| Scoundrels, Adventurers & Colorful Characters of the Wild West |
|
"To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours."
Mark Twain, Roughing It
|
Introduction
The lore of the American West is laced with scoundrels, adventurers and colorful characters who called the Arizona Territory home. Exploits and outrageous actions of entrepreneurs and politicians, prospectors and gunslingers, lawmen and ladies helped create the myth of the west. While the myths are often charming, the truth is often more shocking. Jack Swilling, for example, was a colorful drunk who was addicted to morphine, but he also was responsible for starting the modern era of irrigation in Arizona. The digging out of some ancient Hohokam ditches by his canal company, which became known throughout the new territory, was the genisis for the modern system of canals that are now managed by the Salt River Project.
The first governor of the state, George Wiley Paul Hunt, has been described as ?a Democrat, heart and soul, a pioneer, a self-made man, and a political opportunist of remarkable perceptiveness.? He served seven terms, not without controversy. The election of 1916 was very close, with only 30 votes separating the candidates. Initially, Republican Tom Campbell won, but after reviewing what was perceived as wholesale fraud, the Supreme Court reinstated Hunt as governor on December 22, 1917. When Govenor Hunt declined to run in the 1918 election, Campbell won that election. Hunt was sent to Siam by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. Hunt then spent two years there sending thousands of postcards to voters in Arizona. When he returned to Arizona he ran again and claimed victory in 1922, serving as Governor almost continuously for the next ten years.
One of the architects of the state constitution, Hunt used his first message to the legislature to try to correct an inherent weakness that continues to plague governors today. In their zeal to encourage public participation, the framers gave the State Senate power to confirm appointments, thereby weakening the executive branch. This gives the State Senate some control over the governor, a problem that Hunt anticipated and every governor since has tried, unsuccessfully, to fix.
Some near-mythical men have become almost synonymous with the State of Arizona. Cochise. Geronimo. Pancho Villa. Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt Earp. Doc Holliday. The Clanton gang. Their stories are bold and bloody.
Less violent, but just as serious, were the antics of the swindlers who swarmed into Arizona, hawking mines and land. In her text, Arizona Pageant, author Madeline Ferrin Par? with the collaboration of Bert M. Fireman described the ?Great Arizona Diamond Swindle? of the 1870s. It was perpetrated by a couple of crooks named Arnold and Slack who found a mine near Fort Defiance littered with some quartz crystals. They ?salted? it with real diamonds and interested Tiffany of New York in the mining project. When Tiffany showed interest, the two men had to find a real diamond mine. While they managed to deceive an engineer who was not well schooled in diamond geology, they couldn?t fool the geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, who discovered the hoax. Asbury Harpending, who was involved in the fraud, later wrote a book about the swindle.
That hoax was small change compared to the schemer James Addison Reavis who made himself into the ?Baron of Arizona.? A St. Louis streetcar conductor, Reavis forged Spanish documents that appeared related to a land grant in central Arizona. That grant covered eleven million acres. Working with Dr. George Willing, Reavis set an elaborate plan into motion that included convincing a young waif that she was really a great heiress. In Pygmalion style, Reavis coached her and taught her fine manners. He even married her and traveled with her to Spain where he ?discovered? more documents that supported his land grant claims.
Upon his return to the U.S., he presented his documents to both the Southern Pacific railroad and the owners of the Silver King mine, convincing each to pay him for his land. With his cache of cash, he built magnificent homes in Arizona, Chihuahua City, St. Louis and Washington. His downfall came when a printer in a small Arizona town discovered that the typeface on the documents he presented as dating from 1784 wasn?t invented until 1875. Reavis was arrested and convicted and spent time in a federal penitentiary. The fraudulent antics of contemporary land swindlers pale by comparison.
Today, many of the stories of the scoundrels, adventurers and colorful characters that contributed to Arizona can only be accessed through history books. But fortunately, other stories can be experienced.
|
|
