The Drachmans of Arizona
by Floyd S. Fierman
From: American Jewish Archives* Vol. XVI, No. 4 (November 1964), 135-160

Philip Drachman

Philip Drachman³ and Michael and Joseph Goldwater, bearers of two family names destined to help shape the state of Arizona, traveled steerage to New York in 1852. Mike was later to become the godfather of Philip's first son, Harry Arizona Drachman. The Goldwaters went on to California, and Philip left for Philadelphia, where relatives had assured him that he would find employment as a tailor.⁴

Philip was sixteen years of age when he arrived in Philadelphia, but he did not remain there very long. It could be that the letters which this young colt received from the Goldwaters made him restless. At the age of eighteen, in 1854, he decided to go West. Six years later, on October 16, 1860, he was naturalized as a United States citizen at San Bernardino by Judge Benjamin Hayes.⁵ A letter to Brevet Major J. H. Carlton from San Bernardino in 1861 suggests that it did not take Philip very long to become acquainted with the problems of the West.

We have heard within the last few hours from, as we believe, a reliable source that a band of some forty or fifty desperadoes are now dispersed throughout the Coast range of hills south of this place, and intending to make a sudden foray upon the merchants of San Bernardino and after securing their plunder make good their escape across the Colorado on their way to the Confederate States of the South. We therefore hasten to make this information known to you and ask that you will in the emergency forthwith give us the protection of a Company of U. S. troops.⁶

By 1863 Philip was in La Paz, Yuma County, as a member of a combine which called itself the "Colorado River Farming and Stock Raising Association."⁷ The 1864 Census of the Territory of Arizona designated him as a thirty-year-old merchant, whose real estate was valued at $4,000 and whose personal estate was valued at $4,000.⁸ Young Philip, who had come to the frontier with the typical pack on his back, had thus accumulated, from 1852 to 1863, a modest capital of $5,000

During this period Philip Drachman and Isaac Goldberg,⁹ pooling their resources and energies, initiated a partnership by acquiring a parcel of land in La Paz.¹⁰ The indenture of December 14, 1864, makes no mention of a store located on the lot, but we can infer, from an advertisement in the Arizona Miner of October that same year,¹¹ that they either constructed a building or that there was already one there. In any case, Goldberg and Drachman did not limit their activities to the store in La Paz. Advertising in the Arizona Miner, they informed their readers that, though "formerly of La Paz," they were "now located in the Juniper House, Prescott [Arizona]."¹² Philip Drachman was hardly a retiring personality, and on August 21, 1865, he was among those who petitioned General J. S. Mason, Commander of the Military District of Arizona, for aid against the Indians.

Samuel H. Drachman and Philip Drachman

. . . . We most respectfully ask that you establish at or near this place a military command, to act in concert with the civil authorities, or under the direction of the Supt. of Indian Affairs, the Hon. Geo. W. Leihy not only to act as a military presence to intimidate the Indians, but to enable the Superintendent to enforce the U. S. laws pertaining to Indian Affairs.¹³

By July, 1870, Goldberg and Drachman had commercial interests in Tucson, Arizona's leading town, with a population, in the 1860's, of perhaps a thousand, mostly Mexicans. While its citizens were not of a class to inspire confidence in peaceful, law-abiding Americans, it did offer a challenge to the enterprising Goldberg and Drachman. The partners moved with the progress of Arizona. From La Paz and Prescott, they extended their enterprise to Tucson, where their store first appeared in the newspaper advertisements as Goldberg and Co., selling "Dry Goods consisting of Hats and Caps of every description . . . Cloaks, Shawls, Boots, Shoes . . . A large stock of Old Rye Whiskey and the best California Wine and Brandy . . . A large Stock of groceries, Butter, Honey, Cheese, and Dried Fruits which we offer for- sale; wholesale and retail."¹⁴ Goldberg and Co. was not interested in a credit business, and the firm was listed as a "Cash Store." The very next week, the firm advertised itself as "Goldberg and Drachman," also a Cash Store.¹⁵ In this case, however, Goldberg was listed as a Tucson resident and Drachman as an importer, a resident of San Francisco. It could be that a San Francisco address gave the store status.

