Monday, March 12, 1951

TUCSON, Ariz. March 13, --- La Fiesta de los Vaqueros --- which means “Festival of the Cowboys” or just plain rodeo --- is a real blowout. Tucson has a rip-roaring good time whenever it celebrates, and it’s been celebrating one thing and another for a good many years. They tell a funny little story about one whingding in the old days.

Seems that back in 1880 when the first locomotive got to Tucson, the town went wild. Everybody shot off cannons, marched to band music, drank toasts and made speeches. The mayor and other big punkins of the town let off some additional steam by sending a flock of telegrams. After they had wired the President, congressmen, governors and mayors of other cities --- telling them what a great day it was for Tucson --- they still wanted to do something special and sent a telegram to the King of Spain.

Mentioning that Tucson had been founded by Spanish missionaries some three hundred years earlier, the wire broke the news that Tucson now was “connected to the rest of the world” by railroad and asked the king for a message of congratulations.

Well, the King never received the message. A couple of practical jokers got hold of it and faked a reply that was delivered at the banquet that night.

“His highness acknowledges with appreciation your telegram,” the answer read, “and sends his congratulations. But for his own satisfaction he would like to know: Where in blazes is Tucson?”