James Reavis

James Reavis

Infobox Person
name = James Reavis


image_size =
caption = Baron of Arizoniac
birth_date = 1843
birth_place =
death_date = 1914
death_place =
occupation = Soldier and Imposter
spouse =

James Addison Reavis (1843-1914), the self-styled "Baron of Arizoniac", was an imposter of grand scale who claimed to own much of Arizona in the late 19th century.

Reavis joined the Confederate army during the American Civil War, but when Vicksburg, Mississippi fell he saw the writing on the wall and changed sides and joined the Union. After the war he travelled widely before settling in St. Louis, Missouri, and going into the real estate business. In 1871, he met Dr. George Willing, who had purchased a bag full of Spanish land deeds from a Mexican, Miguel Peralta, for $1,000.

Spanish deeds to U.S. territorial land were valid under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and these were for almost 2,000 square miles (5,200 km²) of Arizona. At the time Reavis was skeptical of the deeds, as Willing was a known as a bit of a "scammer". But in 1873, the real estate market in the west crashed, and Reavis' business failed. He moved to San Francisco, California, where he found a job at a newspaper. There he soon met two burgeoning railroad barons who ran the Southern Pacific Railway, and told them about the Peralta deeds. With these deeds in hand the Southern Pacific would be able to own much of the land currently being developed by rivals. After arranging to pay him $2,000 to study the claims, Reavis travelled around the southern U.S. and Mexico tracking them down.

He soon found the deeds and quickly realized they were worthless. Not to be stopped there, he spent the next few years slowly forging a series of titles and diaries to build up a complete history of the fictional Peralta claim. It included three generations of the Peralta family, starting with Don Miguel who was said to have lived to 116, and ending with Don Miguel Jr. who ended up destitute and was forced to sell his US holdings to George Willing – who had conveniently died in 1873.

Reavis first travelled to Tucson, to make his claim, but found to his dismay that the land office was already swamped with similar claims, many equally fraudulent. He then returned to San Francisco where he lined up a number of powerful backers willing to fund his attempts to make the claim in order to gain railway or mineral rights. This group included George Hearst, (William Randolph Hearst's father), who was looking to solidify his own mining interests.

Reavis returned to Tucson with an ever-growing set of claims, which were no longer for 2,000 square miles (5,200 km²), but now included over 18,000 square miles (47,000 km²), a good chunk of Arizona. They dropped the lot in the land office in March 1883, demanding that the Surveyor General pass judgement on them. Meanwhile he used his backers' money to send out gangs of men to start asking for people to "settle up" their land claims with the new Baron. Over the next few months things started coming to a boil. Various landowners from large to small started making noises to the government, and after Grover Cleveland won the election in 1884, he made it clear he wanted Reavis gone. The timing was perfect, because that same month the new Surveyor General, Royal Johnson, pronounced the deeds a fake. Reavis ran back to California.

This wasn't enough to end the story. Over the next two years he put together another series of even richer and more powerful backers. In order to give the claims added legitimacy, he invented a new heir, whom he married to become James Addison Peralta-Reavis. Reavis re-submitted his claim in 1888, but didn't stick around to watch the fireworks. In 1889, Royal Johnson submitted his own report, a massive six-year study that pointed out a number of problems in the deeds that clearly showed them to be false. Many of the issues were technical, including many of the papers written with pens and ink that would not have existed in that era. As a result, Johnson became a hero in Arizona.

But even that wasn't enough to make Reavis give up. He re-submitted the claims once again in 1893, this time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he wasn't as well known. But this plan backfired; Santa Fe was in fact founded by real Peralta family members, who immediately set out to get the deeds for themselves. The land court finally heard the claims in June 1895, and the government ravaged them for a full week using many of Johnson's original (and still valid) arguments. Reavis had sat out most of the case, but showed up on the fourth day to conduct his own defense; he proceeded to demonstrate no courtroom ability at all. At the end of the month all his claims were dismissed.

Reavis stepped out of the court only to be arrested for fraud. He spent a year in jail awaiting trial, then lost the case and spent another two years in a penitentiary. He was released in 1898, and found himself an outcast. He spent the opening years of the 20th century as a drifter, apparently reading about himself at various libraries.

Fictional Treatments of James Reavis' Life

* Writer/Director Sam Fuller's film "The Baron of Arizona" (1950) is inspired by Reavis' deed-forging antics, and features Vincent Price as James Reavis.

Books

* Donald M. Powell - "The Peralta Grant" (1960)

External links

* [http://pw1.netcom.com/~mikalm/reavis.htm James Reavis, The Man Who Stole Arizona]
* [http://www.miningswindles.com/html/the_baron_of_arizona.html Some drawings of Reavis and a photograph of his claim boundary marker]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James Chico Hernandez — (born 14 April 1954 in Chicago, Illinois) is an accomplished athlete in the sport of Sombo wrestling and a five time member of the Team USA National Team.ombo and wrestling activities and achievementsHernandez competed for Reavis High School in… …   Wikipedia

  • James Laird — (* 20. Juni 1849 in Fowlerville, Livingston County, New York; † 17. August 1889 in Hastings, Nebraska) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker. Zwischen 1883 und 1889 vertrat er den zweiten Wahlbezirk des Bundesstaates Nebraska im US… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • James P. Latta — James Polk Latta (* 31. Oktober 1844 bei Ashland, Ohio; † 11. September 1911 in Rochester, Minnesota) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker. Zwischen 1909 und 1911 vertrat er den dritten Wahlbezirk des …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • James Thomas Lynn — (* 27. Februar 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio; † 6. Dezember 2010 in Bethesda, Maryland[1]) war ein US amerikanischer Jurist und Politiker der Republikanischen Partei, der von 1973 bis 1975 als Bauminister der Vereinigten Staaten tätig war. Leben Lynn… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Reavis High School — Infobox Secondary school name = Reavis High School established = 1950 type = Public High School principal = Timothy J. Smith and Dr. Daniel J. Riordan students = 1,916 (2004 5) grades = 9–12 city = Burbank state = Illinois country = USA district …   Wikipedia

  • James Thomas Lynn — Infobox Officeholder name =James Thomas Lynn imagesize = small| caption = order =4th office =United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development term start =February 2, 1973 term end =February 5, 1975 deputy = president =Richard Nixon Gerald …   Wikipedia

  • Charles James (attorney) — Charles A. James (born 1954) is the vice president and general counsel of Chevron Texaco and was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division at the United States Department of Justice from 2001 to 2002. James earned his law …   Wikipedia

  • William James Connell — (* 6. Juli 1846 in Cowansville, Québec, Kanada; † 16. August 1924 in Atlantic City, New Jersey) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker. Zwischen 1889 und 1891 vertrat er den ersten Wahlbezirk des Bundesstaates Nebraska im US Repräsentantenhaus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of hoaxes — The following are lists of hoaxes: Proven hoaxes These are some claims that have been revealed to be deliberate public hoaxes. This list does not include hoax articles published on or around April 1, a long list of which can be found in the April …   Wikipedia

  • Wolfley — Lewis Wolfley (* 8. Oktober 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; † 12. Februar 1910 in Los Angeles, Kalifornien) war ein US amerikanischer Bauingenieur und Politiker (Republikanische Partei), der von 1889 bis 1890 Gouverneur des Arizona… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”