Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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“PUNGLE UP”



Brazen Bill Brazelton was a fearsome looking devil, which stood in well for him as an Arizona stagecoach robber. On July 31, 1878 he decided to have a go at the Florence stage near Point of the Mountain outside of Tucson. He stopped the stage single-handed, ordered the driver to throw down the Wells Fargo box and mail bags, then ordered the passengers out and made them “pungle up” their billfolds and valuables. It was not a term commonly used around Tucson but those passengers quickly got his meaning and handed over booty amounting to $37. The newspaperman, John Clum, was a passenger on that stage and remarked that it wasn’t much of a take and that the robber would probably try again pretty soon. Sure enough, on August 14 Brazen Bill knocked that stage over again in the same place and the passengers “pungled up” a total of $234 this time. He would have got away clean the second time too but his horse left a distinctive track. Sheriff Charlie Shibell’s men soon located the horse in a local corral. They arrested the man who operated the corral and leaned on him until he rolled over on Brazelton. On the dark evening of August 19, 1878 a sheriff’s posse ambushed and killed Brazen Bill Brazelton. Some of the stolen booty and the holdup mask were found on his person. The picture shows the site of the stage coach robberies.

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Photos

PUNGLE UP
From exit 242 on I-10 west of Tucson take W. Avra Valley Road eastward about a mile and a quarter to Cement Plant Road and park at the trailhead. The holdup site is about half a mile east up the trail on the south side of the Santa Cruz River.