Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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THE BUCKET OF BLOOD



Pleasant Valley, AZ is a beautiful corner of creation but it was settled, in part, by racist knuckleheads named Graham who simply could not keep from robbing from their neighbors and telling lies about it. The Grahams had a herd of cattle and were looking for range. The Tewksburys already had a ranch in Pleasant Valley but use more cattle. An agreement was reached between the two families in which they would share the range and the cattle. The Grahams sold all of the cattle, but kept all of the money for themselves and expected to continue using Tewksbury range. The Tewksburys responded by leasing their range to sheep men. The animosity that arose led to the bloody Graham/Tewksbury Feud. The Tewksburys were viciously set upon because they were a mixed blood family. The Tewksburys had some mighty rough bark on themselves and were capable of extreme violence which tended to solidify ill feelings against them. The Martin Blevins Family were Graham partisans in the feud. Martin rode off one day and vanished. Anything could have happened to him, but foul play by the Tewksburys was suspected. A son, Hampton Blevins, was killed in an attack on the Tewksburys on August 9, 1887. Young Billy Graham was shot on August 18 and died two days later. In retaliation Andy Blevins ambushed and killed John Tewksbury and William Jacobs on September 2. He then scampered off to the Blevins Family home in Holbrook. Apache County Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens had a warrant charging Andy with horse theft. On September 4 Owens went to Blevins home to serve the warrant. Andy went for his gun and Owens killed him through the front door. Andy’s brother, John, got off a shot that missed the sheriff but killed a nearby horse and Owens shot him too. A brother-in-law, Mose Roberts, then hopped out a window with a six-gun but before he could bring it to bear Owens killed him too. Fifteen year old Sam Houston Blevins grabbed Andy’s six-gun and jumped into the fight and Owens killed him too. John Blevins survived his gunshot wound but was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to a stretch in Yuma Territorial Prison. The governor paroled John during the train trip to Yuma, but Owens - who escorting the prisoner to jail, refused to purchase a return train ticket for John. He had to walk all of the way back home to greet a surprised wife. Folks in Holbrook refer to the attempted arrest of Andy Blevins as the Bucket of Blood Shooting. The photo shows the Blevins house in Holbrook.

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Photos

THE BUCKET OF BLOOD
The Blevins House has been expanded into a museum. It is on NE Central between 1st and 2nd Streets on the north side of the railroad tracks and east of Navajo Blvd (Hwy77).