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Showing posts with label Voris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voris. Show all posts

October 7, 2014

John William & Virginia Pearl Coffee Voris


John William Voris
All Photos are courtesy of
Jennifer Hoy Orton
John William Voris was born in Kentucky on Apr. 14, 1868.  His parents have not yet been identified.

He left Kentucky sometime before Dec. 23, 1898 when he was married to Virginia Pearl Coffee in Albany, Shackelford Co., TX.
"J. W. Voris and bride, nee Pearl Coffey, who were married December 23, at Albany, Texas, are expected to arrive tomorrow night.  Mr. Voris, who is a well known resident of Globe, will receive hearty congratulations from his many friends.  Mr. Voris will serve as deputy to Sheriff-elect W. T. Armstron."¹[sic]
He and Virginia appeared in the 1900 census in the Globe Pct., Globe, Gila Co., Arizona Territory. In March of that year he was a deputy sheriff in Gila Co. and covered the county collecting taxes on, among other things, sheep and cattle.²

Virginia Pearl Coffee Voris
John, or William as he was apparently called by friends, was one of the lawmen who attempted to arrest a pair of Apache warriors for trial in 1895.  The two Indians had been earlier indicted for robbery.  The particular band of Apaches were part of the White Mountain Apaches and lived on the San Carlos reservation - sometimes called the Fort Apache reservation - along the Cibecue creek.  According to local news stories, they were known to be cattle thieves and said to have robbed and murdered a number of ranchers in the area.

When Voris and other deputies appeared at the camp to take the Indians into custody a skirmish broke out and Voris ended up killing one of the Indians known as Nock-ay-det-Klinne and referred to in local newspaper articles as Nan-tan-go-Tayz.  He was acting chief in place of his brother Cooley who was apparently away at the time.  According to newspaper reports, the lawmen had given up on arresting the two Indians and were attempting to leave the encampment in peace.  They were set upon and in the course of defending himself, Voris shot and killed the acting chief.

John William Voris continued to work as a lawman from time to time but spent more time raising cattle.  He quit law enforcement in 1905 and went to work in Pinal Co., AZ Terr. for the A. C. Sieboth mines.  In 1910 he and Virginia were raising cattle on their ranch in the Tonto National Forest near Gila.  He died on Jun. 18, 1917 of an apparent heart attack while driving in an automobile near Globe, AZ.  He was buried on the 21st at the Globe Cemetery.³

Kentucky Mildred Voris
Virginia Pearl Coffee was a daughter of Robert Marion and Emma Gaines Reynolds.  She was born on Jun. 12, 1871 in Lavaca Co., TX and died on March 9, 1966 in Globe, Gila Co.  She and John William were parents of four children:

Kentucky Mildred was born Oct. 28, 1899 in Globe  According to her death certificate, she died of Typhoid Fever on Apr. 29, 1918 in Tucson, Pima Co., AZ.  Descendants say she died of "Spanish Flu" and was never married.  She is buried at the Globe Cemetery in Gila Co.

Robert Edward Voris
Robert Edward, born 1902 in AZ and died there in 1981. He too is buried at Globe.  Robert married a widow (apparently) with three children and a tad older than him.  She was Zella Ruth Kinsey, born Nov. 11, 1901 in Bartlesville, Osage Co., OK and died in Los Angeles Co., CA on Sep. 21, 1945. She had been previously married to Chester Lester Ferguson with whom she had three children:  Cline Elizabeth, Clemmie Beatrice and Winifred Fay. She and Robert apparently had no children together. The burial place of Zella Ruth is not known to me.

Emma Marie, born c1905 in AZ, died unknown.  She married Oscar Elihu Clendennen [sic] who was born in Haskell Co., TX on Oct. 24, 1900.  He died in Jan., 1964 at Midland, Midland Co., TX and was buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Odessa, Ector Co., TX.  I have not yet found Emma's death date or place of burial.  There were at least three children born to this union:  Marion Bradford, born 1925; Melba Marie, born 1926; and Minnie Charlotte, born 1927.

