Arizona state miner., 1925-02-07


of Arizona were Ben Fairbanks, of
Tucson; Billy Hutchinson of Bird
Cage fame; the carp Boys, Doc Hol-
iday, and Bill Freeze of Tombstone.
The carp Boys got appointed as dep
uty U. S. Marshals, and while rep
resenting the law on one side, were
accused of playing favorites with
gamblers, blacklegs, and white In
dians" on the other.
The friction between the town and
county officials of Cochise in the
early eighties became very acute.
Misdemeanor fines were assessed on
the gambling and sporting fratern-
ity of Tombstone every month for
upkeep of the police and town gov
ernment. Gamblers who conducted
games in the Oriental, Bird Cage and
other saloons and sporting places Of
Tombstone usually had their fines
paid by the proprietors or owners OF
the house and games they were work
ing for, when the collector or fine
taker came around
The carp Boys, of whom there were
five, also maintained two saloons
one by Johnny carp and the other
by Wyatt carp. AS there were fed
eral authorities to placate, as well
as State and county officials, it
meant double and treble shake
down for the gamblers and sports
to placate all sides.
They were law breakers and could
escape arrest and Imprisonment only
by coming through" as occasional
pressure was enforced by representa-
tives of the town, county, state and
United States for consideration"
When one gambler was yanked up
by the civil authorities, fined and
released he was subject to being
hauled in again by. the federal auth
critics. Paying double fines, which
in many instances were pocketed for
protection" soon got tiresome and
a feud developed, resulting in scraps
and shooting scrapes galore. Several
murders resulted when shooting be-
came recognized as a legitimate set
tlement of all grievances.
The necessity for gun men and
U. S. deputies became apparent, when
rustlers would too frequently go out
and raid cattle ranches in the ada
cent valleys and mountain ranges.
Tombstone, Benson and Tucson were
the most popular marketing places
of cattle and carcasses of beef. When
killed and dressed the hides were
either buried or burned in the hills
so as to destroy all brands and oblit-
crate ownership of the animals.
Redskins were bad in those days,
and Apache Indians known as Old
Vic, Mana and the Apache Kid got
the blame for stampeding many herds
from Sulphur Valley, San Simon
ranch, and the head of Turkey Creek
in the Chiricahuas above Cochise
Head that Apache Indians never saw.
But they soon learned the game and
generally destroyed all evidence of
their raids by killing off miners,
ranchers and their families.
Cattle stealing became so bad that
at last state rangers were organized
to protect the white settlers in ad-
dltlon to the federal forces, which
utilized numerous U. S. deputy mar
shals like the Earps, and troops from
Forts Bowie, Cummings, Bliss, Doug
las, and Camp Harshaw.
[ we'll remember the day when
John P. Clum, postoff1ce inspector
from Washington, spoke at rousing
miners meeting in Tombstone and
the subsequent organization of a
Tombstone company of State Rangers
to stop the raiding of adjacent ran
chers and numbering Of the pros
pectOrs, miners and settlers. They
were most feared by the Indians, for
when they started after the Indians,
there generally was a fight and the