I
know what 31 year old John Harris Behan (above) was thinking that December of
1880, while listening to Wyatt Earp, the ex-under-sheriff for
Tombstone, Pima County, Arizona. Johnny Behan, the current under
sheriff for Tombstone, was thinking about Johnny Behan, because that
was always what Johnny Behan was always thinking about. Wyatt
had resigned as under-sheriff to protest the rigged November 1880
election for Pima County Sheriff, in which his friend and fellow
Republican, Bob Paul, had come 46 votes short to Democrat Charles
Shibell. But Wyatt's act of principle had allowed Shibell to appoint
Johnny Behan to replace Wyatt.
Now,
both Johnny and Wyatt wanted the lucrative positon of sheriff of the
new Cochise
County, set to come into existence in early 1881. So that December
night, Wyatt offered to withdraw from the race. In exchange, Johnny
would appoint Wyatt as his under-sheriff for the town of Tombstone (above),
the job Wyatt had just given up. Johnny seemed agreeable, as he
always did, and Wyatt left the meeting convinced they had a deal. But
with Johnny (below, left), nothing was ever simple.
Johnny
Behan's entire career was the monitarization of his sex life. When petite Victoria Behan (above, right) filed for divorce in 1875, she cited her husband's
addiction to "houses of ill fame and prostitution"
mentioning one prostitute in particular, "...Sada Mansfield...."
But, as Wikapedia notes, Johnny's numerous liasons included "...the
wives of friends and business partners." It raises the question
of what kind of a man "counts coup" on his "friends".
In October, 1879, the now single Behan opened a saloon in the
central Arizona boom town of Tip Top. There were four other taverns
in the town of 500, and Johnny's primary draw for customers was the
"Courtesan" services offered by 19 year old Sada Mansfield.
Sada (above) or "Sadie" or "Sarah" invented so many stories about herself, it is difficult to pick the
ones most likely to be accurate. She probably ran away from her orthodox Jewish home at the age of 13,
fleeing San Francisco in the company of well known madam, Hattie
Wells. They arrived together in Prescott, Arizona sometime in 1874,
where the young girl went to work in Well's Granite Street brothel. Being
a prostitute gave her independence, which she exercised in 1879 by
moving to Tip Top with Johnny Behan. By the time she was 20 years old
she had borrowed the name of "Josphene Marcus" from an
actress in a traveling theatrical troupe. Sadie admitted years
later, "My blood demanded excitement, variety and change."
Johnny (above) and Josephine moved to Tombstone in September of 1880. Having served
2 terms as a Republican state legislater for Mohave County, Behan now
took a job as bar manager in the Grand Hotel, a hang out for the 'cow
boys', who were solidly Democrats. Sadie's talents cemented Johnny's
friendships "aross the aisle". At the same time he
cemented his Republican ties by investing his earnings from Tip Top
in Tombstone's Dexter Livery Stable, owned by John Dunbar, whose
family had close ties to the infamous Republican Presidental hopeful
, Senator James Blain, "The Continental Liar from the state of
Maine". All of which made Johnny seem the obvious choice as
Sheriff of the new Cochise County. Wyatt knew he needed a little
publicity if he was going to secure the job as under-sheriff for
Tombstone. The opportunity for that good press appeared on Tuesday,
15 March, 1881, when the 6:00pm northbound Tombstone to Benson
stage coach was held up.
By about 7:30pm, the
coach, carrying 7 passangers, a driver and a guard and a strongbox containing 6 bars of silver bullion worth $26,000 - over half a million dollars
today - all pulled by 6 horses, was about a mile passed the cut off
to the San Pedro River mill town of Contention City, and just 200
yards short of a hill top station run by the widow Georgina Drew and
her 5 children - the half way mark between Tombstone and Benson. As
the driver slowed to climb the rise a man appeared in the road,
wearing a mask and wig. He waved a shotgun and ordered the coach to
"Hold!".
