After Office
Business activities occupied Stevens' time after he left office. The early 1880s saw him purchase a ranch near Sahuarita and become part owner in the largest general store in Tucson. He additionally became a moneylender, charging the prevailing rate of 2%/month. When Tucson was considering conversion from gas to electric lighting in 1884, Stevens was a major opponent of the proposal. Following his death it was discovered he owned 100,000 shares of Tucson Gas Company stock. In other activities, Stevens was the second President of Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society. Tucson's first Protestant church was built on land he donated and he is credited with planting the area's first pepper trees.
Stevens died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on March 22, 1893. His business interests had taken a downturn with creditors filing for attachment four days before Stevens' death. Stevens shot his wife, inflicting only a minor wound, and then turned a second gun on himself. Later investigate decided his financial troubles were insufficient to explain the suicide and could only determine the action was taken during a period of severe mental distress. Stevens was buried at Tucson's Catholic cemetery in one of the largest funerals the city had ever seen. His remains were later moved to Tucson's Evergreen Cemetery.
Read more about this topic: Hiram Sanford Stevens
Famous quotes containing the word office:
“A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office every day. Not because he likes it but because he can’t think of anything else to do.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“Just across the Green from the post office is the county jail, seldom occupied except by some backwoodsman who has been intemperate; the courthouse is under the same roof. The dog warden usually basks in the sunlight near the harness store or the post office, his golden badge polished bright.”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)