WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG John Slaughter was gathering 1 a great herd To Mr FATBDER D. A. F. BECHDOLT ACKNOWLEDGMENT The writer is indebted for the material in this book to a goodly number of the old-timers, from whose lips eame much of which is written in the following pages, and to numerous printed works which he consulted, sometimes to authenticate data and sometimes to get additional facts. Among the former to whom he wishes to make ac knowledgment are Former Sheriff John Ralphs, San Bernardino, California Captain Harry C. Wheeler, Douglas, Arizona A. M. Franklin, Tucson, Arizona Colonel William Breekenbridge, Tucson, Arizona Dr. D. T. MacDougal, Carnegie Institution William I ot ley, Tombstone, Arizona Judge Duncan, Tombstone, Arizona A. H. Gardner, Tombstone, Arizona C. M. Commings, Tombstone, Arizona Andy Smith, Tucson, Arizona Guy C. Welch, Tombstone, Arizona Mr. and Mrs. John Slaughter, Douglas, Arizona James East, Douglas, Arizona Horace Stniman, Douglas, Arizona D. F. McCarthy, Lapscomb, Texas and the Arizona Pioneers Association. Among the latter are old files of the quot Tombstone Epitaph and other Arizona newspapers Mauley s quot Death Valley in 49 quot Upton s quot Pioneers of Eldor ado quot Bidge s quot Life of Joaquin Murieta quot Dukes quot Fa mous Criminal Cases quot Farish s quot History of Arizona ACKNOWLEDGMENT MeCBntock s quot History of Arizona 77 Hittel s quot History of California quot Bancroft s quot Works Vzsscher s quot Pony Express quot G. D. Bradley s quot Story of the Pony Ex press quot quot Overland Stage to California by P. A. Boot and W. E. Comely Inman s quot Santa Fe Trail quot Hum phreyville s quot Twenty Years Among Our Hostile In dians quotRichardson s quot Beyond the Mississippi quot Bourke s quot On the Border With Crook quot J. Boss Brown s quot Adventures in the Apache Country quot Charles Sir ingo s quot History of Billy the Kid quot Bard s quot Life of Billy Dixon, Scout and Plainsman quot Brown s quot His tory of Texas. quot CONTENTS PAGE Sow DEATH VALLET WAS NAMED .... v ... 3 JOAQUDT MTOIETA 25 f TOMBSTONE .54 TOMBSTONE S Wm amp gt OATS . 80 THE Snow-Dowisr 105 THE PASSIKG OF JOHN Bnreo 1 JOHK SLAUGHTER S WAT ., ., .., . 160 COCHISE,, . 190 OKFE AGAIHST MAJTST ......-.... 218 THE OvEE3jAin MATT 243 277 WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG HOW DEATH VALLEY WAS NAMED nnHERE were three of us sitting on a pile of lum-JL ber in a sun-baked little mining town down near the Arizona border. One of my companions was the sheriff of the county and the other was an old man with snowy beard and sky-blue eyes whom every one called quot Mac. quot To look at him was to behold a vision of the As we were whiling away the time with idle talk something was said which aroused the spirit of reminis cence within Ms survivor of the unfenced West. He closed his jack-knife with a snap, threw away a pine stick from which he had been peeling shavings, and turning Ms sky-blue eyes on the sheriff, quot I remember he began. After which he told of cheating Death in quicksand fords, of day-long battles with naked Apaches in the malapi, of fighting off bandits from Hie stage wiiile the driver kept the horses on a run up Dragoon Pass, of grim old ranchmen stalking cattle-thieves by night, of frontier sheriffs and desperadoes and a wilderness that was more savage than the wild riders Who sought sanc tuary witMn its arid solitudes. He did not talk for more thaoaforty-five minutes at the most and the worcb 4 WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG came slowly from his lips, but when he tad done my head was spinning from more visions of bold men and large deeds than it had held since the Christmas night when I reeled off to bed after bolting a full half of the quot Boy s Froissart. quot And after that old man had sauntered away in the hot-white Arizona sunshine I thought of other grizzled chroniclers to whom I had listened in other parts of the West...