Arizona state miner., 1924-11-01

she could regain her health. She al
so stated that he was to leave her
funds at the bank amounting to
twelve or fifteen hundred dollars, but
one of the children had been to the
bank and was told that he had only
left one hundred dollars I immedi-
ately called at the bank and found
that he had cashed three fifty-dollar
Traveller Cheques, drawn in his own
name and that one hundred dollars
had been left to her credit, as before
stated. then called the resident
doctor and asked him to go over to
the camp and see what could be done
for her as / was alarmed about her
condition from the first.
l then went to the local Justice of
the Peace and told about this family
and that I believed this man was at
tempting to take advantage of them
and had failed to return here as prom
lised. On returning learned that he
had written them from Phoenix and
informed them he had rented out
the car to earn them some money
but said nothing about coming back
to look after them. / Immediately
decided to notify the Sheriff and so
wrote him what had found out and
also sent him the letter Steach had
written them. AS he had requested
Mrs. Munger to write him to General
Delivery, Phoenix, I also wrote him
la letter and insisted on his immedi-
ate return, telling him it would be
necessary to find house for the
sick lady and also that her mother
was not able to take care of her, as
she was also ailing
AS Steach had given me to under
stand that he was looking for a loca-
tiOn for sanitarium, I proposed that
he join me in the enterprise and that
as 1 had sufficient land here and had
also taken the matter up with parties
who would help in the work neces-
sary to get patronage, was very
anxious to have him consider it. II
informed the Sheriff of this letter
and that | intended it as a decoy,
and to have some one on the lookout
for him at the Office. This the sher-
iff did; and as result Steach was
finally located in Los Angeles with a
woman not his wife, whom he had
transported from Springfield to Phoe-
nix and where she expected to be
married to him. But this formality
was not considered worth while at
that time and up to his arrest in
Los Angeles.
The men connected with the Office
of the sheriff certainly deserve great |
credit in their diligence and effective |
work in rounding up this debased |
specimen of humanity, if such i,
scoundrel may be considered human.
His first preliminary hearing was
held before Judge Riggs of Wicken-
burg, and he admitted that the TRAY
elers Cheques found on his person,
amounting to $780, was the property /
of Mrs. Munger and also that the |
automobile was hers. This was fully
verified when he agreed to turn the
checks over to her although they were
made out to his own name. The ma
chine had been disabled and left at
Cotton, California, where I afterward |
recovered it with its contents and
returned it to its owner, except what
was designated as belonging to the
man, and that was delivered to the
Sheriff's Office in Phoenix.
l have had considerable experience
with the criminal class during my
seventy odd years sojourning, but
never before has it been my lot to
find the equal of this ch-Munger
outrage. Posing as fully ordained :
of the Gospel, to which he /
testified before Judge Riggs and also |,
the district manager of a benevolent ,
fraternal society, he gains the conf
Qence OF worthy people and then robs |.
and deserts a poor helpless woman |,
and her family of little ones-leaving
them destitute to die in the sands
along the shores Of the Hassayampa
River, three thousand miles from