12. The Fake Aristocrat’s Execution of His Plan to Steal Arizona
Once he had carefully laid the groundwork, James Reavis finally sprang into action and began to execute his plan in 1883. One fine morning that June, the inhabitants of central Arizona woke up to discover that their land had been stolen from under their feet. Notices plastered all over public places and printed in newspapers warned all and sundry: “to communicate immediately with Mr. Cyril Barratt, attorney-at-law and agent-general, representing Mr. James Addison Reavis, for registering tenancy and signing agreements, or regard themselves liable to litigation for trespassing and expulsion when the Peralta Grant is, as it must be, validated by the U.S. government“.
The land claimed by Reavis amounted to about twelve million acres. It extended from the vicinity of Sun City, Arizona, to Silver City, New Mexico, and included Phoenix. Throughout that territory, people were bewildered and incredulous at first. Incredulity turned to panic, however, when they read that the wealthy owners of the Silver King Mine, Arizona’s richest and most powerful mining corporation, had paid Reavis $25,000 to avoid litigation. That was quite the princely sum back in those days. If such big shots had believed Reavis enough to pay him that much, it stood to reason that his claim really was solid. Suddenly, the threat that their land might get taken from them by this James Reavis seemed a distinct possibility.