Georgia Virginia Voris
The last child born to John William and Virginia was Georgia Virginia on Jan. 6, 1911 in Gila Co., died May 5, 2000 in Kansas.  In c1929 she married Richard Toliver, sometimes Tolliver, Underwood.  To that union was born two daughters, Mildred Elizabeth in 1931 at Flagstaff in Coconino Co., AZ and Margaret Voris in Gila Co. in 1933.  Mr. Underwood appears to have married and divorced a number of times and finally passed away in Arizona on Aug. 5, 1987.  He was buried at the Hall Cemetery in Howe, Grayson Co., TX.  Georgia later remarried to Louis Lieber Weinstein. born 1910, died 2001.  They apparently had no children together.  Both she and Louis are buried at the Meriden cemetery in Meriden, Jefferson Co., KS.




Additions and corrections are welcomed!


Sources:

¹The Daily Arizona Silver Belt, Globe City, Pinal Co., AZ, Dec. 22 [sic], 1898, Page 2, Col. 3.
² The Oasis - Arizola, Pinal Co., AZ 1893-1920, Mar. 10, 1900, Page 10, Col. 2; citing the Globe Silver Belt newspaper,
³ William Voris, death certificate No. 527 (18 June 1917), Arizona Department of Health Services, Health Services, Phoenix, Maricopa Co., AZ. http://tinyurl.com/o5fyv2c

For context see: http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg, ttp://tinyurl.com/muenm47, and http://tinyurl.com/nyaofb6






“The Cibicu Affair.”



“Lawless Character of the Blood Thirsty Cibicus.”


“Globe Silver Belt:  The actual casualties and losses arising from Indian depredations and conflicts between citizens and Indians are less harmful to the good name and interests of Arizona than are the many exaggerated, and ofttimes [sic] false, reports which emanate from press correspondents and, not infrequently from official sources.  The propensity of the irresponsible correspondent to draw the long bow is so well understood that his alarming statements are usually discounted. The case is different, however, with dispatches bearing the stamp of official authority, for the public has a right to expect reliable information, whereas dispatches from military sources often convey a wrong impression without any intention of being unfair, perhaps.

“Press dispatches of December 12 announce the receipt at the war department, Washington, D. C., and by Adjutant General Ward, at Denver, of telegrams sent by the command officer at Fort Apache, in reference to the killing of the Indian on Cibicu creek, December 5, which, to say the least, contained many inaccuracies and, b asserting that the man who killed the Indian, and two others of the posse, gave themselves up for trial on the charge of killing the Indian, leaves the impression that the officers had committed a criminal act, which is wholly at variance with the facts.

“Deputy Sheriff Benbrook and his three companions were sworn officers, bearing a warrant for the arrest of two Indians regularly indicted by the grand jury of Gila county, on the charge of burglary, and their right to enter the reservation and make the arrest can not be questioned.  They went to Cibicu peaceably, and explained the object of their visit through an interpreter, and, even after the Indians opposed the arrest of the guilty parties the officers attempted to withdraw quietly, without their prisoners, but were prevented by the overt acts of the Indians.  Deputy Voris shot the Indian in self defense, when the latter was in the act of wresting his guy from him, and not until one of the band fired upon the posse.  It was then only a question of self-preservation with the officers, and their escape from a band of forty or fifty murderous Apaches was miraculous.

“The evidence again[s]t the two Indians for whom the officers held the warrants is positive, and the burglary is not denied.  They were caught in the act, with their arms full of plunder.  They had left their guns with their horses, and were surprised by Frank Ketcherside in his cabin, who, with six-shooter in hand, compelled them to disgorge.  Had he killed them then and then [sic] he would have been justified and any jury would have exonerated him.

“The residents of Pleasant [V]alley and vicinity have been wonderfully forbearing with the Cibicu Indians, who have preyed upon the settlers for years, robbing ranches, in the absence of the occupants, and killing citizens’ cattle whenever they wanted meat.  So flagrant have these depredations grown that the business of stockraising in northern Gila county has been practically ruined.  To illustrate how extensive the stealing of cattle by the Cibicu Indians has become:  When Deputy Benbrook and posse were on their way to Cibicu they struck the fresh trail of fifteen or twenty head of cattle which they followed into the Indians’ camp, and the packer with Lieutenant Fenton’s command informed Frank Ketcherside that when they arrived at the Indian’s camp he saw cattle there of the ‘flying V’ brand, going to show the cattle from the vicinity of the Vosburg ranch.

“The recent trouble on Cibicu will not be amiss if it serves to bring to an issue the arrant lawlessness of the White Mountain Apaches. 


The last of the newspaper transcriptions for this incident.  See http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg and http://tw.gs/XYT4CV for context.

