Cochise County is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise.
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who killed at least two men in Cochise County during 1877–82. Both killings were considered to have been self-defense. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone,Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan. Stilwell owned interests in several mines and various businesses,including a saloon,a wholesale liquor business,a stage line,and at his death livery stables in Charleston and Bisbee. He was also a partner in a Bisbee-area saloon with ex-Texas Ranger Pete Spence.
Cochise County in southeastern Arizona was the scene of a number of violent conflicts in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West,including between white settlers and Apache Indians,between opposing political and economic factions,and between outlaw gangs and local law enforcement. Cochise County was carved off in 1881 from the easternmost portion of Pima County during a formative period in the American Southwest. The era was characterized by rapidly growing boomtowns,the emergence of large-scale farming and ranching interests,lucrative mining operations,and the development of new technologies in railroading and telecommunications. Complicating the situation was staunch resistance to white settlement from local Native American groups,most notably during the Apache Wars,as well as Cochise County's location on the border with Mexico,which not only threatened international conflict but also presented opportunities for criminal smugglers and cattle rustlers.
The Bisbee massacre occurred in Bisbee,Arizona,on December 8,1883,when six outlaws who were part of the Cochise County Cowboys robbed a general store. Believing the general store's safe contained a mining payroll of $7,000,they timed the robbery incorrectly and were only able to steal between $800 to $3,000,along with a gold watch and jewelry. During the robbery,members of the gang killed four people,including a lawman and a pregnant woman. Six men were convicted of the robbery and murders. John Heath,who was accused of organizing the robbery,was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison. The other five men were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The 1914 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 3,1914,for the post of the Governor of Arizona. The Supreme Court of Arizona ruled that there would be no statewide elections in 1912,thus extending the terms to sync up with elections on even years. The Democratic nominee was incumbent governor George W. P. Hunt,his Republican opponent was the final Delegate to Congress from Arizona Territory,Ralph H. Cameron. Cameron was disadvantaged by the same reason the previous Republican nominee Wells was:he had opposed statehood with the present Constitution.
The 1918 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 5,1918,for the post of the Governor of Arizona. Thomas Campbell,who served a partial term in 1917 and had his election overturned by the Supreme Court of Arizona,returned to contest the Governors office. Incumbent Governor Hunt declined to run again after the stress of the close elections and the year-long court battle. Despite falling to its lowest percentage in years,the sole third party challenger held the difference between the two candidates. The Democratic challenger was state senator Fred T. Colter,a pro-Hunt Democrat.
Fred Tuttle Colter was an Arizona rancher and farmer,as well as being the state senator for Apache County beginning with Arizona's second state legislature in 1915. Colter spent six terms in the Arizona Senate. He also led the fight on Arizona's behalf to maintain control over the water from the Colorado River,coining the slogan,"Save the Colorado for Arizona". He was a close ally of the state's first governor,George W. P. Hunt. Prior to his election to the state senate,Colter had served as the state's fair commissioner.
Fred Arthur Sutter Sr. was an Arizona attorney and politician. He ran several times,unsuccessfully,for governor of the state,and was elected several times to the state legislature.
