The reason for the forming of a rifle club may have passed, but some members wanted it to remain. It would become a semi-military, civic organization.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Tuesday, July 11, 1916:
Rifleists May Retain Their Organization
Semi-Military, Civic, Social Features Will Be Emphasized in Future
The Tucson Rifle Club battalion will not pass out of existence because the conditions which brought it into existence have passed away, very likely. At the next drill of the riflemen, Wednesday night, the members will vote on retaining their organization as a semi-military, civic organization.
There are 190 men on the rolls of the organization and many of these will drop out, now that the America-Mexico crisis has passed, but many of them, who are without family ties and who have enjoyed the drilling and social features of the organization, are in favor of keeping the organization intact, for its social benefits and for taking part in civic matters, such as Fourth of July and Memorial celebrations. On the social side, it is planned to have an annual ball and other entertainments.
In a crisis as the one which has just passed, the organization would form the skeleton of a trained military unit. The rifles that are used by the members are owned outright by the members and a planned feature of the club is a band, the nucleus of which they already have.
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The plans for a new federal building were amended to allow more space for the post office at the request of the postmaster general.
Ronstadt Given Floor Space He Requested
Postoffice Will Occupy Major Part of $325,000 Federal Building
Postmaster J. M. Ronstadt was informed yesterday that the specifications for the federal building to be erected here for housing the federal departments represented in Tucson, had been amended to meet his objections.
The specifications first drawn were objected to by the postmaster as not providing enough room for the postoffice, and he took the matter up with Senator Mark Smith with the result that the floor space requested for the use of the postoffice has been provided for in the new specifications.
The space in the proposed $325,000 building assigned to the postoffice is 9700 square feet exclusive of space for the lobby, toilets and other incidentals.
The report from the committee on public buildings and grounds, made by Senator Accurst, is as follows:
“Mr. Accurst, from the committee on public buildings and grounds of the senate, to which was referred S. 889, providing for the erection of a public building in the city of Tucson, Ariz., reports the same favorably, with an amendment, and with the recommendation that it do pass.
“The treasury department, to whom the bill was referred, state that a three-story building of 13,000 square feet ground area will be required for the accommodation of the postoffice and other branches of the service at Tucson, Ariz. The estimate of space required is as follows:
- Postoffice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,700
- Department of justice . . . . . . . . 7,818
- Department of the interior . . . . . 1,600
- Department of labor. . . . . . . . . . 2,200
- Department of agriculture. . . . . . 2,480
- Civil service commission . . . . . . . 500
“The present rental paid for the accommodation of the above-mentioned departments is $7190 per year.
“The postal receipts for the fiscal year 1905 were $24,086.66; for the fiscal year 1915 they were $53,386.90, making an increase of $29,300.24 in 10 years. The census taken in 1910 gives the population of Tucson, Ariz., as being 13,193. The estimated population in 1915 is given at 16,177.
“A site has been acquired, and it is estimated that a building of the size required can be erected at a cost of $325,000, and the committee do recommend that the bill pass as amended.”
A man on trial for forgery turned out to have a more colorful past that was previously known.
Slayer of Eight Men, Arraigned In Court, Proud of His Prowess
Confession, However, May Help Fighting Irishman, Held for Forgery
Standing a the bar of the superior court, Judge O’Connor presiding, John Burke, charged with forgery, had it in him to make or mar his future, yesterday afternoon, for the judge was disposed toward leniency, since it was known that Burke was hampered by a physical affliction. He could not hear in one ear. He almost lost that chance when County Attorney Hilzinger, himself apparently eager to find that Burke deserved a merciful sentence, asked him:
“Have you ever killed anybody?”
Among those present in the court room there was a decided slump in Burke stock when he unblushingly replied:
“Yes.”
Burke stock hit the bottom when he added pridefully:
“I once killed eight at one time.”
Pursuing the question, however, County Attorney Hilzinger learned something that might be considered as grounds for leniency in his case. The eight men that Burke, a United States army private, killed were Moros, that tribe of Filipinos who collect human heads as trophies. When Burke had a chance to explain, there was relief pictured on the faces of the sympathetic ones in the court room. None of them blamed Burke for killing the Moros, for the Moros would doubtlessly have killed Burke had he not relied on his army Springfield rather than a bolo, with which his pursuers were armed.
The judge still has Burke’s case under advisement but he probably has a better chance for a light sentence now than just after he admitted killing eight men at one time.
Except for what appeared to be more than his share of trouble, Burke’s career might be called typically Irish. He was born of Irish parents, at Milwaukee, has been married twice, lost both wives, is the father if nine children, has been in two insane asylums, for the treatment of an aberration cased by a fall when he was a child; is a veteran of the Philippine rebellion, is now a yellow fever immune by reason of having had the disease in the islands, and has not claimed a pension until recently. Last December Burke lost his job with the Colorado Fuel and Iron company at Pueblo, Colo., six months after losong his wife. Despite his hard luck, Burke told his questioners that when he forged a check for $45 at Ajo recently, for which he was tried and bound over, it was the first time in his life that he had even stolen. And when he did that, he told the county attorney, he “felt himself slipping,” meaning that he did not appreciate fully what he was doing.
Burke’s Irish wit convulsed those in the court room several times. In recounting his misfortunes, he mentioned that he had met up with a bootlegger at Phoenix. Asked by the county attorney whether he would like to go to the asylum at Phoenix or the penitentiary at Florence, Burke replied that he preferred Phoenix.
“You might meet up with your bootlegger friend at Phoenix,” the county attorney suggested.
“I’d likelier meet him at Florence,” said Burke.
“Oh, is he at Florence now?” asked the attorney.
“No, but he soon will be,” replied Burke.
Court officials will check up Burke’s story and then will dispose of his case. The money which he obtained by forging the name of M. Curley, an official of the Cornelia Mining company, at Ajo, has been made good.