Next:  John William Voris and Family



Source: Arizona Republican. (Phoenix, Ariz.), 25 Dec. 1895, Page 8, Col. 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1895-12-25/ed-1/seq-8/>

“Troops from Apache.”

“Lieut. Fenton Investigates the Cibieu Affair”

 Gila County Officers in the Right.”


“Lieutenant Fenton, Seventh cavalry, and detachment of twenty soldiers, sent out from Fort Apache to investigate the killing of the Indian on Cibieu creek, Dec. 5, arrived in Globe on Wednesday last.  They were accompanied by William Voris, Frank Ketcherside and Huse Kyle, members of the sheriff’s posse that had the fight with Cooley’s band of Indians.  They were not under arrest, but came to Globe with Lieutenant Fenton, voluntarily, as a matter of prudence, to show their good faith and to pacify the Cibieu Indians, who supposed they were to be brought to Globe under arrest.

“Lieutenant’s [sic] Fenton’s investigation of the trouble at Cibieu corroborates the statements of the Gila county officers engaged in the affray, published elsewhere, and leaves no ground for action against the officers.

“Colonel Powell, commanding at Fort Apache, was notified of the Cibieu fight on Friday, the 7th inst., and Lieutenant Fenton and detachment left the same night for Cooley’s camp.  Upon their arrival there they found the Indians in a state of great excitement, and their demeanor was so threatening that for a time it looked as though they might attack the troops.  The Lieutenant found that the Indian killed by Voris was Nan-tan-go-tayz, tag V 7, a brother of Cooley, chief of the band.  He was shot in the right breast, four inches below the neck, and the bullet ranged downward, diagonally through the body and came out in the region of the left kidney.

“The Indians expressed displeasure at the presence of the troops and informed Lieutenant Fenton, through an interpreter, that [sic] they wanted to settle their difficulties themselves.  Cooley and two other Indians accompanied the command to Vosburg’s and Ellison’s ranches.  At Vosburg’s the lying interpreter pointed out Frank Ketcherside as the man who killed Nan-tan-go-tayz, whereupon old Chief, trembling with excitement, and with gun in hand, assumed a threatening attitude as though about to shoot Ketcherside.  A soldier, observing the move, threw a cartridge into his gun and Cooley subsided.  When the soldiers reached Canyon creek, on their way to Pleasant [V]alley, they were met by John Dazin and band of Indians, armed and mounted, who asked permission of Lieutenant Fenton to accompany them to fight the whites.  The Lieutenant informed Dazin that he was not out for the purpose of fighting the whites, and told the Indians to return to their camp.

“Lieutenant Fenton and detachment left Globe Thursday morning for San Carlos and expected to proceed to Fort Apache the next day.”

Next:  Military report to Washington


Note: John William Voris was husband to Virginia Pearl Coffee, daughter of Robert Marion and Emma Gaines Reynolds Coffee. Cibieu is Cibecue creek where these particular Apaches lived.  It was some 45 miles or so NE of  Fort Apache AZ.  It is in what is known as the San Carlos Reservation.  I have also seen references to it being in the Fort Apache Reservation.  See http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg for context.

Source:  Arizona Silver Belt. (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.), 14 Dec. 1895, Page 3, Col. 4-5. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021913/1895-12-14/ed-1/seq-3/>

October 6, 2014

"A Race for Life"


“Fight Between Gila County Officers and the White Mountain Apaches at Cibicu –  Chief Nan-tan-go-tayz Killed."


“Probably few, if any readers of the item published in last Saturday’s Silver Belt, that an Indian had been killed on Cibieu by cowboys, entertained the least suspicion that the parties referred to as ‘cowboys’ were Deputy Sheriff E. L. Benbrook and posse.  Few, in fact, were aware of his departure from Globe, or of his mission to the Cibieu country.  The facts in regard to that trip, as related by Mr. Benbrook, are about as follows:

The Silver Belt, Globe, Gila Co., AZ
Report of Apache attack at Cibicue Creek
“At the October (1895) term of the District Court of Gila county, two Indians, Tonto C 24 and Tonto O 8, were indicted for burglary committed at the Vosburg ranch, in the vicinity of Pleasant Valley.  The warrant for the arrest of the Indians wanted was delivered to Deputy Benbrook, who left Glove, December 1, for Cibieu to make the arrest.  Arriving at Pleasant Valley, he was joined by Bill Voris, Frank Ketcherside and Huse Kyle.  The party left the Gentry ranch, three miles above Ellison’s, on Thursday morning, December 5, and arrived at Cooley’s camp, (Cooley being head chief of the band of Indians), on Cibicu creek, 30 miles distant, about sundown.

