I
know what Wyatt Earp was thinking when he found that confessed stage
coach robber Luther King, had walked out of the Tombstone jail.
After entrusting their prisoner to the Cochise County
Sheriff Johnny Behan, Wyatt and the other members of the posse spent
2 weeks tracking King's accomplices across 100 miles of Arizona and
New Mexico desert, all the way south to the border with old Mexico,
at the head of Guadalupe Canyon. Wyatt came home dirty, exhausted and
frustrated. And then to find the one prisoner he had caught, had been
allowed to escape, Wyatt Earp was not just infuriated. He was
desperate. Allow me to explain.
Absentee
Territorial Governor John C. Fremont had named the amoral Johnny Behan (above) the new sheriff of Cochise County. Wyatt thought Johnny had promised
the job of under sheriff for Tombstone to him, but instead Behan had
pinned the badge on printer and editor of the Democrat leaning
"Tombstone Nugget", Harry
Jones Woods. And it was Woods who had allowed confessed armed robber
Luther King to saunter out of jail, with help from Johnny Behan's
business partner, John Dunbar.
Dunbar
owned the Dexter Livery Stable, on Allen Street, between Fourth and Third Streets. That was his excuse to come to the jail to pay for and pick
up Luther King's horse, which the cow boy was selling to pay for his
lawyer. And while Harry Woods was out the front door with Dunbar
finishing up the bill of sale, Luther walked out the back door,
where he found a horse, saddled and waiting. Any secrets about who
got a cut for aiding and abetting the botched robbery, rode off with
Luther King. Johnny was a skilled enough politician to know there
would be a public outrage at this display of arrogance and power by
the Cochise County Cowboys. So he poured a little whiskey on the
issue and stirred it up, producing a mud cloud.
The
weak point for the Earps was John "Doc" Holliday (above). A few
years earlier, Doc had lived in Los Vegas, New Mexico, where, a few
doors down from Holliday's dentist office had been the jewelry shop
owned by William "Bill" Leonard, one of the escaped Benson
Stage robbers. Also, Doc had occasionally
stopped by the Redfield Ranch, where Luther King had been caught.
But
most helpful for Johnny Behan, Doc's decision to join the posse had
set off a loud, passionate and public argument with his common law
Hungarian
born wife, Mary Katherine "Big Nose Kate" Horony (above, right). Doc (above, left) rode off with the Earps, but during the 2 weeks the posse was
gone, Kate was clearly miserable. Johnny took to commiserating with
her, even buying her a drink or two. Or Three, or ten. And during
one of those alcohol fueled conversations, Johnny got Kate's drunken
signature on a statement claiming Doc had been one of the Bensen
stage robbers. Johnny Behan and
Harry Woods wasted no time in arresting "Doc" Holliday as
soon as he returned from the posse.
Doc
Holliday's arrest certainly muddied the image of Luther King's
miraculous escape from Johnny Behan's jail. Still, moments after the
crime the Drew family had seen 4 men riding away. The one confirmed
member of the gang, Luther King, had named his accomplices - Harry
Head, "Bill" Leonard and Jim Crane. Doc was seen in
Charleston (above) an hour after the shooting of Bud Pierpont and Pete
Roerig. But he was looking for Ike Clanton. The most logical
explanation is that Doc heard rumors of the intended robbery, and was
looking for Ike to identify the robbers before going to Virgil Earp.
But such a story would imply that Ike Clanton could be expected to
betray the Cow Boys.
Wyatt
Earp had no doubts about Doc's innocence of the charge. He paid Doc's
bail. And as soon as "Big Nose" Kate sobered up, she
recanted her statement. All charges against Doc Holliday were
dropped. Only then could the Earps return to pursuing the criminals. One
night in late May of 1881, Wyatt stepped away from his faro table
in the Golden Eagle Brewery (above), and approached three men eating dinner in the Occidental hotel bar.
Wyatt asked if he could buy the men a drink. And while their
cocktails were being prepared, Wyatt sat and began to talk.
The
three men were Ike Clanton (above), Frank McLaury, and...
