By Carolyn Bradshaw

(This is the first part in a two-part article regarding the Jerome Union Stage Wars) 

On a February afternoon in 1923, Sheriff George Ruffner left Prescott to do the job his deputies had refused to do, arrest the driver of a mail-carrying automobile, a man in charge of the United States mail.

Yavapai County Attorney McMurchie had given the sheriff instructions to "treat the mails just as he would treat the president of the United States - tenderly." 

The driver, Elijah Flumerfelt, owner of the Jerome Union Stage Line, Inc., had a three-year contract to carry mail between Prescott, Jerome and Clarkdale. 

Traveling to Lonesome Valley by automobile, Ruffner stopped on the road and waited for Flumerfelt. Why he did not wait for Flumerfelt to arrive in Prescott before serving his warrant is not clear. When Flumerfelt came along, Ruffner stopped him, served his warrant and insisted that the stage driver accompany him to Prescott in the Sheriff's car. There was no one to put in charge of the mail car and the driver protested, asking to be allowed to drive into Prescott. Ruffner refused and the mail car stood unguarded from 4:30 till 7:30. It contained a quantity of registered mail and parcels. No passengers were on board. 

By arresting Flumerfelt, Ruffner was satisfying a warrant issued by County Attorney McMurchie, who was enforcing a 1919 Arizona Statute giving the Arizona Corporation Commission the authority to regulate the use of the state highways by stage lines. Flumerfelt was arrested for previously carrying passengers in violation of the state commission's orders. 

The Arizona Corporation Commission had been making a desperate attempt to shut down the Jerome Union Stage Line. For four years, Flumerfelt and the corporation commission had been in a bitter dispute over the interpretation of existing contracts and awarding routes, fighting in the courts and on the battlefield of Yavapai County's highways. 

In an odd collection of circumstances, the arrest of Elijah Flumerfelt placed at odds the authorities of Yavapai County, the State of Arizona and the federal government. 

Flumerfelt was a long time Arizona resident and Tempe cotton rancher. In 1907, he married a Prescott widow with two children and by 1912, the year Arizona became a state, two more daughters were born. In 1914, the family was living and doing business in Jerome and in 1916, Flumerfelt was an automobile driver under the business name of Ewing & Hughes. 

About 1917, Flumerfelt formed his own company, and he and his new business partners were permitted by the corporation commission to operate the Jerome Union Stage Line, which ran mail and passengers between Clarkdale, Clemenceau and Jerome. The company also operated service from Jerome to Prescott, over the Cherry Creek Highway. Ticket locations were on Main St. in Clarkdale and on Main St. in Jerome. 

The automobile was replacing horses and trains as a mode of transportation. Called "stages," their drivers served the population by transporting packages, mail and passengers. 

The investment in autos and equipment could run as high as $30,000, a vehicle costing $6,000 or more. Safety and good equipment in a competitive business environment were a concern - one year over 50 passengers in Arizona were seriously injured or killed. Regulating fares and timeliness of operation were also issues. 

So, in 1919, the Arizona legislature broadened the powers of the corporation commission beyond issuing stage permits to regulating automobile stage lines. 

By late 1919, the new Jerome-Prescott Highway would be open, so the newly empowered corporation commissioners held a public meeting in Jerome to hear companies make applications for the right to operate a stage line over the new highway. Two companies claimed priority, the Jerome Union and the Arizona Jordan Bus Company. The contract was awarded to the Jordan Motor Car Co., of Cleveland, later called the Arizona Bus Company and locally owned. 

The Jerome Union Stage Line was cut out of this piece of business and to hear Elijah Flumerfelt tell it, it was because the commission was politically corrupt. One of the commissioners had business and personal interests in the Verde District, which Flumerfelt believed may have extended to the new company awarded the Jerome-Prescott contract. 

Something else didn't sit well with Flumerfelt and the other Jerome Union owners. Not only was there a perception of corruption, but there was no appeal process if a commission decision was in dispute. Instead, those who had complaints about the commissioner's rulings spent much time, effort and money in the lower courts, usually to no avail. 

In early 1920, the Phoenix Automobile Association had received many complaints from stage operators in Arizona about the commission rulings and their right to appeal, and they also questioned the commission's power to regulate stage lines. 

Flumerfelt and his Jerome Union Stage Line applied to the Superior Court in Yavapai County for an injunction restraining state and county officials from enforcing the motor vehicle laws, which they intended to break on the new Jerome-Prescott Highway. The court denied their request and instead issued an injunction against them on behalf of the Arizona Bus Company which would operate this route exclusively. 

Flumerfelt, the judge warned, would operate at his own peril. 

Now, the permit for Flumerfelt to continue to operate stage service between Clarkdale-Jerome was up for renewal. The commission awarded the contract for this route to a competitor. The Jerome Union Stage owners filed an appeal in the Phoenix Superior Court, asking that their permit be extended for ten years, consistent with the terms of their earlier contract. 

As a result of the commission's award of a passenger service contract from Jerome to Prescott and their refusal to reissue the permit for the Clarkdale-Jerome route the Jerome Union Stage now had two appeals in two different courts. Both appeals were denied and the Jerome Union Stage Company was forced to suspend service. They did not suspend, choosing instead to force the courts to rule on their complaints. These disputes became the basis for the Yavapai County "stage wars." 

The story continues next week of the Jerome Union Stage Line. 

(Carolyn Bradshaw is a principal of Bradshaw Public Relations LLC) 

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