The Ten-Percent Ring was a title given by the newspaper editors of The Tombstone Epitaph in 1881 to Johnny Behan and his friends for stealing about ten percent of the local Tombstone,Arizona taxes in the 1880s. Milt Joyce (1847–1889),owner of the Oriental Saloon and chairman of Cochise County,Arizona supervisors,was also seen as a leader of the Ten Percent Ring. The Tombstone Epitaph was started by John Clum in 1880. The newspaper outlined the corruption charges of Johnny Behan the Cochise County sheriff. When Johnny Behan was the Cochise County sheriff one of his duties was collecting prostitution,gambling,liquor,and theater taxes. As part of his pay,he received 10% of all proceeds collected. There was much talk in the town about the graft political corruption of the sheriff. For this many saw Behan as the head of the Ten Percent Ring and a friend of the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. Others accused of membership in the ring was Artemus Fay (?–1906),owner of the Tombstone's first newspaper,the Tombstone Weekly Nugget and Harry Wood (1848–1896) a writer for the Weekly Nugget and an under-sheriff of Behan. Along with stealing tax funds,the Ten Percent Ring helped in election fraud and helping the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. Behan so focused on taxes,that he was very soft on crime. Soon after Behan became sheriff,Virgil Earp was appointed Tombstone city marshal and had his brothers Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp become special deputy policemen. Behan and the Earps were at conflict as Behan supported the outlaw Clanton and McLaury families. After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the murder of Morgan Earp,Behan did nothing to find the killers of Morgan Earp. Rather than look for Morgan's killers,Behan put out warrants for U.S. marshal Virgil Earp and Wyatt for killing outlaws. On January 31,1882,Behan was arrested for collecting bills totaling $300 twice,arraigned in front of Justice Stilwell,and discharged due to a technicality. Behan failed to win re-election as sheriff in November of 1882;he would not serve as a peace officer again. Later,he was appointed as the warden of the Yuma Territorial Prison and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912. Milt Joyce departed Tombstone in 1883. On October 10,1880 Joyce and Doc Holliday had a shoot-out at the Oriental. Joyce died in 1889 at the age of 42 in San Francisco,where he was the owner of the Baldwin Billiard Parlor in 1883 and later the Cafe Royal in San Francisco. Harry M. Woods,a Pennsylvania Infantry Union Veteran,moved to from Tombstone to Nogales,Arizona where he was a tax collector until his death in 1896. After Artemus Fay departed the Weekly Nugget,which burned in the great fire of 1882 and did not re-open,he worked at the Nugget Mine in Dos Cabezas and start a short-lived paper there,the GoNote. After the death of his wife,Fay moved to Flagstaff and started a newspaper there.
Rosa Lyons McKay was an American politician. She was one of the first women elected to the Arizona state legislature,serving in the 1917–1918,1919–1920,and 1923–1924 sessions. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 2019.
W.P. Sims was a politician and dentist from Arizona. He served in Arizona State Senate in the 1st,2nd,and 5th - 7th State Legislatures. He served as the President of the Senate during the 2nd Legislature.
C. M. Roberts was an American politician who served in the first Arizona State Senate.
Alfred Kinney was a politician from Arizona. He was one of the first two state senators from Gila County,serving in the first 3 state legislatures,and the 6th through 10th legislatures,a total of 8 legislatures overall.
H. A. Davis was an American politician from Arizona,who served as a senator in the 1st Arizona State Legislature. He was also a newspaperman and owned a printing business.
John T. Hughes was a politician from Arizona who served in the 1st Arizona State Legislature. He was also a newspaper man,editing and publishing his father's paper,the Arizona Daily Star,and an attorney,the first native-born Arizonan to be admitted to the Arizona bar. Additionally,he had several mining and real estate interests.
Colonel A. A. Worsley was a politician from Arizona who served in the 1st Arizona State Legislature. Worsley was also an attorney,who practiced in Tucson,Arizona. He was married to Alice J. Worsley.
Michael Glenn Cunniff was a politician from Arizona who served in the 1st Arizona State Legislature. He was the first president of the Arizona senate,a journalist,and an English professor at Harvard and the University of Wisconsin.
Homer R. Wood was a politician from Arizona who served in the 1st Arizona State Legislature.
John Elmer Bacon was a politician from Arizona who served a single term in the Arizona state senate during the 2nd Arizona State Legislature. He was a doctor and surgeon who was an early proponent of Joseph Lister's theories on antiseptic measures. He was a charter member of the American College of Surgeons,and helped found the Southwest Medical and Surgical Association,and was president of the Arizona Medical Association. He was also one of the founders of the Arizona State League,a professional baseball league.
Ernest R. Hall was an Arizona politician who served a single term in the Arizona State Senate during the 3rd Arizona State Legislature. He ran several other times for the state legislature,mostly for the State Senate,but once for the State House of Representatives. He also ran three times for Arizona Secretary of State,winning in the 1920 election. Other offices he held were justice of the peace and postmaster,both in the Salome,Arizona area. He was a combat veteran of World War I,and was a very successful farmer in Maricopa County for several decades.