..."Joe Hill" (above,) He was known as "rancher" in Arizona and New Mexico. But under his real name, Joseph Graves Olney, he was wanted for the deaths of 3 men in Texas - one them a deputy sheriff, and at least one other man in New Mexico. The three Cow Boys were
suspicious, but willing to listen when Wyatt suggested he had a plan
for them to make $3,500. Did they want to hear the details? The Cow Boys said yes, there were willing to listen. Wyatt then mysteriously
added that he would only continue if they first swore to keep their
conversation secret, even if they decided to turn down the deal to be offered. Reluctantly Clanton, McLaury and Olney swore they would
never tell anyone what Wyatt was about to say. Then Wyatt asked his
captive audience to step out into the middle of Fifth Street, where
they could speak without being overheard.
Once
in the middle of the wide dark street, Wyatt elicited yet another
promise that their conversation would remain secret, even if they
rejected his offer. And only after Clanton, McLaury and "Hill" had
sworn yet again, did Wyatt Earp (above) lay out his plan. As Wyatt later
testified, "I told them I wanted the glory of capturing Leonard,
Head, and Crane and if I could do it, it would help me make the race
for Sheriff at the next election. I told them if they would...tell me
where those men were hid, I would give them all the reward and would
never let anyone know where I got the information."
The
reward being offered by Wells Fargo for Bill Leonard, Harry "The
Kid" Head and Jim Crane was $1,200 apiecce. It would have been
higher, if the crooks had actually stolen the $26,000 silver
shipment. But it was still high enough that it tempted the 3 Cow Boys to consider betraying their "friends".
According to
Wyatt, “Ike Clanton (above) said he would like to see them captured. He
said that Leonard claimed a ranch that he claimed, and that if he
could get him out of the way, he would have no opposition in regard
to that ranch. Clanton said that Leonard, Head, and Crane would make
a fight, that they would never be taken alive, and that I must find
out if the reward would be paid for the capture of the robbers dead
or alive."
The
next morning Wyatt Earp dropped by the adobe Wells Fargo office on
Fremont Street, and asked agent Marshall Williams the exact
conditions on the rewards for the three accused murderers. Williams
agreed to telegraph the company home office in San Francisco, for
clarification.
By
1870 Wells Fargo had a virtual monopoly on all stage service
connecting towns and villages with the Southern Pacific Railroad and
its trunk lines - everything between Idaho and the Mexican border,
and Nebraska and the California coast. Wells Fargo could extend or
contract their 3,000 miles of routes at will, extort subsidies from
states and cities to ensure service.
Wells Fargo could afford to
undercut their competition on valuable routes by gouging customers on
established ones. Wells Fargo even earned a profit from their few
competitors because they insured shipments on those carriers, such as
the silver bars on the Tombstone to Benson stage. Wells Fargo agents,
like William Sheriff in Tombstone, were unlicensed lawmen, with
unlimited jurisdiction and without legal limitations.
Again,
according to Wyatt, "The next day I met Ike Clanton and Joe Hill
on Allen Street (above) in front of a little cigar store next to the
Alhambra." He showed the telegram confirming the reward for all
three Cow Boys was "dead or alive. " It was then
agreed....they were to have all the $3,600 reward, outside of
necessary expenses for horse hire in going after them."
Frank McLaury (above) and Ike Clanton's plan to lure the fugitives back was for Jose Olney to ride to
New Mexico, where the 3 were hiding. He would tell them that because
water had been struck in the mines - which it had - the mines were going to be shut down and a paymaster was bringing enough cash to pay off the miners. He would be
traveling on the Bisbee to Tombstone stage. According to Wyatt, they
would meet "near Frank and Tom McLaury's ranch near Soldier's
Holes....I would be on hand with a posse and capture them."
It
seems clear Ike, Tom and Olney were hopeful Wyatt's posse would simply murder
Leonard, Head and Crane, thus preventing any revelations they
might provide. In fact, Luther King had already been shot dead by
the very men who had helped him to escape. Supposedly this was
retribution for naming his accomplices. But it was also because the
botched robbery had produced no income, but a lot of unwanted
attention. Ike, Frank and Joe's plan would at least provide $3,600
compensation for the Cochise County Cow Boys. In short their reaction to Wyatt's offer was exactly
what the Earps had hoped it would be.
That
the plan was generally known among both sides was shown when Joe Hill
left his watch and $300 in cash with Federal Marshal Virgil Earp, as
a guarantee of his return from New Mexico. But Joe's mission was a actually trap, half of a vice that was now closing, squeezing the Cochise
County Cow Boys right out of existence.
-
30 -
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please share your reaction.