There was a bad wreck on the Southern Pacific yesterday morning.
It occurred between 5 and 6 o'clock near a place called Liguerta,
eight miles east of Gila Bend. The engine of westbound freight
No. 21 crashed through a burned bridge. Several cars were
piled on top of it and the whole caught fire. Fireman Courtney
and Conductor Dovey are missing but there is no doubt that
their charred bodies are mingled with the debris of the wreck.
Engineer Adams was badly burned and injured and was taken to
his home at Tucson on a special train.
The two missing trainmen lived at Tucson and have been in the
employ of the company for many years. It was supposed at first
that the bridge had given way under the extraordinarly weight
of the new engines which have lately been put on the road.
MARY CRESWELL
May 25, 1899
Letters of administration upon the estate of Mary Creswell were
issued yesterday to Frank Creswell.
SAMUEL CRESWELLL
June 16, 1899
Mr. Samuel Creswell died last night in his seventy seventh year.
Funeral services will be held at the Presbyterian Church at 3pm
Saturday, June 17.
P.A. CUNNINGHAM
July 5, 1899
P.A. Cunningham, a popular miner and employee of the Copper
Queen lost his life about three o'clock yesterday afternoon in
the Holbrook shaft of the mine. Mr. Cunningham it seems, got
into the cage with an empty car at the 100 foot level and gave
the signal to hoist. Most unfortunatley he neglected to lock his
car on with the iron provided for the purpose, and almost
instantly after starting, the loose car shot to the side of
the shaft and returning with frightful force, caught him and
inflicted fatal injuries. The cable was stopped as son as it
was discovered that something was wrong and a rescue party
brought him to the top. He was too badly hurt for any earthly
relief and expired almost immeditaely.
A request to see his wife and baby was barely caught from his
stiffneing lips and his wife was hastily summoned. She arrived
too late, however to see him alive. His funeral today was attended
by a large concourse of miners and friends. No possible blame can
attach to the company for the accident as miners are constatly
warned about the danger of not locking the cars on the cage.
Mr. Cunningham or "Paddy" as he was called was in the prime of
life. He leaves a wife and two small children to whom the sympathy
of all the community is extended.
CAPTAIN CUTTER
August 2, 1899
San Jose, Ca-- Captain E.A. Cutter of Arizona died here today.
The death of Captain Cutter was not unexpected in Phoenix. When
he left here a month ago for California he was a very sick man.
News of his death will be learned with regret throughout Arizona
for he was one of the best known and most highly respected
citizens of the territory. He settled in Graham County many
years ago and engaged in government contracting. For a long
time he had been engaged in merchandising and other enterprises
in Arizona. He was about fifty years of age.
He was an influential Republican and had held many positions
of trust. At the time of his death he was a member of the
Territorial Board of Equalization, having been appointed by
Governor McCord and re-appointed by Governor Murphy.
ALICE DRESBACH
July 31, 1899
Miss Alice Dresbach died of consumption Saturday monring at 5
o'clock about six miles north of the city on the Black Canyon
Road at a ranch where she had been stopping for some time.
Deceased was about 26 years of age and came here some time ago
hoping to experience an improvement in her health. Her brother
in Kansas City was immediately informed of her death and is
now en route to this city. The remains have been embalmed and
are awaiting his arrival. They will probalby be taken to Illinois
for interment.
ROBERT DUNCAN
Apirl 15, 1899
Robert Duncan, a prominent mining man died last night at the
Lacy place north of the city after an illness of nearly two
years. He was formerly superintendent of the great Treadwell
Mine in Alaska. He was a passenger on the steamer Corona, which
was wrecked off the British American coast in 1897. His fatal
illness resulted from exposure in the water and on land for
several days before he was picked up by Indians.
COLONEL H.C. EGBERT
March 29, 1899
News of the death of Colonel H.C. Egbert of the Twenty Second
Infantry in the attack on Manilla last Sunday will be received
by many an old resident of Arizona with deep regret, for Col.
Egbert was well known here. He was a veteran of the Civil War.
After the war he was stationed in this territory as a captain
in the Twelfth Infantry. He was at McDowell, Fort Mohave and
Bowie. He embarked early in the war with Spain and participated
in the fighting before Santiago. He received his last promotion
there for gallantry, from Lt. Colonel to the rank he held when
he was cut down by a Phillipino bullett.
GEORGE FARMER
April 28, 1899
George Farmer, agent of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix
Railroad Company at Kirkland was found dead in his bed yesterday
morning. He was apparently in good health the night before. He
had been in the company's service three years. He came to
Ariozna from Kansas and was about 45 years of age and unmarried.
EDNA FLOWEREE
March 3, 1899
The funeral of Edna Floweree will take place at 2:30 this
afternoon at the M.E. Church, South. The Rev. Weems will
officiate. All friends are invited to attend.
JACK FORD
April 6, 1899
Jack Ford, the foreman on H.C. Yeager's sheep camp, about seven
miles north of the PHoenix Mine was murdered on Monday by a
herder named Jim Daniels. The news of the tragedy was brought
to the sheriff's office yesterday by E.P. McCormick, postmaster
at Cave Creek, in a letter from William Widmer, whose cattle ranch
is in the same neighborhood.
Mr. McCormick says little is known of the circumstances of the
killing except that ford was shot three times. After the
shooting Daniels rode away on Ford's mule and the animal was
found along the creek half a mile away. The only witness was
another herder, a Frenchman who could speak no English and
very little Spanish. He brought word of the shooting to Widmer's
Ranch but at the time he left he didn ot know that Ford was dead.
Daniels is said to be about thirty years old , of light complexion
and medium height.
