In July 1869 Cooley persuaded a few companions to help him search for the treasure. Their departure point was Zuñi, New Mexico. In August Cooley acquired the help of Miguel, the one-eyed chief of the "Coyoteros" (White Mountain Apaches). Miguel guided them to what is now called Sombrero Peak (near the Sierra Anchas, north of Globe). They were unsuccessful in finding any gold. Miguel then suggested they go further south--to the Pinal Mountains. When they approached the mountains, however, Pinal Apaches warned them to proceed no further. Cooley's parthy then doubled back to the Black River, where they met a cavalry troop commanded by Colonel John Green (shortly thereafter Green established Fort Apache). Green allowed some of his troopers to accompany Cooley to Fort McDowell, and then Cooley continued on to Swilling's Ranch (which later became Phoenix). At Swilling's Ranch Cooley prepared another expedition into the region.
In the meantime, another prospecting party, headed by a saloonkeeper named Calvin Jackson, left Prescott on September 8. This party also intended to prospect in the same region. Both Cooley's and Jackson's parties were attacked by Apaches, and a cavalry patrol out of Fort McDowell, headed by Colonel George B. Sanford, therefore decided that the two parties should be united for their own safety. The two parties joined on 26 September 1869 near the mouth of Canyon Creek. The prospectors then explored up the Salt River for about thirty miles, but found no gold. It was about this time that Cooley decided that Thorn's story was "unreliable." He returned to Swilling's Ranch before November.
Calvin Jackson, however, continued to prospect in the Pinal Mountains. He was joined by a former member of Cooley's expedition, William A. "Hunkydory" Holmes. Holmes was later to become a prominent citizen of Globe. (He died, apparently of a heart attack, at the time of the Apache Kid outbreak at Ripsey Wash in October 1889.) The Pinal Mountain prospectors began to be harassed by Apaches, and so they set up a rude fort in late October 1869 at Big Johnny Gulch, two miles north of what was later to become Globe. The fort still exists, testimony to a tenacious bunch of gold hunters. They hadn't found gold, but they did find silver. Jackson's party returned to Prescott in November 1869. For the next year Jackson was too occupied around Prescott to return, but he finally did in November 1870. This time a number of others were with him, and fifteen claims were staked--the first claims in what was to become one of the richest mineral districts in the nation. However, as the Apaches did not like all this activity, they let their displeasure be made known to Jackson, and he quickly retreated to the safety of Prescott.
By this time the Pinal Mountain region was becoming a true "bone of contention." The U.S. Army was sending many expeditions into the area to suppress the Apaches, and they responded in kind. The presence of treasure seekers made the situation considerably more complex. Something had to give, and it was at this time, 30 April 1871, that the horrendous Camp Grant Massacre occurred. This was the first truly serious defeat the Apaches (San Carlos) were to suffer.
Still another prospecting expedition entered the Pinal Mountain area in August 1871. It was a huge one, consisting of over 300 individuals, including the governor of the Territory of Arizona, Anson P.K. Safford. They were led by Thomas Miner, who claimed he had found a gold placer in the Pinal Mountains a decade before. The expedition wandered all over the area--from old Camp Grant (near the Gila River) to the top of the Sierra Anchas. It was a true comedy of errors, with wild claims made by Miner, disagreements over routes, contentions about food, etc., etc.
Eventually, Miner was completely discredited, and the prospectors returned to their homes in Prescott, Florence, Tucson, etc. However, Hunkydory Holmes, who was also in the expedition, and a few of his companions simply returned to their claims at Big Johnny Gulch. They had never really believed Miner in the first place, but had gone along for the adventure. On 28 September 1871 they organized themselves into the Pinal Mining Company, at a place they called "Cottonwood Springs, Arizona Territory." Soon other prospectors also began making claims throughout the region. The miners intended to stay.
Of course, the San Carlos Apaches tried again to prohibit these excursions into their territory. They were successful for about a year, but in the fall of 1871 General George Crook began his Tonto campaigns. These were very complex and bloody, and will not be discussed at this point. More information can be found on my Apache Warspage. Nevertheless, by the spring of 1873 Crook's campaign had terminated nearly all San Carlos Apache resistance. Nothing could now hold back the miners. David and Robert Anderson of Florence led still another prospecting expedition into the Pinal Mountains in September 1873. These individuals were the first to file the "Globe Ledge" claims. Among those making these claims were: David Anderson, Robert Anderson, Benjamin Reagan, Isaac Copeland, william Long, J.E. Clark, T. Irvine, William Folsom, P. King, M. Welch, M. H. Samson, B. Edwards, and J. Riley. Several of these individuals later were prominent in Globe affairs.
By the fall of 1875 some of the many mining claims in and around the Pinals had been visited by the 22-year-old San Carlos Indian Agent John Clum. In late October Tucson citizens drew up a petition asking the Secretary of Interior to restore the mineral region to public lands (removing them entirely from the already-established San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation). Clum agreed, and recommended the proposition to the Secretary. Thus, the region was cut off from the reservation and became the "Globe Mining District." The Mining Act of 1872 was adopted as the law governing the district. Officers were elected, and everything was legally lock-tight. Silver was soon found in many places: the Globe Ledge (then called Andrew Hammond's Camp), Richmond Basin, the Stonewall Jackson, Pioneer, Ramboz Camp, etc. Miners poured into the area. The townsite of "Globe City" was laid out in July 1876, officials wer elected, and even retail stores began to appear. "Civilization" had arrived.
Mining interests took a large leap forward in early 1877 when James F. Gerald became the Mine Superintendent of the Globe Mining District. Reduction works were begun at Miami Wash, and larger scale production began. Mrs. A C. Swift opened the first school in December 1877 with 20 pupils. A stage was operating between Silver City, New Mexico, by 1878, and on 2 May 1878 the first issue of the Arizona Silver Belt, Globe's newspaper, still in operation, was begun by the colorful "Judge" Aaron Harrison Hackney. M.W. Bremen began operating a sawmill in the Pinal Mountains in 1879 (In Six Shooter Canyon--named for the miners who wore pistols for protection--where this author lives), and Reverend J. J. Wingar began St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church in April 1880 (also still located in Globe). In February 1881 Globe became the seat of a new Arizona county: Gila County; and the future six-term governor of Arizona, George Wiley Paul Hunt, began waiting on tables in one of Globe's saloons--his first job to eventual success and fame.
By 1881 interest in copper increased because of a silver glut. Globe then embarked upon its most profitable adventure: copper mining--still very much alive today. The Old Dominion mining company began building a 30-ton furnace at Bloody Tanks in March 1882. The furnace was moved to Globe in May, and the Old Dominion Copper Mining Company was begun. Silver mining in the Globe area virtually ceased by 1887.
Although the area was incredibly changed by the 1880s, there were, however, many instances of behavior indicative of Globe's frontier nature. It was extremely isolated, about a hundred miles from anywhere else that could be considered "civilization." Isolation bred outlawry. The proximity ot the Apache Indian Reservation also invited trouble. Such trouble occurred many times in Globe's history. In fact, in some ways, to this day that trouble reappears. In July 1882 a rebel Apache, Na-ti-o-tish, broke out of San Carlos and headed north with about 50 others. They attacked ranches and mining camps along the way. This author, when he was young, was told by an elderly lady ("Mollie" Griffin) that she and other children were placed in a mining shaft for protection at the time of this outbreak. It was a terrifying time to her.
In August 1882 a stage to Florence was robbed, and two men, Lafayette Grimes and Curtis B. Hawley, were legally lynched downtown on a tree (which remained many years in Globe--a monument to the tree has just recently been placed where it was located [January 1997]). Before Grimes was hung, he sat down in the middle of the street, took off his boots, and exclaimed, "Damned if I'll die with my boots on!" So it was. The same lady I mentioned above regarding the Na-ti-o-tish outbreak also remembered that tree. She told me she went downtown once to buy some meat. When she asked a man where she could buy some, she was told there was some meat hanging on that cursed tree--the two dead bodies of Grimes and Hawley. Of course, she never forgot that incident.
Still another famous killing took place that year (1882) on the south side of the Pinals, at the little mining settlement of Pioneer. On Christmas Day, Tom Kerr got himself drunk. Being quite inebriated, he got to picking on a tenderfoot cowboy, William Hartnett, and then killed him. The enraged citizens of Pioneer strung up the culprit on an old sycamore tree. Before he died, Kerr defiantly exclaimed, "Well, here goes Tom Kerr's Christmas present to the devil." Thus ended that difficult year.
The fortunes of mining in Globe took an upswing when a Swiss mining engineer, Alexander Trippel, arrived in 1884. Although a depression was in progress throughout the nation, Trippel was able to keep the Globe mines operating and even make them quite profitable by 1888.
