b"Marshals continued from page 18thorn in the efforts of the new Territorial Governmenttrial, his personal feelings put him on the side of the to bring unity between Unionist and Confederates in thedefendants. Dickason put his personal views aside territory. He had alienated the cavalry by his assurancesand maintained order among the citizens who were to superiors in Washington that U.S. Army forts in thedemonstrating outside the court during the trial in favor territory were inhabited by whiskey, cards, fandangosof the defendants.and prostitutes and that the territory was a haven for pleasure-seeking Army officers and a rogues paradiseWhen the murderers were acquitted and the trial ended for crooked government contractors.December 14th, Dickason found himself basking in the respect of those citizens who felt the acquittal had Duffield did not get much support from the press ofupheld Arizonan's rights to defend themselves against the day. In fact, any favorable accomplishments thethe Indians, and those who favored extermination of all embattled lawman may have made were doomed tothe Indians in the territory. A year later, the light shining darkness due to his masterful alienation of the public.on Dickason in the wake of the trial had dimmed. He The editor of The Miner did not bother to conceal hisfound himself again charged with neglecting his duties. glee when learning of Duffields resignation. He wrote,A movement was launched to oust Dickason from his Having long since put Duffield down as insaneweposition but it is doubtful he was worried about losing seldom have mentioned his name. the post. He was off to an unknown location in the wilds prospecting for diamonds and had been there since a Duffield spent much time in Washington after hisshort time after the Camp Grant trial.resignation attempting to straighten out his financial records as marshal. He continued to berate the ArmyA new U.S. district attorney in the territory, James E. and the Territorial Government, as well as thoseCharles D. Poston McCaffrey, found Dickason was not only a compulsive unreformed rebels and their allies in the territorialprospector but also a heavy gambler. McCaffrey capital who had conspired against him. popular territorial disease, prospecting fever. In 1870, hesuggested that the $12,000 Dickason had received was taken in by a reported diamond strike in northernfrom Washington had perhaps disappeared on the New Marshal No Improvement Arizona and joined the rush to the diamondless finds.faro tables of numerous saloons and gambling houses Edward Phelps, a Californian, became marshal ofHe continued to be attracted to long prospecting tripsin the territory, but produced no facts to support his Arizona Territory in mid-1866. He had been chieffor the elusive Arizona diamonds after he was appointedsuggestion. Arizonans did not expect Dickason to return surgeon at Fort Whipple when appointed to the post.marshal, bringing charges early in his tenure that he wasto the territory from his prolonged prospecting trip. Phelps was in office only a year when it became apparentneglecting his duty. They were right. He didnt.that he fell a bit short of what most desired for a top U.S. lawman in the territory. Part of the duties of his officeThe tarnished badge of the federal marshal in ArizonaFive years after Dickason departed the territory in 1873 was to find quarters for federal court hearings. He alsoTerritory did not need any additional tarnish fromhe died in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, while working was in charge of finding and paying jurors. Dickason and he soon found himself the subject ofas a barkeeper. Washington started proceedings against much criticism. Dickason did manage to pay someDickasons bondsman to recover the $12,000 that had Washington subsidized the marshal to pay for thesejurors, even catching up on the debts to jurors created bydisappeared with the marshal, but the case went on for activities. In 1867, Phelps received a $10,000 advancehis predecessor. Early in his term as marshal, Dickasonyears and years. The office of the U.S. marshal remained from Washington to operate on until various feeshad one of the most difficult cases yet to face a federalvacant from July of 1873 when Dickason took off to the charged by the marshal could partly offset that sum.lawman in the territory. first of the following year.Phelps did not spend the funds for quarters for the courts or for jurors. A grand jury in 1869 noted thatThe Camp Grant Massacre had split the already dividedFourth & Fifth No Improvementcourt quarters were wholly unfit for the conduct of theterritory between Unionists and Confederates andGeorge Tying, appointed in January of 1874, was an courts business. At about the same time disgruntledbetween old pioneers who worked with