Philip was well situated enough, between 1864 and 1868, to think of a wife. In 1868 he married Rosa Katzenstein, of New York. How he met her and where they were married are disclosed by Rosa's "Reminiscences of Grandmother Drachman."¹⁶ Philip's partner, Isaac Goldberg, did not submit himself to the nuptial canopy until two years later, when The Weekly Arizonian recorded in good humor:

MARRIED: Mr. Drachman has received a letter from California which brings the gay tidings of the sudden and unexpected marriage of I. Goldberg, the everlasting "Lomo de Oro." A few of his friends, at the time of his departure for California some three months ago, had a sneaking idea that his "pleasure trip" would result in some tragedy. MORAL- Now all young men a warning take, and stay at home for mercy's sake.¹⁷

The partnership of Goldberg and Drachman went under a number of names, including "Goldberg and Co.," "Goldberg and Drachman," and "P. Drachman and Co." Goldberg had freight trains and a number of government contracts under his name, as did Philip Drachman. A letter from Arizona City, dated December 5, 1870, reveals the various business associations that were made by the two partners:

Goldberg and Co's freight arrived here last night, 17 days from San Diego; Mr. [Philip] Drachman of that firm, and Mr. Hopkins, of the Pioneer Brewery, Tucson, go up on this day's buckboard . . . .¹⁸

Also, in March, 1879:

Philip Drachman's freight train came in last Saturday with 15,000 pounds of [Charles Trumbull] Hayden's [Tempe] family flour and 7,000 pounds of barley for [Charles H.] Lord and [Wheeler W.] Williams.¹⁹

To meet an Army contract to furnish hay to Camp Grant, northeast of Tucson, Goldberg and Drachman, in 1870, sent eighty men to cut hay in the San Pedro Valley. In March, 1870, their wagon train, loaded with supplies for the haying crew, was attacked by Apaches. The assault was made a little after sunrise at Cañada del Oro, near the northern spur of the Catalina Mountains, while the men were at breakfast. Robert Morrow, an army paymaster, with an escort of ten soldiers, was camped about a mile away. Hearing the gunfire, Morrow and the soldiers joined forces with the teamsters, who had scattered into the brush.

Angel Ortiz, the wagon master, was killed early in the day and buried there. By about 11 A.M., the Apaches had finished looting the wagons and left, after first driving off twelve yoke of oxen grazing about 250 yards from the camp. The four wagons, loaded with supplies like clothing, coffee, sugar, bacon, tobacco, shovels, scythes, axes, and ten thousand pounds of barley, were emptied, but not destroyed. Sixty Apaches captured the members of the haying crew who had not been killed in the fray.²⁰

Isaac Goldberg made no claim for this loss until June 8, 1888.²¹ The claim was made at Tucson, and, though the original report of the encounter reads 1871, Goldberg used the date 1870. He estimated the total loss at $7,150 and also mentioned in his claim that, during this period, the company had also suffered a loss at Florence. Six horses - four kept in a corral and two that the stage driver had used on the night of the depredation - had been stolen. The horses were valued in all at $700, bringing the loss in both depredations to $7,850.

On cross examination before the United States assistant attorney general, Goldberg stated that he had misplaced his books while moving from place to place. Having had little hope of recovering anything from the Government, he said, he had not been careful to preserve the account books. Goldberg said on re-examination that he and his partner, Philip Drachman, had quit the business in 1875 because they had lost so much through these depredations.

The evidence, according to the assistant attorney general, was inconclusive as to the amount of merchandise taken or destroyed. "The claimant lost his books and has no inventory and relies on estimates of the value of the various items." He went on to say:

The amount of groceries and clothing seems to be extraordinary, considering the purpose for which it was intended - that of supplying a camp of men engaged in cutting hay, who could not have been expected to stay in one place for a great length of time, and who would not need large supplies of clothing or dry goods. Moreover, it is incredible that the Indians in the short time they were engaged in the attack could have taken or destroyed all the property in the wagons.

