He’s one of my favorite members of the family tree, a founder of Phoenix, AZ, though he called it Swilling’s Mill. He was the brother of my maternal Texas grandfather’s maternal grandmother. Or, in other words, my great, great uncle. Quite a character. Reared in Georgia, he was a Mexican War and Civil War veteran who’s said to have changed sides from Rebel to Union when it was in his interest to do so. That’s the butt of a pistol in his right hand, the barrel resting on his shoulder. He’s reputed to have killed many a man, as they used to say. But he also made use of some old Indian canals and founded an irrigation company to make the desert bloom. He married, had children, and died in federal custody, accused of robbing a stagecoach, though his admirers believe it was all a mistake.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 