PISTOL DUEL
WITH A TRAMP.

    TUCSON (Ariz.) May 14--In a pistol duel, early Wednesday morning at Benson, Constable Frank Trask, aged 55, was shot three times, one bullet passing through his heart, by a tramp, who was captured and who gives his name as Tom Smith.
    Trask had seen the man swing in beneath one of the coaches of a west-bound passenger train. At his demand the tramp got off, but started to run away. It is said that the officer fired a couple of shots in the air before shooting to hit, but Smith is now in the County Hospital, with a bullet through one of his lungs and another through a leg. His wounds are not considered dangerous, however, and it is probable he will be ready soon for trial. It is believed that the tramp is a painter. When asked by a juror at the Coroner's inquest, whether Tom Smith is his true name, the juror was cursed and told that it was none of his business. Trask was highly esteemed in Benson, where he had lived for years, engaged in the cattle business.
    Shortly after dawn, Wednesday morning, Jesse Brown, a bartender, was assassinated on the main street of Yuma, in front of the Gandolic Hotel. Frank Green has been arrested, charged with the crime. The principal witness against him is W. H. Wilson, a crippled tramp miner who was sitting on the curbstone as Brown passed on his way to work. He states that Green and another man later identified as Green's brother-in-law, Sortillon, stepped from a saloon entrance and that Green fired at the unconscious barkeeper at short range, a single bullet proving effective. Wilson is now being held in jail here, to ensure his attendance at the trial. Green has waived examination and is being held, without bail, for the grand jury.

    H. H. Wynkoop, former secretary of the local lodge of Eagles, charged with embezzling $231 from the order has pleaded guilty and has asked for a suspension of sentence and to be allowed to go on probation. The case is one of unusual importance, owing to the character of the defendant, who for years, had more than territorial fame, as a baseball umpire, highly esteemed for his knowledge of the game and his keen and accurate judgment. For a long time, he was a [sic] the head of the local Labor Council of Tucson, and was active in all union affairs. He served honorably during the Spanish War, as a member of the Rough Riders, from New Mexico.
    A permanent Central Trades Council has been organized in Tucson with J. F. Reilly as president and William Reid as recording secretary.
    Charles White has been sentenced at Florence to serve two years in the Territorial Penitentiary for passing counterfeit quarters along the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad. A novelty in counterfeiting has appeared in Southern Arizona, lately in the shape of aluminum dimes.
    Wednesday night, $1000 damage was done the Tucson Steam Laundry, by a fire, which burned out two tanks of crude oil, holding 7000 gallons. Fast and skilful work by the fire department saved the adjoining property. It is believed that the fire was an incendiary one.
    The Tucson Chamber of Commerce has offered $500 for the improvement of a trail into the Catalina mountains, with a view toward making the near by forested region more accessible to would-be settlers, it being believed by this means money might be kept at home which otherwise would be spent at the beach resorts.
    A road is being constructed at large expense by the Great Western Power Company into Sabino Canyon from a point four miles northeast of Tucson. The company is composed of Chicago capitalists, who are planning the erection of a dam in the canyon to be 360 feet in height, the tallest structure of the kind on the continent.
    "Buffalo Bill" Cody, L. W. Getchell, John H. Tait and Francis M. Hartman, the last-named a local attorney, have formed the Montezuma Oil Company, with capital stock of $1,000,000, with headquarters in Tucson. The company proposes development of possible oil-bearing ground near Agua Caliente on the line between Yuma and Maricopa counties. The company's oil expert from Bakersfield considers the oil indications unusually good.
    The Territorial University graduating class comprises the following named students. Mining engineer, M. M. Carpenter, bachelor of science, Jane Rider, Frank Rose, Reane Robstock(?), Jack Higgins, Ralph Harrison, Miner Hartman; bachelor of arts, Leon Strong, Phoebe Bogan, Ivy Purcell, Janet Sine, Katherine Kitt.
    Arturo Elias has been promoted from Consul in Tucson to the same post in Los Angeles. He will be succeeded here by Enrique Ornehis(?), transferred from San Antonio, Tex. Mr. Elias has lived in Arizona since his sixth year and locally is considered a pioneer Arizonan, though for about twenty years he has been in the service of the Mexican government.
    The Artesian Belt is the title of a new paper just issued at San Simon, Ariz. It is a revival of the Weekly Record, moved by its owner and editor, Renwick White, from Paradise, a mining camp in the Chiricahua mountains.
    Mrs. Pauline T. Purcell, aged 39, died in Tucson on Monday. She had been in poor health since the accidental death of her husband last March in an automobile accident. She leaves two children and a brother, George W. Tompkins, who is a resident of Los Angeles.
    In Nogales, Monday, died George March, aged 47. He had been a resident of Nogales for many years, engaged in the hardware business.

Source:

Unknown, "Arizona, Union Leader Accused," The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Tuesday, 16 May, 1911, p. I15.