The Baron of Arizona

Back in the 1880s, a man from Missouri named James Addison Reavis, who was skilled in the art of forgery nearly succeeded in pulling off one of the largest land swindles in history. Reavis invented a phony family lineage that began with a Don Nemecio Silva de Peralta de la Cordoba.  The fictitious Peralta was given the title of Baron de los Colorados by King Ferdinand VI in 1748, along with a huge grant of land. The land he claimed was nearly twelve million acres, running through the hear