“Nan-tan-go-tayz, the chief then in authority, a brother of Chief Cooley, upon being informed through an interpreter what the officers wanted, consented to the arrest of the two Indians.  Tonto C 24 was identified and placed under arrest, and the officers had started to ride away with their prisoner, when Ketcherside recognized the other buck wanted, Tonto O 8, among the forty or fifty Indians in the camp.  At this juncture Loco Jim hailed the officers and asked what they wanted with the two Indians, and Captain Jack, the interpreter, rode up and said they could not take the Indians away.

“While they were parleying the other Indians began to gather in around the officers, and Nan-tan-go-tayz, the chief, camp up close to Ketcherside’s horse and made a grab at the bridle rein, but missed it, as the horse jerked his head away.  The chief then went up to Voris and with both hands grasped the Winchester hung on the side of the saddle, and attempted to draw the gun from its holster.

“Voris, thereupon, caught the Indian’s wrist with both hands and broke the hold of one hand on the gun, when the Indian, retaining his hold on the gun with one hand, grasped the bridle rein of Voris’ horse with the other.  Just then Tonto C 24, one of the Indians whom the posse went to arrest, fired a shot from a distance of about 20 yards, and Voris, seeing that the situation was desperate and that they chief was getting the better of him, drew his six-shooter and fired at his adversary.  The Indian throw his head back and avoided the bullet, whereupon Voris placed the pistol close to the Indian’s breast and fired again.  Nan-tan-go-tayz fell forward on his face without uttering a sound.  About twenty-five Indians standing on the side of a hill, some sixty yards away, then fired a volley at the officers, which passed over their heads, and the latter returned the fire from their pistols.

“The officers put spurs to their horses and a race for life began, the Indians who were mounted and armed giving chase.  After a hard run of half a mile the trail made an abrupt turn and the Indians in the lead by a flank movement, got ahead of the officers, who, seeing they were cut off, took to the cedar brake to the right of the trail and up the steep side of the mountain.  Here the posse got scattered; Voris was in the lead, and, dusk having fallen, he regained the train, forged ahead alone and reached Ellison’s ranch about 1:30 o’clock on Friday morning.  Benbrook and Kyle soon came together again in the timber.  Benbrook’s pony was winded, and going up the mountain fell and caught the rider’s right knee under the saddle, causing him a painful injury.  Having returned to the trail, they were again headed off by the Indians and forced once more to take to the timber and were joined by Ketcherside.

“Voris, when he reached a narrow defile near Canyon creek, twenty miles from Cibicu, saw a signal fire a short distance from the trail, and when Benbrook, Ketcherside and Kyle passed, the embers of the fire were plainly to be seen.  The Indians who had got ahead of them on the trail had probably made the fire to signal John Dazin’s band of Indians, and he had then gone on to the main crossing of Canyon creek, with the intention of ambushing the officers.  Suspecting this, Voris left the main trail and crossed Canyon creek lower down, and his companions, under the guidance of Ketcherside, took an old trail that crossed the creek higher up, and they arrived at Ellison’s ranch at 3 o’clock Friday morning.

“When the fight commenced at Cibieu, the officers were compelled to abandon their pack mule which was carrying their blankets, sisty rounds of ammunition, provisions and camp utensils.  That any of the men escaped with their lives seems providential, and can be accounted for only by the approach of nightfall, which lent them its kindly protection.

“The officers, when they realized the futility to take the two Indians, tried to get away peaceably, intending to go to Fort Apache and ask the military for assistance, but the Indians, bent on mischief, provoked the fight.  The Indians were the aggressors and the officers when attacked were in the discharge of their duty.

