The great Arizona orphan abduction
By: Linda Gordon.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass.
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780674360419
Subjects: Catholic Church -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Orphans -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Kidnapping -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Mexican Americans -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Whites -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Vigilantes -- Arizona -- Clifton -- History -- 20th century; Clifton (Ariz.) -- Race relations
Description: "In 1904, New York nuns brought forty Irish orphans to a remote Arizona mining camp, to be placed with Catholic families. The Catholic families were Mexican, as was the majority of the population. Soon the town's Anglos, furious at this "interracial" transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S.

Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes."--BOOK JACKET. "The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction tells this disturbing and dramatic tale to illuminate the creation of racial boundaries along the Mexican border."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-404) and index.
Table of contents: title: Cast of principal characters; title: October 2, 1904, night : North Clifton, Arizona; title: September 25, 1904 : Grand Central Station, New York City; title: King Copper; title: October 1, 1904, 6:30 p.m. : Clifton Railroad Station; title: Mexicans come to the mines; title: October 1, 1904, around 7:30 p.m. : Sacred Heart Church, Clifton; title: The priest in the Mexican camp; title: October 2, 1904, afternoon : Morenci Square and Clifton Library Hall; title: The Mexican mothers and the Mexican town; title: October 2, 1904, evening : the hills of Clifton; title: The Anglo mothers and the company town; title: October 2, 1904, night : Clifton hotel; title: The strike; title: October 3-4, 1904 : Clifton drugstore and Library Hall, Morenci Hotel; title: Vigilantism; title: January 1905 : courtroom of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court, Phoenix; title: Family and race; title: Epilogue; title: Maps. Sonoran Highlands mining region in 1903; title: Old Clifton/Morenci