Tombstone Epitaph

Chance For Free Advertising Missed
THE ARIZONA PRODUCT
For a week the most popular subject in the world has been earthquakes and volcanoes. Almost everybody had some of them and those who didn't pointed with pride to friends who had seen a volcano or had a narrow escape in an earthquake. A few who could not do any better recalled incidents of many years ago, comparing recent casualties with historical events. The newspapers are filled with pictures of seismic horrors and scientific dissertations on how it happened and why it may happen again. And all this time Arizona has failed to get a word of advertising out of it. The yellow men here have dropped their reeking pencils, and even the territorial papers Arizona earthquake incident or dug up a home grown volcano, active or extinct. If the senate ever hear about this remarkable lethargy it will decide that Arizona is too slow to become a state. The Phoenix Republican has a volcano story and says the wildest tales come from the Superstition mountains beyond Goldfield and due east of Phoenix. Several gentlemen said yesterday that they had known for years that strange noises were heard in that mountain range and that many travelers had hastened away from there, fearful that some appalling disaster would overtake them. One gentleman yesterday related an incident in which a number of his friends participated. They were on prospecting trip in the Superstitions and one night they heard strange rumbling noises that aroused them from their slumber. They climbed to the top of the ridge to see if a thunderstorm were in progress on the other side. There was no indication of an atmospheric disturbance, but rumbling was even more ominous than it had been in camp. They hastened back and loading up their camp outfit, headed for the lowlands as fast as possible outrunning the earthquake. It is said that the Indians first called the mountains "Superstitions," or a native word of similar meaning, by reason of the strange noises they heard there. Whether this is so or not it makes a good story and its circulation offers about the only opportunity Arizona will get for free advertising out of the volcano issue.