The Winslow mail., 1925-01-30
WINSLOW WILL
Be TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS OF AGE
NEXT TUESDAY
POPULATION


ty-five years old next Tuesday. That
is, officially. On February 8, 1900
the first ordinance of the city was
passed, an ordinance relating to gov
ernment and general powers of the
newly-born municipality.
Previous to the year 1900 the gov
ernment of Winslow had been under
the supervision of the county, with
most all functions of government
vested in the justice of the peace, one
C.. F.. Cate, who died in Phoenix a
few years after the incorporation of
the town.
Ed. A. Sawyer, prominent sheep man
of Winslow today, was the first mayor
of Winslow, and the one who took the
government of the town out of the
autocratic hands of Cate In telling
about the days before incorporation,
Mr.. Sawyer told of the whimsical dig
nifty with which Cate vested his own
court.
Sawyer at that time was in the
mercantile business, owning the bust
ness which later became the Babbitt
Brothers Trading company. He also
acted as interpreter, without fee, in
the justice court. For several years
he placed his knowledge of the Span
ish language at the disposal of the
judge.
One time, during dispute between
two early-day residents, the constable
Subpoened Sawyer at a juror. Saw
yer begged the constable to summon
some one else, as he said that both
defendant and plaintiff were friends
of his, and whichever won the deci-
sion, he would lose at least one good
friend.
The constable did as Sawyer asked,
without consulting Justice Cate. Dur
ing the progress of the trial that af-
ternoon Sawyer stepped into the lit
tie court room to see how things were
going. The judge spied him, and be-
fore he was more than in the door,
began lecture from the bench, drawl-
ing his words out with full emphasis
and meaning:
"Mistah Sawyah, tn mex time All
summons yo' as a jurah in this heah
cot, yo' be suah an attend, or All
will levy against yo' ten dollar
fine"
Before the word "fine" was uttered
Ed had quietly backed out and was
gone.
A few days later the justice sent
word to Sawyer to come down to the
court room and act as interpreter in
a Mexican case. Sawyer sent back
word for the judge to ge to h-ll, he
was through. He was the only man
in town who savvied both languages
well enough for legal purposes The
case couldn't proceed. The judge him
self came to call on Ed Nothing
doing.
Judge" said Sawyer, "I been act
ing as interpreter for you for over
five years, an I never even asked
for single, solitary frijoIe-an' you
never offered one. But when I begged
off jury duty you threatened to fine
me ten dollars. From now and hence
forth you can just interpret your own
cases, or let 'em slide.'
To which Justice Cate responded:
"Now, Ed, yo' shore are the -est
fool! All didn't fine yo' did All? Why,
man, All was jes a-upholdin' tn dig
nifty of the law!"
Cate was the whole show. He was
the legislative, judicial and executive
SON6IuIu6uI.
one. What he said went-and went
a long ways. But with the incorpora-
tion of the town the czar was de-
throned.
The records at the city hall do not
show who were elected as council
men along with Mr.. Sawyer. No min
utes are on file, and the ordinances
passed previous to 1902 are signed by
Mr.. Sawyer, mayor, and G. D. Haney,
clerk.
In 1902 G. r. Bauerback was elect
ed mayor, and councilmen were: G.
A. Wolff, F. Flickinger, r. c. Cres-
well, F. T. LaPrade, F. NJ French and
j. L. Morse. E. J. Wolff was elected
clerk and served in that capacity un-
til 1908.
The next council, 1904, was COM
posed of j. L. Morse, mayor, and
councilmen r. G. Creswel, W. A
Parr. Geo. Schaal was appointed a
member of that council to fill vacan-
cy, but the records do not show how
the vacancy occurred.
The election of 1906 resulted in w
H. Burbage becoming mayor, working
with the following councilmen: w
A. Parr, Warren Britton, P A Ward
Geo. Schall, G. K. Anderson, and H
L. Chilson.
In 1908 Geo. Schall was elected
mayor; F. T. LaPrade, r. P. Kelly
P. Henderson, G. R. Bauerback, P A
Ward and Barnett Stiles were elected
councilmen. j. E. Ward was named
clerk
The records show that in 1910 only