

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BY Charles M CLARK. PRESIDENT of
the Arizona Pioneers Assn.
In 1883 I.was livingsAt Clifton with
my family, consisting of my wife,
two small children and a: brand new
baby. Clifton. for the previous two
years had been crowded with people
because of the. great amount Of inn
provement being made by theaArizona
Copper Company, a Scotch corpora
ton which had then bought oat the
Lezinsky brothers, the former owners
of several groups of copper mines
tributary to Clifton. A large smelter
was under construction and the work
ing forces at the various mines had
been greatly augmented. New ore
bodies we're being opened up and put
in shape for productions In anticipa-
tion of the increased smelling capac-
ity.~ A line OftraiIroad was under
construction to connect Clifton with
Lordsburg on the Southern Pacific.
Many new buildings were under con-
structiOn and the town was running
under high pressure. The payrolls
were large and the money was spent
right in, Clifton. From assmall Mex
ican mining camp Clifton had gradu-
ated into what for about three years
was the rottenest and toughest from
tier town the territory of Arizona
had ever known. Tombstone in IT'S
toughest days never was the-@eaual
of Clifton during 1882, 1883 and 1884.
The town was crowded with. dance
halls, dance hall women, gamblers
and their satellites and strong arm
men who thought nothing of stick
ing up a man or forcing him; under
gun to give up whatever he might
have upon his person.
| was in Hovey's dance hall watch
Ing the play at a monte game dealt,
by Pablo Salcido, well known Mex
lean gambler, when Red Sample and
Bill Delaney, two. members of the
strong arm gang, came up to the ta-
BILE which was covered with a Navajo.
blanket upon which were piled the
dealers's cards, markers, and about
$500 in Mexican adobes or dollars.
Red and Delaney walked to opposite
corners of the table and, taking hold
of the corners OF the blanket deiftJ-
erately pulled blanket, cards and
money off onto the floor Then they
proceeded to gather. up what they;
couldSof the money while the dealer
and, his friends 4did, the same. Ap-~
parently there was no ill feeling over
the transaction. When the various
parties had secured what money
there was ons the floor. Salcido gath.
cred the blanket up and spread it
over, the table, He made a. spread
and, turning to Red and Delaney.
said ''Give me a bet, boys" In the
play which followed he. won back
most of the money they had grabbed
from the floor. - $50 -
I had gone to Clifton from Globe
the previous year to take charge of
the Clifton end of a telegraph line
which had just been built from
Lordsburg. It was a privately. owned
line built by I. r. Brit, formerly a
military telegraph operator, from ma
terial which he had purchased from
the government. The materials came
from a portion of the old. military
line between. Yuma and Tucson which
had been abandoned on the advent
of the Southern Pacific railroad
which had constructed its own lines
as the road was extended. Brit pur-
chased the old line at about So per
mile, took it. down and rebuilt it
between Lordsburg and Clifton until
the railroad was completed and had
brought in their own telegraph. Brit
made a lot of money operating this
old single string telegraph
In the fall Of 1883 concluded to
return to Globe. I secured a Mexi-
can with a four-mule team to bring
my family, myself and our movables
to Globe. The Apaches were still
still troublesome at times although
most Of their depredations were COM
mitted at points remote from the
larger settlements. AS we progressed
on our way. to Globe we finally
reached the San Carlos agency.
There we found that we would not
must go on to a camping place known
as the 'Twelvamile water, being
about that distance from the agency.
This camping place was on the bank
of the San Carlos river just where it
turns to the, east, below the present
station of Rice. It was the last
chance for water until we should
reach Gibson's we'll, about six miles
south from Globe.
AS we passed along the road got
off the wagon from time to time to
gather wood and pile it on the wagon
for camp tuse. Darkness came on
long before we reached the camping
place. AS we drove along in the