Charles L. Cummings Former Oxford man Dies at Tombstone

Youth Who Left Here in 1880 Became Noted as Force for Law and Order in Arizona

   From the Associated Press comes a report of the death of Charles L. Cummings, native of Oxford, at his home in Tombstone, Arizona, on November 30, at the age of 76 years.  He was ill only a short time.

   Cummings was born in Oxford and spent his early life in this community where he received his education in township schools.  After his school days were over he worked on various farms in this vicinity and at the age of 26 he went west.

   He settled in tombstone and became prosperous and influential.  He served as Mayor during the rough pioneer days when there were 2500 people in the settlement and a roving population of 1,500 more.  He was one of the most feared and respected leaders of that community.

   Cummings parents died in Oxford and a brother, Melvin Cummings, well known here who also went west, died 10 or 12 years ago.  While he is known among the older residents here, he is believed never to have visited his native home since going west in 1880.

   The Associated dispatch says that "he brushed elbows with the characters of the old west and became a pillar of the community, aiding in the bringing of law and order."

   "The most picturesque of his many business enterprises was the Bird Cage theater, where the hits of Broadway played to full houses, and where Lotta Crabtree and other old-time favorites presented such plays as "Ten Nights in a Bar Room."

   "The Bird Cage stands in Allen street, the main thoroughfare, within a stone's throw of the O. K. corral, where the Clanton-Earp feud blazed to a climax.  Cummings was reputed to have heard the shots which killed three men at the corral--the shots which signalized the advent of the law."

   "Cummings was banker, cattleman and miner and contributed much toward the development of Arizona.  In 1895 he was sent to the 18th territorial assembly."