From the archives
Each day through Jan. 4, we will publish stories from the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen news archives. This article is condensed from Dec. 26, 1917.
The bountiful spirit of Christmas pervaded the Southwest yesterday from the city jail to Fort Huachuca. There was a scarcity of gasoline in town, which prevented some from enjoying the balmy weather in the country, but those who could claim to have business machines, or to need fuel for business purposes, got a supply.
An ironical note was sounded at the city jail, which was cleared Christmas Eve of all prisoners in the spirit of charity and resulted in nine prisoners taking to the road and missing the Christmas dinner prepared for them by Rossi, the city contractor. Two prisoners, who had been arrested for drinking, were unable to eat their turkey when dinnertime arrived, and two others, held in connection with the murder of Charles Loebs, were too morose to eat.
In the county jail, all the prisoners received, in addition to the turkey dinner prepared by the White House cafe, the base of supply here, a big supply of cigars from John T. Hughes, who also sent a generous quantity of fruit. John Murphey, the old pioneer who recently served his term in the jail for bootlegging, also sent several boxes of cigars to the prisoners.
The usual number of children ran doorbells through the resident district in the time-honored custom of wishing merry Christmas, and Tucson was as generous to the children as of yore.
All of the churches held services, attended by larger congregations than usual on such occasions, and the serious note of the times was reflected within the walls of every church.
While not in the Tucson district, perhaps the biggest Christmas celebration in the Southwest took place Christmas Eve and morning at Fort Huachuca, where the highest pine that could be found in the mountains was mounted in the amusement hall of the post and decorated with glistening tinsel, strung popcorn, candies and spangles. A pendant from the top hung on one side; a great golden cross the central note of the decoration.
More than 2,000 Red Cross Christmas packages for the soldiers were piled around the base of the tree, together with hundreds of toys and packages for the little ones of the post, white and black.
In Tucson, the federal building displayed its Christmas gift in a bright new American flag, which was flung to the breezes by Deputy United States Marshal Treahey about noon. It was 5 feet by 8 and was the gift of Judge Blenman, who had given the deputy marshal permission to secure a flag that was suitable for a federal courthouse.
In the federal court on the eve of Christmas, three slackers were released after they had been duly registered. They had been in jail about three months each. They were Claro Estrada, Ramon Gutierrez and Blas Salas, who, although born in Arizona, do not speak or write English and therefore had no knowledge of their duty to register, or so they said.
While they were rejoicing in their freedom yesterday, Kurt Groth, formerly teller in a Nogales bank, was spending his first day at Fort Huachuca as an alien enemy, having, it was charged, violated the president’s proclamation as to crossing the border without permission.
Pima County’s solider boys, home on furloughs, sturdier and straighter than ever in their khaki, brought the true stories of the campus, captured the entire county and held it by unanimous consent until last night when, the furlough over, like good soldiers they left the city to return to the camps.
Boys whose furloughs were longer than others will be in the county a week longer, but the average man made the long trip home for a day with the old folks, perhaps the last, but anyway, Christmas at home.
In Tucson, the soldiers naturally gathered at the Varsity Smoke Shop, and as a result it was announced last night that a register will be opened there today for all soldiers in town to enter their names upon arrival, so their friends may know they are in the city, how long they will be here, and where they can be found.