“The apathy and apparent unwillingness of the military at Apache, on former occasions, to assist civil officers in the apprehension of Indian malefactors is sufficient excuse for Deputy Benbrook not going first to the post, to request a military escort to aid and protect him in the discharge of his duty.  It was in August, 1890, that Sheriff J. H. Thompson went to Fort Apache to secure the arrest of Guadalupe and other Indians who murdered young Baker in the Sierra Ancha.  Colonel Hunt, then in command at Apache, made no effort to arrest the Indians for whom the Sheriff held Warrants, further than that, after two or three days’ delay, two scouts went out, as alleged, to get Guadalupe, but returned without him.  A few days after Guadalupe came in and on the insistence of Sheriff Thompson was placed in the guard house.  The Sheriff then requested an escort to San Carlos, which Colonel Hunt refused him, and, after remaining about ten days at Apache, the Sheriff too Guadalupe from the guard house at 3 o’clock in the morning and, by a forced ride of 90 miles, reached San Carlos safely with his prisoner.

“The White Mountain Apaches, living on Cibieu creek, are the most warlike and treacherous Indians on the reservation.  While ostensibly under the surveillance of the commanding officer at Fort Apache, practically they are under no restraint whatever.  They continue in their pristine savagery, enjoying the largest liberty, and retaining their hatred of the whites.  They kill cattle and loot ranches when opportunity offers, and are not averse to taking human life.

“These Indians, living forty-six miles from Fort Apache, can not be kept in subjection.  They roam at pleasure, and may be off the reservation for weeks at a time without the knowledge of the commanding officer at Apache.  They are a continual menace to the peace of Eastern Arizona, and it is high time that the Government remove them to the Indian Territory, or elsewhere, where they could be kept under strict surveillance.

“In order to show the character of these Indians we will relate a little history.  In 1881, some 500 Indians were living on Cibieu creek, whom the Government had found it impractical to remove to San Carlos, as the Indians objected, and were too strong in numbers and warlike in spirit for the authorities to attempt compulsion.  Nock-a-del-kleny, a medicine man, by incantations and prophecies that he would bring the dear warriors to life, incited the Indians to rebellion, and to prevent the threatened outbreak[,] Colonel Carr, with a detachment of soldiers and scouts from Fort Apache, went to Cibieu to arrest the medicine man.  The Indians resisted and were joined by Carr’s scouts, who opened fire on the soldiers, killing Captain Hentig and ten soldiers, and followed the command to Apache and fired on the post.  Nock-a-del-kleny, the medicine man, was killed in the engagement at Cibicu.

“Proceedings were instituted before U. S. District Court Commissioner Kinney, on Thursday, and warrants issued for the arrest of the Indians, to the number of twenty or more, who fired upon Deputy Benbrook and posse, December 5, on Cibieu.  The warrants were placed in the hands of Deputy U. S. Marshall J. H. Thompson, who, accompanied by Messrs. Benbrook, Ketcherside, Voris and Kyle, left Thursday noon for San Carlos to join Lieutenant Fenton’s command and accompany them to Fort Apache, where Deputy Marshal Thompson will apply to Colonel Powell, the commanding officer, for assistance to the effect the arrest of the Indians.”

Next:  Troops from Apache



NB:  Cibieu is Cibecue Creek; Nock-a-del-kleny was Nock-ay-det-Klinne who began holding ceremonies that became known as “Ghost Dances” at the village on Cibecue.
 
Col. Carr was Eugene Asa Carr.
 
William Voris was the husband of Pearl Virginia Coffee, a daughter of Robert Marion and Emma Gaines Reynolds Coffee.  Pearl was a descendant of Chesley through Joel (Martha Stepp); James (Eliz. Coffey, d/o Nathan & Mary Saunders Coffey); Logan McMillon (Mary E. Ragland), parents of Robert Marion.  The marriage was announced in the Daily Arizona Silver Belt on Dec. 22, 1898, Page 2, Col. 3:  "J. W. Voris and bride, nee Pearl Coffey, who were married December 23, at Albany, Texas, are expected to arrive tomorrow night. Mr. Voris, who is a well known resident of Globe, will receive hearty congratulations from his many friends. Mr. Voris will serve as deputy to Sheriff-elect W. T. Armstrong." [Note that publish date was a day before the wedding occurred.  One or the other is obviously incorrect.]

Cibecue is NW and a meandering 45 miles, or thereabouts, from Fort Apache.  Today, it will take about an hour to drive that distance in an automobile.  Riding a horse at a walk would probably take 10 to 12 hours, including rest stops for man and horse.  Riding at a lope would be faster but the horse would tire quicker.

Source:  Arizona Silver Belt. (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.), 14 Dec. 1895, Page 3, Col. 3. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021913/1895-12-14/ed-1/seq-3/>