In this year leading up to Arizona's centennial, on Feb. 14, 2012, we'll reprint a story each day from the Arizona Daily Star or Tucson Citizen archives.
Jan. 19, 1912
Those who were on the streets about five o'clock Wednesday morning saw a unique sight.
Becoming frightened while on Meyer Street, a horse attached to a milk wagon ran away while the driver was delivering milk. Tearing through the Barrio Libre, it turned and ran into Stone avenue, where the wagon hit the sidewalk and overturned.
The horse and part of the wagon continued on Stone avenue, leaving a trail of milk in its wake. During the spurt, a lantern in the wagon overturned and set fire to the canvas covering, and it was a picturesque sight as it went down the street.
Officer Joe Ybarra was close behind and succeeded in stopping the horse, and finding some sealed cans of milk in the remains of the wagon, emptied their contents over the blazing wagon.
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The spectacular part of the race was Joe Ybarra chasing the frightened horse. The wagon was blazing. That added to the horse's flight and was also a factor in keeping Joe's horse at a respectful distance from the blaze, for no matter how Joe urged his horse on, it would only go so fast, and the only way the mounted policeman could stop the runaway was to detour and head the animal off. This he did, and spilled three cans of milk in putting out the fire. Rewards of Carnegie medals will be announced in the Star Sunday morning.
- Arizona Daily Star