An interesting chronicle is from Mrs. Elizabeth Hanks Curtis, who came with her family in April, 1881. Incidentally, she is a descendant of the Hanks family, tracing relationship to Abraham Lincoln. A mile above Eden they built a log fort. In September this had to be abandoned, word brought by a friendly Indian of the coming of a large band of Indians and of imminent danger. Will Ransom from Pima provided a raft to cross the river upon and the settlers concentrated at Pima. The settlers were driven into Pima again in April of the following year, after huddling for days in Moses Curtis' cabin. Protection came from Fort Thomas.
Murders by Indian Raiders
July 19, 1882, Jacob S. Ferrin of Pima was killed under circumstances of treachery. A freighting camp, of which he was a member, was entered by a number of Apaches, led by "Dutchy," escaped from custody at San Carlos. Pretending amity, they seized the teamsters' guns and fired upon their hosts. Ferrin was shot down, one man was wounded and the others escaped.
On the morning of December 1, 1885, Lorenzo and Seth Wright were killed by Indians who had been combing the valley for horses. The Wrights had started, with members of a posse, from Layton, and were joined at Solomonville by Sheriff Stevens and two other men, after there had been recovered a number of the stolen horses, for the pursuers rode harder and faster than the fleeing thieves. There had been assumption that the thieves were Mexicans and so there was an element of recklessness in the pursuit that would have been missing had the truth been known, that they were Apaches. The four leading men of the posse were ambushed by the redskins, who had halted by the roadside. Seth Wright was shot from his horse. His brother immediately dismounted and opened fire upon the Indians. Lorenzo's right arm was broken by a bullet, and then, while he was running, he was shot in the back.
This same band had killed a man and a boy at Black Rock and a herdsman at
Bear Springs Flat.
May 23, 1886, Frank Thurston of Pima, while starting a lime kiln, six miles from the town, was surprised by eight Apaches and killed. This band passed by the Curtis settlement, driving off a number of horses.
Concerning the Indian situation, James H. Martineau, on June 1, 1886, wrote that the Apaches then were riding in many small bands, but were kept on the move constantly by the vigorous measures of General Miles, and he assumes that the Apache question would have been settled had his predecessor, General Crook, been less dilatory. The writer expressed his conclusion that in military skill, strategy and ability the Indians far excelled their opponents, and details that fifty or sixty Apaches the year before had killed more than 75 white settlers, all the while pursued by seventeen companies of United States troops, without losing a single Indian.
Outlawry Along the Gila
The Mormons of the Gila Valley maintained most amicable relations with their neighbors, but occasionally had to participate in some of the ordinary frontier episodes. James R. Welker, an arrival in Safford in 1883, tells that, "The cowboys had things about their own way for a few years. They would ride right into a town, go straight to the saloon and commence shooting the place up. They were expert with the pistol too. I have seen some very wonderful shots among those cowboys. They did not do much killing around here, but they were pretty wild and did about as they pleased." W.T. Barney wrote, "The rustlers gave us quite a bit of trouble, perhaps even more than the Indians."
The peaceful Saints in the Gila Valley undoubtedly found much that was foreign to their habits of life. A tale of the frolicsome cowboy is told by Isaac P. Robinson of Thatcher, who was in Safford in 1884: