Tombstone, Arizona Frontier justice was quick in Tombstone in the 1880s. Five men were hanged on March 28, 1884 at the Tombstone Courthouse for their part in the failed robbery and murder of four in the so-called Bisbee Massacre of December 8, 1883. The mastermind of the holdup, John Heath, got a life sentence in Yuma Territorial Prison. But outraged Tombstone citizens broke Heath out of the courthouse jail, got a rope and hanged him from a nearby telegraph pole. Five weeks later, the others dropped to their deaths at the courthouse gallows, according to Curtis Miles, Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park manager. That violent tale is just one of many told at the courthouse, which is an essential stop in Tombstone. In addition to accurate portrayals of the O.K. Corral shootout, the state historic park has a recreated gallows outside the redbrick Victorian building. The courthouse was abandoned after the Cochise County seat moved to Bisbee in 1929, just as the Great Depression tanked the Tombstone economy. The town had already been suffering as mining declined over several decades. But Tombstone soldiered on, earning its nickname The Town Too Tough to Die. The big renaissance of Tombstone followed the development of the motion picture industry and the invention of the Western film genre. That led to 40 or 50 Western-themed shows on three networks in the 1950s and ’60s. Those movies and TV shows captured the attention of generations of viewers now drawn to such Western outposts as Tombstone. RV Lifestyle Prescott, Arizona A half-century ago, one of Prescott’s many Victorian-era homes was facing demolition to make way for a Jack in the Box restaurant. But a grassroots campaign raised $25,000 to move Bashford House – built in 1877 – eight blocks to the Sharlot Hall Museum. It was restored two years later and sits near the Territorial Governor’s Mansion, a modest 1864 log cabin. “People here have always had that kind of appreciation for preserving the history of Prescott. That’s just what makes it so special” said Kathy Mancino, sheriff of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International. The 225-member, 50-year-old Prescott Corral is one of the largest groups of Westerners International, which was founded in 1944; it has 60 U.S. chapters and 20 abroad. The Prescott organization, whose purpose is to preserve authentic Western history, is among a slew of groups and local museums celebrating stories of the Old West. These include historical societies, Arizona Rough Riders, Whiskey Row Renegades, Prescott Regulators, Elks Opera House Guild and Yavapai Cowbelles – a ranchers’ group established in 1949. Prescott’s museum scene is impressive for a city its size. It includes the above-mentioned Sharlot Hall Museum, Phippen Western Art & Heritage Museum, Museum of Indigenous People and a storefront Western Heritage Center on Whiskey Row. The 1916 Yavapai Courthouse Plaza is the hub of the Prescott visitor experience, along with Whiskey Row. A monument honouring Rough Rider Buckey O’Neill graces the plaza. Whiskey Row’s most prominent watering hole is the Palace Restaurant and Saloon, which was rebuilt in 1901 after a disastrous fire levelled the 1877 saloon. The infamous Earp Brothers and Doc Holliday drank at the old Palace. Doc’s common-law wife, known as Big Nose Kate, is buried at the Prescott Pioneer Home Cemetery – just down the hill from Sharlot Hall. CSANews | FALL 2023 | 21
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx