Boy's Meet Midget Matmen, Visit Land of Wyatt Earp

[Page 1] Boy's Meet Midget Matmen, Visit Land of Wyatt Earp By CHARLES G. GRIFFO TOMBSTONE, Ariz.-A chance encounter with two midget wrestlers while en route to this picturesque town "too tough to die" and impromptu "grunt and lessons was the strange, but true, real-life adventure of yours truly and his gypsy crew. Which just goes to show you that anything can happen in this real-gone Old West. We were making a 400-mile side trip out of Phoenix to Tombstone, land of Wyatt Earp, the OK Corrall, the Bird Cage Theater, the Lucky Cuss Mine and lo and| behold. Indians used to stay alive by get"That many miles is just a ting water from its base. Everybreeze in these wide open spaces.

thing from candy to linens is "At a soft drink stop Church made from the pulp of the plant. tugs at my arm. We tried cactus candy. The kids "Look, Daddy," says made a face; they'd rather have. he, *A midget.' Chuck's 9. bubble gum. "Daddy, lookee, an elf," yells Tombstone had had a $100,000 Gregory. fire a couple of weeks before "Two elves," says he, as the which seriously damaged three "Is partner that that woman's husband historic buildings. of the first appeared. back in New Orleans,' asks Earp Fans Outraged Chuck. We had seen a dwarf But that was nothing to the newspaper vendor in New Or- fire disbelief that blazed in the leans. "No. I say, up." eyes of the boys when an old drink The girls, Martha, 14, and Arizona friend, Phoe- a newspaperman Mary E., 6, had stayed in naturally, casually mentioned "A nix, having no love for Tomb- lot of this Earp stuff is hooey" a stone and the Earp legends.

cynic if I ever saw one, continued: It was then and there that The newspaper reporter, "TeleGreg, the top extrovert, went vision has created legend. There over and made himself known. wrestler was a Canadian are some who say he was a gunwho slinger just like the rest." The called Major Tom Thumb, also Canadian, "He fought bad men, said with his partner, a had been playing in Phoenix and Chuck. route to Tucson for a "He killed them bandits dead," was en bout. said Greg. I might add that Tom took the We let the matter drop. Whether pummeling of Greg just like a the battle of the OK Corrall, and then gave instructions which took place on man Oct.

26, 1881, in the manly arts. with Wyatt Earp, his brothers "Use the holds," he said, 'and you'll be able to whip your big brother." It was an unsuccessful lesson as Greg tried the holds out not 10 minutes later but was tossed for a fall. The trip to Tombstone was made from Phoenix via Tucson, with its new buildings and beautiful San Xavier Mission, past Picacho Peak, a mountain with the name of a nut, and through part of Saguaro National Monument, Saguaro is the huge c cactus, the blossom of which is the state flower. The cactus grows to the height of from 40 to 50 feet and lives to an age of from 150 to 200 years. Doc "Old the I'll to.