On June 3, 1886, Dr. C. H. Davis, a brother of W. C. Davis, of Tucson, coming from the San Pedro river over the pass between the Catalinas and the Rincons, with a wagon and span of mules, was waylaid and killed by a band of these outlaws. J. P. Hohusen and W. H. Wheaton, coming from their homes on the San Pedro the day before, met Dr. Davis going out, and warned him against the Indians, but having been in the country but a short time, he failed to appreciate the danger and made light of the warning.
It was subsequently learned that Hohusen and Wheaton narrowly escaped this same band themselves as they were coming in to Tucson. When Hohusen returned home he learned from his man that the Indians had been at his place the night before the killing of Davis, and attempted to drive off some of his horses from the pasture; but the man, seizing his rifle, jumped into a well which was partly caved in and which naturally furnished him an excellent defensive position, and from this he fired at the Indians, but without apparent effect other than to force them to leave the place. After the killing of Dr. Davis, the Indians, taking the two mules, went to Walter Vail’s Happy Valley ranch, in the Rincons, where they left the mules in exchange for a bunch of Vail’s horses, shooting, but not killing, Cal Mathews, the herder. From Happy Valley they passed south into the Whetstones, where they shot and killed Marcus Goldbaum. Edward L. Vail, one of the party going out to the scene of the killing, found that the Indians had been gone but a few hours, having also killed a partner of Goldbaum as he was en route to Benson.
Little Boy Taken From Gastelo Ranch.
It was not long prior to this that a band working back from the Sierra Madres to the San Carlos reservation attacked the ranch of Juan Gastelo, not over fifteen miles from Tucson, near Tanque Verde, and carried off with them a little Mexican boy. The news coming to town, a volunteer company was immediately formed by M. G. Samaniego (now dead) and R. N. Leatherwood, our Bob. Samaniego, having had a brother killed by the Apaches a few years before, was more than keen for an opportunity to avenge his death. The volunteer company, led by Leatherwood and Samaniego, came upon the band, encamped in the neighborhood of Tanque Verde. The Indians, however, being alarmed by the premature firing of a gun, scattered like a flock of quail and got away, but the boy, escaping, was recovered by the volunteers.
On another occasion a band, killing a rancher named Lloyd, four miles north of Pantano, stole the horses of Ed Vail and George Scholefield, near Rosemont, and passing on south, killed a man named Wimple, near Greaterville.
Mexicans Attack and Rob Wheaton.
A trying experience in the life of Wheaton, who narrowly escaped the band that killed Dr. Davis, was when four Mexicans came to his ranch on the San Pedro river one evening, he being entirely alone at the time, and demanded his money, which they said they knew him to have from the sale of some hogs. He, however, denying that he had any money, they proceeded to put a rope round his neck, and strung him up three or four times, each time demanding that he tell where the money was concealed, and he still denying that he had any. During all this time they were trying to find where the money was hidden, and finally discovered it, about $60, in the window casing. Then the question was debated as to what they should do with Wheaton; whether or not they should kill him. This they evidently hesitated to do, but finally decided to take him out and throw him into his well, probably having in mind that this would not kill him, but would make him a close prisoner for a time. On taking him to the well, however, they found it to be a bored one and therefore only eight or ten inches in diameter. Of course this frustrated that plan, and they returned him to the house, and throwing him on his bed, proceeded to tie him, and after threatening to kill him in case he at any time made them any trouble over the affair, they left him. As soon as they were gone Wheaton succeeded in releasing himself and went to the home of J. P. Hohusen, not far away, naturally nearly prostrated from his fright and the terrible ordeal through which he had just passed. The next day Wheaton, accompanied by Ira Davis, a brother of Dr. Davis, came to Tucson and reported the case to Judge C. H. Meyer, an old-time justice of the peace.
“Old Charley Meyer,” Law Unto Himself.
Old Charlie Meyer, as he was familiarly called, was indeed a character, and had the well-earned reputation of meeting out justice with an iron hand, and, due in a large measure to his eccentric methods of administering justice, was quite popular with the well meaning, but certainly a terror to the evil-doer. Judge Meyer’s conception of justice and the language of the statutes frequently failed to be in full harmony, but that, of course, was not a matter for which he was responsible, and should not, and did not, interfere in the slightest degree with the administration of justice in his court. Meyer recalled that four Mexicans had that same day come into his court and, by the deposit of $60 as bail, had secured the release of their friend, one El Zorra, who was being held for some offense, having been unable until then to secure bail. Three of these four men were immediately found and arrested. The fourth, having started for Mexico, was followed by the officers and overtaken at Boley’s Well, where, in resisting arrest, he was shot and killed by Bob Cannon, one of the officers. On trial of the other three, Hohusen was able to fully identify one of the bills in the $60 turned in to Judge Meyer’s court as one that he had personally paid to Wheaton a few days before. In addition to this, one of the men, Pancho Gomez, having turned state’s evidence, they were all three convicted and sentenced to the Territorial prison, Gomez, however, for a shorter term than the others.