b'popularity with voters won him re-election. He was back to doing what he did best fighting lynch mobs and tracking down stage robbers, murderers, horse thieves, and cattle rustlers.Despite his excellent record, Gabriel lost the following election, however, that did not mean he had nothing going for him. Gabriel held mining claims in Tombstone and in the mountains above Florence in Dripping Springs. In 1883 he reportedly sold one of his interests for $30,000. The next year (1884) he was elected to his third (and last) 2-year term. His grand plan was to retire in 1886 and return to his mining activities in Dripping Springs. Now its time to weave the other participant into the mixJosephus Phy was born in Platte, Missouri, on May 22, 1845. He, too, lost both parents at an early age. He was forced to live on a farm with his older brother, Isaac. It was on Isaacs farm where Josephus was introduced to just how miserable a human being could be. Isaac was just that.Joes only saving grace was his love of music and he played his violin whenever he could. Unfortunately, one day while he was supposed to be working, Isaac caught him playing his violin. Joe took a merciless beating for that little indiscretion. Isaac also threatened to smash the instrument to pieces if he ever caught Joe playing it again during work time. That did it . . . enough was enough it was time to go. The boy already held deep-rooted hate for his brother and Isaacs nasty short-tempered disposition was rubbing off on Joe. That night fifteen-year-old Joe took up his beloved fiddle and ran off headed for El Paso, Texas.Once in El Paso the resourceful Joe fiddled in the saloons to get his belly full and a roof over his head. The time came when he sent a letter to Mrs. Granville Oury (Sarah Malvina Oury) asking for some travel money. She was an old friend of the family from back in Missouri who now lived in the town of Florence over in Arizona Territory.I must interject here who her husband was. He was quite the prestigious Mr. Granville Henderson Oury. He practiced law; presided as judge of the district court for Arizona and also New Mexico at Mesilla, New Mexico. He was elected delegate from Arizona to the Confederate Congress but resigned in 1862 to serve as captain, Herberts Battalion, Arizona Cavalry, Confederate Army, and colonel on the staff of General Sibley. It is safe to postulate that Joe was probably very much influenced by Jefferson Davis Southern Confederacy.When the reply arrived from Mrs. Oury she invited him to become her ward. Joe high-tailed it over to Florence where the gracious John Peter Gabriel lady not only educated him but also helped him establish a freighting business. He drove freight over the rough roads from Florence to Prescott and Skull Valley and soon made a name for himself there as a dependable businessman and solid citizen in his community. His brother had done one thing right when had instilled some backbone in the boy. Now a man, Joe had become a man who didnt back down from a fight, no matter what it might be. One case in point: Once while driving through Skull Valley en-route to Prescott with a load of freight, Joe ran into an Indian ambush on Woolseys Hill. Joe and his shotgun guard, a man by the name of McNulty, were pitted against a superior number of savages. The Josephus Phy Indians informed Phy that they would spare his and McNultys life if the white men would turn over the freight outfit and supplies. As they parlayed, Joe sneakily unhitched one of his lead horseshe told McNulty to ride like hell to Skull Valley for help.McNulty did just as he was told and galloped out of range of the Indiansthe infuriated hostiles turned their attention to Phy. With only his six-gun and rifle he stood off more than a dozen Indians for three hours until McNulty returned with help and ran them off. This Joe Phy had some of that same hard bark we talked about earlier, but unlike Sheriff Pete, supposedly Joe neither drank nor smoked.continued on page 10ArizonaRealCountry.com August 2021 9'