Arizona The Youngest State
McClintock, 1913, page 473
In July 1883, on a road to the northwest of Tucson there
were a couple of stage robberies, something not uncommon
in the least in that locality; but added interest was given
from the fact that in the second robbery, the highwayman had
pretended to lead a considerable number of other, unseen
bandits, and from behind a clump of sage brush had
protruded the muzzle of a shot gun. The passengers were
rather irritated when it was found that the robber was
alone, a fact demonstrated by none other than the famous
Pete Kitchen who with some Papago trailers, tracked the
robber about thirty miles into the Santa Cruz Valley,
south of Tucson where the trail had to be abandoned.
Soon thereafter into town came a health seeker, who had a
milk ranch four miles from Tucson with a tale that he was
harboring in his house a desperado who had threatened him
with death if he failed to return that night with
provisions and ammunition. The rendezvous was kept
in the mesquite thicket, where also was Sheriff Charles
Shibell with a posse and in the resultant melee the
robber was killed. He proved to be Jim Brazleton,
who had been employed in the livery stable of R.N.
Leatherwood, next to the courthouse in Tucson and
there was later evidence that the same man, within
nine months, had robbed seven mail coaches around
Albuquerque from which point he had come.
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