The
driver, Eli "Bud" Pierpott, seemed to refuse. Another of
the would-be robbers fired from the brush beside the road, hitting
Bud in the heart. He fell forward, falling onto the traces between "the
wheelers" - the horses closest to the 48 inch wheels - and then
under the coach. The gunshot, the loss of pressure on the reins, and
the jerk on the load they were pulling, all panicked the horses, who
bolted up the hill. The shot gun guard, sheriff candidate Bob Paul,
let loose both barrels from his weapon. About 20 shots were fired
from the brush as the stage lurched past, one of them hitting the back of a miner riding in the "dickie seat" above and behind the driver, a man named Peter Roerig.
The
gunshots, and then the stage racing through the station, alerted Mrs.
Drew and her children, who were waiting to change the horse team and
sell the travelers a little food and drink for a dollar apiece. They
found Bud Pierpott lying dead in the road, and saw 4 men riding off
from the scene. A mile north (above) Bob Paul managed to recapture the 6
reins, and pulled the winded horses to a
stop before they capsized the coach. Pete Roerig was in a bad way,
but none of the other passangers were injured. So Paul drove the
horses and coach hard the remaining 14 miles to Benson, the Southern
Pacific railroad and the telegraph. He got there not long before
10:00pm that night.
After
seeing to poor Pete Roerig - he would die shortly after reaching
Benson - and locking the silver bullion safely in the railroad companies' safe, Bob Paul (above) telegraphed the Deputy Federal Marshall in Tombstone,
Virgil Earp.
By midnight, perhaps the most impressive posse ever
formed in the old west - Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp, gambler John
"Doc" Hoiday, Wells Fargo agent Marshall Williams and
Wyatt's friend and fellow lawman from Dodge City Kansas, Bat
Masterson - were all provisioned, mounted and on the road to Drew
station, 12 miles north.
Bob
Paul was first to return to the scene of the crime. Near the hold
up site, he found three masks, and tracks that led east. Now leading
the Tombstone posse, Paul followed the trail to sprawling ranch run by Henry and Leonard "Lem" Redfield, where they cornered and captured the unhappy cow boy Luther
King. He readily admitted to being involved, but insisted his only
task had been holding the horses. But he also identified the other 3
highway men as Harry "The Kid" Head, one time jeweler William "Bill" Lenoard and Jim Crane. King said that Crane had been wounded in the thigh,
although by Paul's hasty shot gun blast or by his own six shooter, is
unclear.
The
capture of King presented a dilemma. The crime had been committed
halfway between Tombstone and Benson. And while Deputy Federal
Marshal Virgil Earp had authority throughout the territory, the trial
of the killers of Pete Roerig and Bud Pierpott would do Wyatt (above) the
most good if held in Tombstone. So,
come sun up on Thursday, 17 March, 1881, the 7 lawmen gave up their
search for the other 3 members of the gang, and began escorting
Luther King back toward Tombstone.
It
was a stroke of luck, then, when, they ran into Cochies Sheriff Johnny
Behan and a deputy, riding north, in search of the gang. Johnny took
possession of Luther King - even insisted on it - freeing Paul, the
Earps, Holiday and Marshall to return to the pursuit. They tracked
Harry Head, Bill Leonard and Jim Crane for 2 weeks, south and east into the San Simon Valley (above, lower right) , into New
Mexico, all the way to the northern mouth of Guadalupe Canyon, just
above the Mexican border. Then, short of provisions, and with no
funds to obtain more, they were forced to return to Tombstone.
To
their surprise, they discovered that although under- sheriff Behan
had locked Luther King securely in the Tombstone jail, the cow boy
had managed to slip out the back door and
disappear. And, poof! All the effort and expense of sweat, leather and horse
flesh were for naught. Any hope Wyatt Earp had of becoming sheriff of Tombstone vanished along with Mr. King. Wyatt was going to have
to think of something else.
According
to the Tombstone Epitaph", it was not long after this, in April
of 1881, that "Sadie" Marcus (above and below) returned home early from a trip and found Johnny in their bed
with the wife of a "friend". Who the friend was, is
unstated, but that was Johnny's modus operendi. But the Epitath was clear that the 20 year old lady kicked
Johnny out of their house, and became a truely independent operator.
It must have been about this same time, the self posessed lady met Wyatt Earp.
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