The assistant attorney general, in presenting his case, also discussed the matter of citizenship. Both claimants, he said, were foreign-born. Philip Drachman had been naturalized in 1860, but no record of Goldberg's naturalization could be found in the Government files. Competent evidence, he added, might be produced before the case went to trial, but if not, judgment could not be rendered where Goldberg's share of the claim was concerned.²²

Faced with this rather devastating argument and other thrusts from the assistant attorney general, Goldberg was no doubt advised - or the heirs of Philip Drachman, who had died in 1889 while the case was being adjudicated, were counseled -- to dissolve the Goldberg and Drachman partnership. In February, 1893, an indenture was made between Isaac Goldberg and the heirs of Philip Drachman,²³ one-half of Goldberg's claim of $7,840 (later reduced to $5,090) against the Government being transferred to Drachman's heirs.

The case dragged on; in 1903, it was dismissed by the Court of Claims, which found that the Indian defendants had not been in amity with the United States at the time of the attack.

When Isaac Goldberg testified before the assistant attorney general that he and his partner, Philip Drachman, had quit their business in 1875 as a result of the depredations, he may or may not have been correct. In 1872, the two men had declared themselves bankrupt in Tucson,²⁴ but whether they were bankrupt as a result of the depredations is a moot point. "Wielders and dealers" like Goldberg and Drachman should not have been irreparably damaged by a loss of $7,840 -- unless, of course, they were overextended. Yet this seems to be the case, for a year later they were in further difficulty and lost their store premises in Tucson. In 1872, it was the merchandise that was up for public auction. In 1873, one of their creditors, Lionel M. Jacobs,²⁵ dissatisfied with the outcome, took the matter into court.

But Philip Drachman was not economically embarrassed very long, for by 1875 he was selling land again:

Drachman, Philip, on Tuesday, sold the lot on Main Street which he recently purchased from the village authorities, to George Cooler for $450. There seems to be a ready market for well located real estate in Tucson, at advancing prices.²⁶

In 1881 he opened a saloon:

Phil Drachman has filled up his new saloon in a costly manner. The counter is inlaid with rare pictures, and the whole place has an air of tone and elegance. It is named "Postoffice Exchange." Paul Jenicke, late of the Mint, presides behind the bar. The place will be opened to the public this afternoon. Location: the corner of Congress and Church Streets, near the printing office.²⁷

In 1886 he purchased a cigar store: "News Item: Phil Drachman has purchased the cigar store of Sampson and Co."²⁸ And in 1889, he had "a new and elegant carry-all."²⁹

It is difficult to evaluate whether Philip Drachman operated all these businesses at the same time, but we can infer that he was often in more than one business at a time. Whether he experienced success or failure, he always seemed able to retain his drayage business. His obituary notice attests to this:

He first engaged in the mercantile business and afterwards did an extensive freighting business between Tucson and Yuma. When the railroad was built (1880) he established a herd line here, which he has maintained ever since.³⁰

Drachman died in Tucson of pneumonia on November 9, 1889, and the news of his death was carried by both the Prescott and the Tucson papers.³¹ He had represented Pima County in the House of Representatives, 4th Territorial Legislature, at Prescott, September 4, to October 7, 1867,³² -- and had become a charter member of the Society of Arizona Pioneers at Tucson on January 31, 1884. Tucson's Arizona Lodge No. 1 of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the B'nai B'rith could also claim him as a member. Fifty-six when he died, he was buried in the Masonic Plot of Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson. The Weekly Citizen observed:

The death of Mr. Drachman has cast a gloom over the entire community, and many were the expressions of sorrow heard this morning, in the business houses and on the streets, when the sad news was announced . . . .³³

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