the Indians andexperienced lawman and had spent several years in jurors began complaining about the failure of theothers who sought to kill them all. In 1871, the massacrethe territory. Little was heard from Tying for eight marshal to pay them. of more than 40 Indians by a band led by William s.months when in August he asked if he should pay debts Oury, a well-known Confederate, and several other whiteagainst the office created by Dickason. In September, he In 1870, the U.S. district attorney for the territorycitizens of Tucson raided an Apache settlement nearrequested a 60-day leave of absence due to ill health. In informed the Attorney General in Washington thatCamp Grant. The Anglo leaders had recruited some 100December he resigned.serious complaints were being received regarding thePapago Indians and Mexicans to march on the Apaches. misapplication of public money by Marshal Phelps.Washington was shocked by the murder of ApachesIn February of 1875, Francis H. Goodwin was appointed Phelps had resigned his Army commission to becomeand sought to bring the killers to justice. Many ArizonaU.S. marshal for the territory. He resigned 18 months marshal but had also set up a private practice in Tucson,citizens sided with those who staged the massacre. later and like his predecessors had failed to pay the debts had taken a lease on a mine, and had a contract to deliverthat accumulated during his term. The federal grand hay to Camp Crittendon. The press reported his privateMarshal Hard To Find jury in Tucson refused to issue any indictments because income at more than $2000 per year over and aboveThe district attorney began efforts to prosecute butthe jurors knew Marshal Goodwin would not pay them.his $200 annual marshals salary. Washington beganfound Marshal Dickason difficult to locate to assist demanding of Phelps an accounting of what he had donehim. Dickason was out prospecting. District AttorneyDuring this period, border banditry flourished in with the $10,000 advance, for the operation of his office,Rowell mentioned in his reports to Washington that thethe southern areas of the territory with virtually no which was sent to him in 1867. marshals office seemed to be vacant. interference from the U.S. marshals. Nearly $30,000 in federal funds given to the marshals by Washington In January of 1871, Phelps announced that he was takingAttorney General Ackerman became concerned anddisappeared along with two of the marshals. a vacation to Sonora. Three weeks later, the U.S. consuldiscovered that Dickason had never acknowledged hisInvestigators could find no records of expenses for the in Guaymas reported that the lawman had left Guaymasappointment to the post in writing. Appointed in April,office, which, considering the intent of the marshals to for Mazatln on a British Man-of-War. A month later,it was late in the fall before Dickason officially acceptedeither abscond with or squander the funds sent for the reports were reaching Arizonans that their marshal hadthe position. The same month, Washington informedoperation of their offices is not surprising.skipped the country with $12,000 in federal funds in hisDickason that a charge of dereliction of duty had been pockets. Phelps continued to travel south in Mexico withfiled against him. The following month a U.S. grand juryThe federal marshals office in the territory during the first the embezzled federal funds. His flight was suddenlyfiled 108 indictments against the perpetrators of thedecade of the offices existence was a joke, one that few ended in April when Mexican bandits killed him and tookCamp Grant Massacre. Arizona Territory citizens missed especially those who the money. On April 15, 1871, President Grant appointedhad no use for Washington meddling in the affairs of the Isaac Dickason as U.S. marshal of Arizona Territory. Marshal Dickason performed his duties well followingnew territory. The incidents of federal law enforcement the indictments, although he was unaware that therethat did occur during this period were carried out by No Carpetbagger were any funds available on which to open the trial. Thedeputy U.S. marshals, not by their less than heroic Dickason was a citizen of the territory, a farmer, atrial opened anyway on December 4, 1872. Dickasonbosses. Our first marshals were not of the same cut as the landowner near Prescott, an Indian fighter of note,saw to it that the court operated smoothly during theHollywood heroes portrayed in movies in our time. Far and was well connected with territorial politicians. Notrial and met all the expenses. Despite his efficientfrom it. These were guys who took the post to milk it for carpetbagger, Dickason none-the-less was afflicted with acarrying out of his duties as top federal lawman at theall the money they could get and did. 20 January 2020"