Of course, the 1880s also saw the continued uproar about Geronimo's escapades. Many incidents regarding Geronimo were reported in Globe's newspaper, the Arizona Silver Belt, The issues have been microfilmed and are now available in the major universities of the state. They remain as a colorful reminder of Globe's importance in the early history of Arizona. More can be read about Geronimo's story at my Apache Wars page.
About the time of Geronimo's last breakout (1886) there was yet another interesting incident near Globe, involving two cowboys. A Scotsman named Andrew Pringle had his ranch headquarters located near a spring north of Wheatfields (the spring is now called Pringle Spring). Jeremiah Vosburgh also owned a ranch in the area--the Flying V. It was Pringle's custom in late May to drive large herds of his cattle onto the Flying V range, and Vosburgh hated the intrusion. On 28 May 1886 Pringle grabbed the blanket of one of the Flying V cowboys, John Thomas, in order to annoy him. Of course, Thomas grew angry, and Pringle responded by chasing him with a knife. Thomas then shot and killed Pringle. On 16 December 1886 Thomas asked for a mistrial, but he went to prison anyway--on Christmas Day. He was, however, unconditionally pardoned by Governor John N. Irwin on 15 June 1892.
Still another interesting individual connected with the saga of Geronimo was the "Apache Kid. There are so many legends about the Kid that it is hard to determine fact from fiction. What is known, however, is truly remarkable. His final trial was held in Globe on 23 October 1889. His story can be found on my Apache Kid page.
In January 1892 there was yet another stagecoach holdup out of Globe. King Ussery and Henry Blevins held up the Globe-to-Florence stagecoach (traveling the Howard and Reduction Toll Road) at Cane Spring in the Dripping Springs Mountains, just south of the Pinals. They netted two bars of silver bullion at $1500 each, a dozen gold breastpins at $20 each, and six gold eardrops valued at $90, as well as $200 in cash. Ussery was convicted and served some time in the Yuma Territorial Prison, but the jury wasn't sure about Blevins. The lawyers of the two men were paid in cattle for their retainer fee. As it turned out, both Ussery and Blevins then stole back their cattle from their lawyers, claiming that the fees were too high. This time both men were convicted and sent to Yuma.
In 1894 one of the Clanton men, who had survived the infamous Earp-Clanton/McLaury feud in Tombstone and had moved to Globe, became involved in yet another violent incident. After the battle at the O.K. Corral, the surviving Clanton brothers Ike and Phineas fled to Apache County. Ike was killed in a gunfight by Deputy Sheriff Commodore J. V. Brighton on Eagle Creek, near Blue River, and Phineas was imprisoned. After prison, Phineas moved to Globe and began raising goats for a living. His lands surrounded what is now Sleeping Beauty Mountain. In the winter of 1893-1894 Phineas robbed Sam Kee, a Chinese gardener in Wheatfields, at gunpoint. Clanton, however, was acquitted on 22 May 1894. Later, Phineas married a Mrs. Bohme, whose husband had died. She had a 12-year-old son--William Bohme. On 5 January 1906 Phineas was involved in a wagon accident, and his exposure to the weather caused him to get pneumonia, from which he died. He is buried in Globe.
As the Pinal country slowly evolved into the twentieth century, still other remarkable scenes took place in and around them. One of them concerned a fascinating white woman: Pearl Hart--the last stagecoach bandit. She robbed a stagecoach out of Globe on 29 May 1899. Her story can be found on my Pearl Hart page.
Yet another dramatic event occurred in Globe about the turn of the century. Zachary Booth was hung behind the old courthouse in 1905. The circumstances behind the hanging were quite bloody. A Mormon by the name of William Berry decided that he should move his sheep ranch from St. Johns to Thatcher in 1903. As he worked out some details in Thatcher, his head sheepherder, Santiago Vigil, on December 22 was herding his 500 sheep through Brushy Basin, near Gisela. Santiago came upon some cowboys who were indignant about having sheep on their range. Without warning the cowboys shot William Berry's son, Wiley, and Santiago Vigil's seventeen-year-old boy, Juan. When Santiago Vigil ran to see what had happened to the boys, he saw a bullet hole burning in his son's sweater where he had been shot. Extremely enraged, Santiago rode into Payson and informed some deputies. Shortly afterwards, Wiley and Juan were buried in Gisela. On Christmas Day 1903 there was a party in the "16 to 1" Saloon in Payson, and many people were in attendance, including Santiago Vigil. As it just happened, so were his son's murderers: John and Zachary Booth. Santiago pointed the men out to the deputies, and they were arrested and placed on trial in Globe. In the trial Zachary Booth insisted that his brother John had not been present at the murders, even though Santiago insisted that he had been there. Nevertheless, John Booth was eventually released and continued to live in Gisela. (The Booth family was still living in Gisela in the 1960s.) Wiley Berry's body was later re-buried in Thatcher, and Juan Vigil's body was reburied in a different plot in Gisela--right next to where John Booth was later buried. Zachary Booth was hung in Globe on 15 September 1905, and buried in the old Globe Cemetery.
