The following incident shows something of the character of these
Ishmaelites of the desert. On one occasion five of them had been tried
at Florence for the killing of someone in the Superstition mountains,
and sentenced to be hanged. The night previous to the day of the
hanging, while in their cells, with the death-watch outside, three of
them, to avoid the ignominy of death by hanging, committed suicide by
self-strangulation. This they could do only by each putting a cord
around his neck and deliberately choking himself to death. The three
were found dead in the morning when the guards entered their cells.
Of course it is not possible to recall the names of all of the many
whose lives were a sacrifice to the safety and prosperity of the great
commonwealth that was to follow, but I have in mind that on June 7,
1886, Thos. Hunt, a prospector, was killed near Harshaw, and on June 9
of the same year Henry Baston was killed near Arivaca. On September 22,
1888, W. B. Horton, post trader at San Carlos, was killed by one of the
Indians on the reservation. But in this case punishment was swift, as
the Indian police almost immediately killed the murderer while he was
attempting to escape from the reservation.
“Walapai” Clark and the Kid
One of our early frontier characters was E. A. Clark, familiarly known
as “Walapai”, having gained the title years ago when in the government
service as chief of the Hualapai scouts. Clark was a giant in stature,
measuring six feet three, absolutely fearless and in those olden
times equally tireless. Coming to the Territory in ’69, his life and
experiences here would fill a volume of intensely interesting reading,
but in this limited article I can mention only a few of his closing
Indian experiences, the culminating one--the one of the greatest
service to the Territory--resulting in the death of that outlaw and
terror of the border, this same Apache Kid. Clark’s first experience
with the Kid was on June 3, 1887, two days after his shooting of Al
Sieber. At the time, Clark was living at his ranch, the Oak Grove, in
the Galiura mountains, about twelve miles east of the San Pedro river,
but was absent, his two partners, John Scanlan and William Diehl, being
at home. The Kid and his followers coming across the country from San
Carlos, stole fifteen horses from William Atchley, then came on to
Clark’s place, three miles further on. At the time, Diehl was about 150
yards from the house, cutting some poles for a corral, when Scanlan,
who was in the house, heard three shots, and, seizing his gun, ran
out, and as he did so saw three Indians coming towards the house, and
firing at them, they immediately sought shelter. When Scanlan fired
at the Indians one of them lost a big sombrero which he was wearing,
and which, probably very much to his regret, he was unable to recover.
They then rounded up a number of Scanlan’s horses, not far away, and
seemingly tried to get Scanlan to come out to protect his horses, and
thus enable them to get a shot at him; but being unable to do this,
they left, taking the horses with them. As soon as they had gone,
Scanlan went to where Diehl was and found him dead, the Indians having
shot him.