Arizona state miner., 1925-02-07

ing good Indians on the desert. The
forts frequently responded wit h
troops, but troops generally moved
slowly over the desert and the raid
ing Indians were usually kept well
posted on their movements.
Here again the clash of authority
took a factional turn. Such rustlers
as Curly Bill and his gang were soon
pitted against the carp Boys, devel-
oping a deadly feud that broke out
every time they met in Tombstone.
A shooting scrape was of almost
daily occurrence on the streets OF
Tombstone, and when a shot rang
out, day or night, people generally
ran for shelter from stray bullets,
instead Of running to see the fight.
"Blackleg" was an Eastern term
imported into Arizona in those days,
and referred to law-breakers, gam
blers and sports in general who
mingled with the sporting fraternity
and passively countenanced their
reckless and lawless doings. / think
about the most unpopular "blackleg"
was a Colorado gambler named Doc
Holiday. He hailed from Cheyenne,
Denver and Leadyille-a reputed gun
man and killer" whose hand was al
ways on a gun that had II notches
in it..
| saw him standing at the rear end
of long bar in the Oriental Saloon
talking to M. e. Joyce, the proprie-
tor, when a half drunken stranger
staggered up to the cigar cutter to
cut off the end OF his cigar, and in
so doing inadvertently brushed up
against Holiday. The latter appear
ed in an ugly mood, because he had
paid fine that day for gambling,
and before anybody even noticed the
move, Holiday had grabbed up the
iron cigar cutter and smashed the
offender full in the face with it. The
blow from the sharp edge of the
cutter laid the poor fellows nose flat
on his face, where it hung by a Iig-
ament of skin, as if cut off with a
butcher knife. When taken to a doc
tor an unsuccessful attempt was
made to sew on the severed member,
but it was a rank failure and failed
to unite. | met him years after
wards. A horribly disfigured face
made him unrecognizabIe to even his
own mother, but he knew me and
made himself known.
Arizona gamblers ana cut -throats
defed law and order those days, and
it was such "blacklegs" as Holiday
and his ilk that finally brought the
wrath of the Tombstone miners and
law abiding people upon them. Five
of them were hanged in one day, tho
gambling was tolerated for a decade
after that in the territory.
Holiday was a Weasened faced,
white livered dope fiend, a perfectly
depraved migrate, yet he was looked
up to as a leader and prominent char
acter in the camp who had a terrify-
ing influence over law abiding people,
Billy Hutchinson and his wife, Lot
tie, opened up a gambling saloon in
1880 at Tombstone almost opposite
the Oriental. He and Bill Freeze
dealt faro there for years when a
variety show was the attraction to
lure crowds to the gambling tables.
Freeze, about nine or ten years
afterwards, was elected to the terri
torial legislature at Prescott, the same
body which was responsible for NOV
ing the Capitol to Phoenix.
[ guess he was about as good fel- |
low as a professional gambler ever |
could be. Bill was popular every
where and we'll known all over Ari- |
zona. While in the legislature at |
Prescott, 'tis said he often sat as a |
lookout or dealt from the box at a !
faro table between sessions.
He is quoted as having pulled a !
real "cold deck" on his friends and |