The year 1907 was also very eventful in the history of Globe. Most of the incidents revolved around the famous old scout Al Sieber. Even in his later years Sieber managed to be involved in dramatic incidents. On 31 January 1907, a woman named Laura Morris and her daughter, Arminta Ann (age 4 and a half) were brutally murdered with a knife near Roosevelt Dam (then under construction--begun in 1905 and finished in 1911). Arizona Ranger Jim Holmes was notified, and he called on Al Sieber to help. Two Apaches who had been scouts with Sieber, a man named "Rabbit" and another named "Yesterday," were called on to assist. As it had recently rained a lot, the scouts were able to follow the killer's footprints until they came to a pool of water near the river, where the killer had washed his hands. They noticed in the pool someone had dragged his right foot a little. Knowing scouting lore, they knew that the killer must have thrown something from that point, because when a man throws something he tends to drag his right foot. They then threw some rocks in the same direction as the man's footprints. When they inspected where they fell, they found the original murder weapon. They knew that the knife belonged to William Baldwin, and so he was quickly arrested. He was placed in the jail behind the newly-erected courthouse, which had been built in the same location as the old one, in Globe. (The "new" courthouse is now called the "old courthouse.")
Anger spread quickly through Globe when it was found out that Baldwin was in the jail. A mob formed and rushed onto the courthouse steps, where it was stopped by Sheriff John Henry Thompson ("Rimrock Henry"), who was holding a Winchester rifle. Thompson told the men (a significant proportion of the grown male population of Globe) that he would allow no lynching, and that they would have to pass by him first. He continued to talk to the mob and then threw the cell keys to them, acting as if he had given up. He told the people to "Go get him--if you can." In the meantime Baldwin had been spirited out the back of the jail by Deputy Jack Knight and was hidden on a train that was going to Solomonville. The mob swarmed over the courthouse, even up onto the copper roof, but were unable to find Baldwin. In Solomonville William Baldwin received his trial and was hung there on 12 July 1907.
A poker game was the cause of another murderous incident that occurred near the end of 1907. John Cline and Charley Edwards (who had helped Sheriff Thompson prevent the Baldwin lynching) had some heated words as they were engaged in a poker game in Tonto Basin. Later in Globe Edwards was overheard to say that he would kill Cline. The sons of John--Joe and James- -heard of the threat and so rode out to the Basin to warn their father. Edwards was later found murdered. John Cline had a brother, George, who just happened to be in Phoenix at the time and was able to acquire a brilliant attorney. Sympathy quickly grew for John and, as the prosecution could find no witness, the attorney was able to get him released. Descendants of Charley Edwards to this day are still bitter about this incident, but John lived a full life in the Basin. George Cline was still living in 1968--a champion rodeo rider.
It is interesting to know that in 1909 Globe acquired a famous resident from South America. When the man came to Globe he called himself "William T. Phillips," and he had just recently married Gertrude Livesay in Iowa. Mr. Phillips' true name (as some historians believe, though not all) was Richard Leroy Parker--"Butch Cassidy." He had come to Globe to make certain that his new alias would be permanent. It is believed by many that after the shoot-out in San Vicente, Bolivia, about 1908, that "Cassidy" survived and returned to the U.S. to make a new life for himself. He lived in Globe working on ranches and at construction. By late summer 1910 he had left Arizona for Washington, where he died in Spokane on July 20, 1937. Was "Phillips" the famous Butch Cassidy? It is possible, although recent research discredits the identification of Phillips with Cassidy. (See Meadows, Anne and Daniel Buck. "The Last Days of Butch & Sundance." Wild West 9 (February 1997):36-42.)