April 7, 1899
Justice Johnstone and the members of the coroner's jury who
went out to Cave Creek to view the remains of Jack Ford,
murdered at Yeager's Sheep Ranch above the Phoenix Mine by
James Daniels last Monday returned about 5 o'clock yesterday
morning after a wearisome trip. The inquest was adjourned
until next Monday to suit the convenience of the witnesses.
The jury discovered little more. The only witness of the killing
was a French sheepherder who could not understand English
in which the quarrel was carried on. The murder took place
in the mountains at a point which is reached only by dangerous
trails. It was rather more deliberate and bloody than was at
first reported. The Frenchman said that the first shot struck
Ford in the right shoulder and he fell. The next, fired while
he lay on his back, hit him in the left leg above the knee
shattering the bone. Then the murderer advanced uon him and
must have held the muzzle of the Winchester within a few inches
of his face when he fired into the lower part of the face, the
ball passing to the back of the head near the crown.
When Daniel's mounted his victim's mule and rode out of sight, the
Frenchman went to Ford who lay groaning yet, but unconscious. He
propped him up and put his hat on his head after which he set out
for the Phoeinx MIne for help. While he was gone a singular thing
happened for when he returned with assistance the dead body of
Ford was found 200 feet away from the place where the dying man
had been left. The ground between was so broken that it is
traversed slowly and wit hthe greatest difficulty. Yet Ford
with his shattered shoulder and useless leg got over it. The
body had not been buried when the jury arrived. It had been
tightly wrapped in a wagon sheet in which Billy Widmer sent
up but it was found in an advanced state of decomposition.
The murderer is believed to be hiding in the neighborhood of his
crime. The coroner's men felt while they were gazing at his
work that his eyes were looking down upon them. He rode Ford's
mule down the trail to the creek where it was found without a
saddle. It is supposed that Daniels hid the saddle to leave his
pursuers to infer that he had exchanged the mule for a horse to
make a long flight. The finding of a horse there is considered
improbable and it is suspected that Daniels made his way on
foot back into the mountains. There is little doubt that he would
receive assistance from his friends. While the jury was viewing
the body two men supposed to be sheep rustlers, came up. They
refused to be of any assistance an declined to take part in
the burial of the body. It was suspected that they could have
pointed out the murder's hiding place.
The coroner congratulated the Frenchman when he saw the desolate
place in which the murder was enacted. He wondered why Daniels
had not killed him too.
Apirl 8, 1899
The first information about Jim Daniels, the murderer of Jack
Ford reached the sheriff's office yesterday afternoon. Tony
Roach who had come in with some cattle from the Verde said that
a man came to Bouvier's Ranch on the Verde on Wednesday morning
and that his name was Jim Daniels and that he had murdered Jack
Ford. He was on foot and arrived only with a six-shooter. He
offered to surrender himself to anyone who would take him to
Phoenix.
The story of the murder had not reached that neighborhood so that
Daniels was believed not only on account of his statement, but
his general manner to be crazy. He went on in the direction of
Pleasant Valley. Bouvier's Ranch is thirty five miles from the
place of the murder. There is no communication between the two
localities and weeks might elapse before a man would go from
one to the other.
Mr. Claney who owns a ranch under Cram Mountain also got in in the
afternoon and said that Deputies Moore and Slankard were at his
place on Thursday. That is about twenty miles from Bouvier's
Ranch so that it seemed they were traveling without knowing
it in the same direction as the murderer. If they should continue
on, the ranches on the Verde they would no doubt hear that he had
been at Bouvier's place. He was twenty four hours and about twenty
five miles ahead of them but as he had gone only thrity five
miles in two days they would likely come up with him when they
once got on the trail.
The deputy sheriffs, however returned yesterday evening. Instead
of going toward the Verde they had gone to Cartwright's Ranch
and seeing the uselessness of hunting for a trail in a country
in which trails are impossible they decided to return to
Phoenix. The next move by the sheriff's office will be
decided upon today.
Deputy sheriff Slankard said last night that he believed Daniels
had gone crazy since the murder, though he must have been sane
enough then, for no crazy man could have done such shooting as
he did. They found the saddle and Daniel's Winchester not far
from the place where the murder left the mule after he had ridden
down the mountain. There was a bullet hole in the back of the
saddle. The hole was made by the first bullet that hit Ford.
The Frenchman who witnessed the killing said that when Ford
was first shot he was standing behind the mule.
Daniels must have been in a state of indecision when he turned
the mule loose. The saddle was found in the wash and the
officers discovered that he had tramped up and down the wash
a couple of hundred yards on each side of it, five or six
times. They found that he had sat down and rested on it,
as if uncertain what to do.
Mr. Slankard believes that Daniels went back to the mountain
after he freed the mule with the intention of killing the
Frenchman. He believes that it was Daniels that removed Ford's
body from where the Frenchman left him wounded to death to the
place where it was found later, 200 yards away. Mr. Slankard
says that Ford could never have moved a foot after he was
shot the last time. The bloody trail was as straight as a line
and overturned boulders show that a body was dragged over
them. Daniel's purpose evidently was to throw the body
over the canyon where it might never have been found. If
he could have found the corpse of the Frenchman after it
might never have been known that a murder had been committed.
But the murderer's oversight in letting the Frenchman go when
he had him within range was irreparable. He had gone and
when he returned he would likely bring others with him. It
was therefore useless to hide the body or waste time in
dragging it any further. So Daniels set out on his crazy
march for somewhere. It is believed that he is on his way to
his wife who lives at Heber under the southern rim of the
Mongollons in Navajo County.
