Blogs from Tombstone, Arizona, United States, North America - page 3

JIM BURNETT The towns of Charleston and Contention City sprang into being as mill sites in support of the Tombstone mines. Most of the revenue generated from mining operations went back to Tombstone and Tombstone quickly became a wealthy and prosperous town; a town of churches and schools and men of substance. Charleston and Contention City were boom towns that quickly returned to dust once mining stopped. In its full boom Charleston roared loudest by far. Lawlessness among its celebrants flourished there and that is the way they liked it. Those folks from Charleston were a rowdy bunch. Jim Burnett found himself in the midst of those merry makers from the very beginning of that community. Somehow he had attained the lofty position of Justice of the Peace and he pursued it ... read more

CAPTAIN TOM JEFFORDS Tom was born in Chautauqua, NY on Jan 1, 1832 and was raised on the shore of Chautauqua Lake. As a young man he rose to command of a steamship on Lake Erie. Folks have been calling him Captain Jeffords ever since. When his boat sank in a storm he realized that being aboard a ship was really pretty much like being in jail with the added and very real risk of drowning. In 1858 he went to work for Ben Holliday laying out the Overland Trail between Leavenworth and Denver. He spent the winter of 1859 in Taos and the following spring went prospecting in the San Juan Mountains. When the Civil War came to New Mexico in 1862 he signed on as a civilian scout for the Army and ... read more

CURLY BILL BROCIOUS Curly Bill was a small time cow thief who was fond of raising a little hell when he had been drinking. Although handy with a gun he was not the feared desperado that Hollywood has since made him out to be. He started out as Bill Bresnaham and as a young man drifted into New Mexico and found work as a cowboy on John Kinney’s ranch. Before long he became friends with Bob Martin, one of Kinney’s merry gang ofrogues. On September 12, 1878 Martin and Bresnaham were convicted of killing a buffalo soldier during an attempted robbery near El Paso. They were bound over to the custody of the Texas Rangers pending appeal, but on November 9 they escaped and fled into Mexico. Bill cut a low profile ... read more

BUCKSKIN FRANK LESLIE Buckskin Frank Leslie arrived in Tombstone in the spring of 1879 from San Francisco. He was an affable, well-spoken man when he was sober, but he was dearly fond of the bottle and when he was drunk just so he could be mean and treacherous. He soon took up with a woman named Mary Killeen whose marriage was on the rocks. Her husband Mike Killeen was a jealous man and warned them both to knock it off. When they politely ignored him he attacked Leslie and was killed. It was the first gun violence in Tombstone, and a week later the happy couple married in what was probably the first wedding in Tombstone. In between fires Buckskin Frank tended bar at the Oriental. Mary soon divorced him because of ... read more

23rd Aug ’12 Tucson to Tombstone So we saddled up and rode on out of town, we had about 70 miles of desert to cross and the sun was high and hot! There was little to see but rocks, scrubby bush, mountains a ways off on the horizon and the shimmering heat on the trail. Luckily our car has air conditioning and we had plenty of drinks in the cool bag. Still it was a relief to pull into Tombstone – The Town Too Tough To Die! Our first stop was right on the outskirts of town, at the Boothill Graveyard – so named as most of the inhabitants died with their boots on. It was free to visit but for $3 you could get a leaflet with the layout and information on who was buried ... read more