Two more dramatic murderous incidents occurred in the Globe area in 1910. The first was the murders of twelve-year-old Myrtle and fourteen-year-old Lou Goswick, sisters, on 23 June 1910. They were murdered at Horseshoe Bend on the Salt River. The circumstances for the murders were as follows:
Myrtle and Lou were the children of rancher Wesley Goswick, who lived four miles north of Globe. On the day of the murders, hired hand Kingsley Olds was told to take a wagon to Horseshoe Bend to pick up a gasoline engine that was located there. He was allowed to take the two girls, as they wanted to have a picnic lunch there. Olds had a shotgun with him to protect them. About 10 o'clock the girls went swimming. A cowboy, J. R. Haskell, just happened to pass by at the time and saw three people swimming in the river clad only in their underwear. The cowboy thought it was a family outing. But, later that night the girls had not yet returned home. Neither had Olds. Mr. Goswick got extremely worried and decided to go out to Horseshoe Bend himself. He arrived just as darkness was closing in. He found bloodstains everywhere. Kingsley Olds, in the meantime had gone to "Nigger Cabin," with a gunshot wound in the chin. He was found, and public sentiment quickly became inflamed against him. Although there was no indication on the girls' bodies that they had been choked or mishandled, many people were convinced that Olds was guilty. He, however, claimed that a man had tried to shoot him and the girls as they were in the river, and the girls had become frightened and drowned. There were also many witnesses who vouched for the character of Olds, saying that he had always been very proper with the girls and family, and that he could be trusted to tell the truth. He himself said, "I never hurt those little girls." Nevertheless, there was talk of mob violence, and it was difficult to maintain order in the town. A trial was quickly held, and the jury held that the girls' drowning was a direct result of Olds's conduct, although he may not have actually murdered them. He had, nevertheless, been responsible for them.
Late Sunday night, 2 July 1910, someone gained entrance to the "new courthouse" and could see Olds in his cell in the Sheriff's Building just east of the courthouse. (The same buildings stand there today.) Olds was shot and killed, and the murderer was never found. In the criminal records of Gila County the cases of Lou and Myrtle Goswick and Kingsley Old are still marked "unsolved." (NOTE: I have just been recently been informed by the granddaughter of Mr. Goswick that he, in fact, was the murderer of Olds.)
The second murderous incident of 1910 was the violent murders of two men who had gone onto the San Carlos Reservation to hunt deer. Two friends, Fred Kibbe and Albert Hillpot, had reached Tuttle Station (a stagecoach station between San Carlos and Fort Apache), near Mount Santos and Black River Crossing, on 14 September 1910. There were two men who ran the station, James H. Steel (whose real name was John B. Goodwin) and William Stewart, for the owner Mr. W. O. Tuttle of Rice. Goodwin and Stewart had previously been in the army at Ft. Apache but had deserted, as they did not want to go to Wyoming when their company was transferred there. That evening Stewart's dog bit Hillpot on the leg, and Hillpot kicked it. Stewart was very angry, but kept still about it.
The next morning (September 15) Kibbe and Hillpot went hunting and then returned to the station at night. Goodwin and Stewart were not there when the hunters arrived, but they later kicked the door open and started firing upon Kibbe and Hillpot. Hillpot tried to fight back, but was brutally slaughtered. Blood spurted around the cabin everywhere, and when others later arrived they witnessed a horrific scene. Both Kibbe and Hillpot were dead, and the two ex- soldiers had started toward Holbrook. Sheriff John Henry Thompson pursued them and thought the killers would try to go to the railroad station of Adamana, near Holbrook. He was right, and he arrested Goodwin and Stewart there. The trial was on 28 November 1910, and the townspeople in Globe were very angry. A lawyer by the name of Thomas W. Flannigan became their attorney. The two men were convicted on 10 December 1910, and were given life, but then Flannigan thought he could get them lighter sentences. He had read a lot of law about the fact that Indians should be tried in territorial courts if their crimes were committed on reservations, but he had never seen a case about white men committing crimes against other white men while on the reservation. Flannigan thought if his clients were tried again he could get a lighter sentence. The defendants agreed to a new trial, and on 22 November 1911, the jury stated that Goodwin should die on the gallows, while Stewart should get life imprisonment. Subsequently, many court battles were fought regarding the jurisdiction of the case. The case went even as far as the President, but he decided not to commute the case. Consequently, on 13 May 1913 John B. Goodwin was hung in Globe. The hangman was Bill Cunningham. A Mrs. Margaret Sharp and her daughter, also called Margaret, being opposed to capital punishment, curbed Goodwin's grave in the Globe Cemetery with concrete. For other legal reasons, Stewart was again put on trial in Globe, and this time he was sentenced to be hanged. On 29 May 1914 his execution was performed. Stewart told the hangman, again Bill Cunningham, "I'll meet you in Hell, and before you come to be with me, I hope you choke to death!" Cunningham later died of cancer of the throat. Stewart was buried near Goodwin, and the two graves can still be identified today (west of the cemetery main gate, outside the general burial area).
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