Arizona state miner., 1925-01-10

on the exact spot where the Floyd
Williams Motor company is today.
He conducted the establishment until
the latter part of 1875, when he went
to Phoenix and started in the mer-
camille business. He was successful
in his Salt River Valley enterprise,
and he remained there until 1902,
when he sold out and went on the
road as a salesman.
cit was lively and interesting in Ar
izona so years ago." Mr.. Ellis said
this morning, frequently too much so
for ones peace of mind. / under
stand you can go to Phoenix by motor
car now in less than six hours, and I
know, of course, the train time is
something more than five hours.
When l lived in Prescott it took all
day and all night to make the trip by
stage. You left here early in the
morning and arrived in Phoenix at
about the same time the following
day.
con one of my trips down there
it was in 1874, I think-the stage was
held up by lone bandit 20 miles this
side of Wickenburg; that is, / think
there was only one man, as no other
was visible during the robbery.
Myself and Dan Towne, a Prescott
saloon man, were sitting on the front
seat with the driver when the holdup
| emerged from the brush with a com
mand of hands up which instantly
with women, but they did not appear
to be unduly excited by the appear
ance of the highwayman. The ban
dit ordered Towne and the driver to
alight, and at the point of gun, com
manded me to throw the mail bags
and the Wells Fargo Express COM
pany box to the ground. | then was
told to get down and rip open the
mail sacks, which / at once proceeded
to do.
Finding I was unable to open the
express box, the robber ordered
Towne to take an axe, which the ban
dit had with him, and split it open,
and this was done. He got between
$4,000 and $1,000 in gold dust out of
the box, but I never knew how much
he got from the mail. He made me
pick out the registered packages from
the bags and toss them to him. There
was money in the packages, of course,
but how much none of us ever knew,
as the postal department did not give
out the total of the loss.
"The robbery completed, the bandit
ordered us back in our places, noun
ted his horse with the loot, and said
to the driver: Now stay right here,
and don't move a muscle until you
hear the report of my gun; then you
can 60 His command was needed
and presently we heard in the dis
tance the report of the gun. The
driver then lashed the horses into
dead run, in order to get to Wicken-
burg and report the robbery, but when
he did so darkness had fallen, and
the trail could not be taken up at
once. 1t was o'clock when he held
up the stage. No trace of him ever
was found.
II had on my person at the time
approximately $1,000 in cash, but he
made no effort to get it, or to rob
any of the passengers. He did force
me to give him my pipe and smoking
tobacco, making me toss each to him
just before he leaped into his saddle"
Mr.. Ellis arrived here yesterday
and left on the afternoon train for Los
Angeles. While here he met few
Of those who lived in Prescott when
he was here so years ago Courier.
Joseph H. Mcpherson, pioneer of
Tombstone since 1879, died there
on the oath of December He leaves
widow and four children in Phoenix
and Bisbee.