An Arizona Ranger: A Story of the Southwestern Solitude (1906)
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An Arizona Ranger: A Story of the Southwestern Solitude (1906)
The author writes: "MY duties as city editor on the "Tombstone Epitaph" had brought me into disfavor several times with the rum-pickled element of the community. I am a peaceable man, and on entering my duties as editor of the "Epitaph," to show my confidence and good-will towards all the inhabitants of the camp, I discharged the shot-gun messenger and threw his boiler-plate turret out of the office. Things went along peacefully enough until the next election; then all kinds of business took a jump. Right during election week we had two lynchings, seven stage robberies and thirty-eight funerals, not counting Chinamen and Mexicans.
"To that splendid mounted police force, The Arizona Rangers, I owe my life, for when the enemy was gaining on me, as I fled through the streets of Tombstone, the bold Ranger stepped in and saved the day. As I slid through the cliffs and canons of Bisbee, hotly pursued by the slandered citizen, the brave ranger stepped in and wrought my rescue. As I fairly flew across the desert, faintly touching the high places and making the mile-a-minute Jack-rabbit look slow, the dashing ranger lassoed my foaming pursuer and again saved me from a horrible death. So, therefore, while my wounds are healing, I will have enough to keep me busy in telling some of the adventures of those brave troopers and the characters who inhabit the mining camp, desert and ranch.
"In digging up the history of some of the natives, I have gone back to my school-boy days when the camp (Tombstone, Arizona) was full of "cussedness" and the bark of a six-shooter could be heard at any hour of the day or night. Should any citizen take offence at my remarks in these notes, please settle with my bodyguard. He is paid for his diplomacy and shooting ability. I lived in the camp of Tombstone, Arizona, a strange, wild region in the great Solitude of the Southwest, bordering the beautiful valley of the San Simon."
Gov. Frederick Tritle authorized the first company of Rangers in Tombstone in 1882. Originally, only one company was authorized, consisting of a captain, a sergeant and not more than twelve privates, but, in 1903, the force was increased to twenty-six men. The rangers, many of whom in the early years were veterans of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, were skilled horsemen, trackers and marksmen. Though originally intended to be covert, the group became widely publicized and conspicuous, sported their badges boldly, and were distinctively well-armed.
In addition to dealing with rustlers, and other outlaws, the rangers were called on to deal with several large strikes by Mexican workers at mines in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. During the Cananea Riot in 1906, over twenty striking Mexicans were killed along with at least two Americans. In response, Captain Thomas H. Rynning led a posse of nearly 300 men to Cananea and was successful in helping the Mexican authorities restore order.
On February 15, 1909, the Arizona legislature repealed the act establishing the Arizona Rangers. During the seven years of its operations, 107 men served with the rangers. The vote to disband was vetoed by Republican Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey, but the Democratic-dominated assembly overrode the veto.
Originally published by Broadway Publishing Company, 1906, this book has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
