Tales Behind the Tombstones Read online

  Jesse James was the most notorious of all the rebels at that time. He and his brother Frank formed a gang of Southern sympathizers and set out to rob banks controlled by the North. The James gang’s career began on February 13, 1866, when they staged their first holdup at the Commercial Bank of Liberty, Missouri.

  Jesse James was born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847. His father, Robert, was a Baptist preacher who died when Jesse was four years old. His mother, Zerelda, was a hard-working farm woman who ruled the home with an iron fist and sheltered her sons from criticism about their rebellious nature.

  At the age of seventeen, Jesse followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Frank, who was fighting in the Civil War. Jesse, Frank, and family friend Cole Younger were all part of William Clarke Quantrill’s Raiders. Jesse’s skills as a horseman and expert shot were further improved while serving under William “Bloody Bill” Anderson. Anderson instigated a fiery raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in August 1854, and both Jesse and Frank were a part of the brutal ordeal.

  Less than a year after the Civil War ended, Jesse James led ten men on what would be the first of many robberies. His reputation as the United States version of Robin Hood sprung from rumors that Jesse shared a portion of his ill-gotten gain with struggling Southerners. For more than fifteen years, Jesse James and his gang held up railroads and banks throughout the Midwest.

  Jesse’s last robbery occurred on August 7, 1881. Jesse and his gang, which at this time included Frank James, Wood and Clarence Hite, Dick Liddell, and Charlie and Bob Ford, stopped a train outside of Blue Cut, Missouri. The bandits busted open the safe on board, which reportedly had $15,000 inside. When the men found the safe contained a meager $1,500, they decided to rob the passengers to try to make up the difference.

  On April 3, 1882, Jesse called the Ford brothers to his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, to discuss plans to rob the Platte County bank. It had been more than a year since Jesse and his gang had worked together. Unbeknownst to the legendary outlaw, Bob and Charlie Ford had negotiated a deal with Missouri governor Thomas Crittenden to kill Jesse. The reward offered for the deed was $10,000.

  Jesse escorted the Fords into the parlor and began explaining the details of the job. When Jesse paused for a moment to straighten a picture frame hanging on the wall, Bob unloaded his pistol into the back of his head. According to the Ford brothers’ account of the incident, Jesse turned to look the assailants in the face before he fell lifeless to the floor.

  Jesse James was buried at his childhood home in Clay County, Missouri. Because his mother feared that morbidly curious people would try to dig up his remains, Jesse’s grave was placed outside of Zerelda’s bedroom window. She kept a careful eye on her son’s burial site until her death in 1911.

  The James farm is located in Kearney, Missouri, twenty-five miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri, off Interstate 35.

  John Ringo d. 1882

  “So you’re the notorious Ringo Kid.”

  — ACTOR BERTON CHURCHILL TO JOHN WAYNE’S

  CHARACTER JOHNNY RINGO IN THE MOVIE STAGECOACH, 1939

  The desert Southwest in the late 1870s and early 1880s was teeming with desperados. The front pages of local daily newspapers from Bisbee, Arizona, to Las Cruces, New Mexico, listed the details of their crimes, and the publicity made a few of these outlaws famous. John Ringo was such a criminal.

  Born John Peters Ringo on May 3, 1850, in Greenfork, Indiana, he was an educated man who attended William and Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. He was known to have quoted Shakespeare and read Latin. Not much is known of his early life. His parents, Martin and Mary, were farmers who relocated from Indiana to Missouri in 1856. The family pulled up stakes again in 1864 and headed for California. Martin was struggling with tuberculosis and hoped the Gold Country would bring him better health. The trip turned out to be a tragic adventure when Martin accidentally shot and killed himself en route. John and his mother continued west until they reached San Jose.

  In 1869 John struck out on his own. He roamed about for several years, never settling in any one place until he reached Burnett, Texas, in 1874. After being fined for firing his pistol in the town square, he was recruited by a vigilante group dedicated to the killing of cattle rustlers. Texas Rangers eventually apprehended John Ringo and another rider identified as the murderer of cattle thief Jim Cheyney.

  A mob in favor of Ringo’s actions broke him out of jail in January 1876, but he was quickly recaptured and imprisoned again. The case against Ringo was dismissed in court a year later, and he was set free. On the outside again he began keeping company with a gang of desperados that included John Wesley Hardin and Mannen Clements.

  When the men parted ways in 1878, he drifted west toward Tombstone, Arizona. On his way to the silver boomtown, he lingered for a while in Loyal Valley, Texas, and on November 5, 1878, he was elected as constable. By late 1879 he was back on the road to Arizona. Not long after he arrived in Tombstone, he befriended suspected cattle rustlers Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom McLaury.

  Ringo was involved in numerous saloon fights. His excessive drinking fueled his short temper, and when offended he would retaliate with his gun or fists. At the Crystal Palace Saloon in December 1879, he pistol-whipped a man for making a lewd comment to a woman and then shot the man in the throat.

  John Ringo and outlaw Curly Bill Brocious were leaders of an anti-Earp force called the Cowboys. Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp were the law in Tombstone, and the cowboys were fiercely opposed to the lawmen’s presence. After the gunfight at the OK Corral on October 26, 1881, Ringo was enraged at the Earps and Doc Holliday’s so-called “murderous actions.” Tensions grew between the characters and culminated in Ringo challenging Wyatt Earp to a gunfight. Seven months after calling Earp out, Ringo was found dead on the banks of the Turkey Creek in the foothills ofthe Chiricahua Mountains between Sierra Vista and Bisbee, Arizona.

  A great deal of controversy surrounds the death of John Ringo. Some say he committed suicide after a long night of drinking; some maintain that fellow outlaw Buckskin Frank Leslie shot him. Others say Wyatt Earp killed him, and another faction believes it was Doc Holliday who did the deed.

  John Ringo died on July 13, 1882, and his body was buried at the spot where he was found. His grave is marked by a large rock with his name scrawled across it along with the year of his death. Given John Ringo’s close association with the cowboys involved in the gunfight at the OK Corral, the Arizona Historical Society decided to name the gunfighter’s gravesite a state landmark.

  James Marshall d. 1885

  “That James W. Marshall picked up the first piece of gold, is beyond doubt. Peter L. Weimer, who resides in this place, states positively that Mr. Marshall picked up the gold in his presence.”

  —THE COLOMA ARGUS NEWSPAPER, 1855

  Prospectors and settlers were amazed at the ease with which gold was recovered among the rocks and streams of the California foothills in early 1848. The first gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter by trade and former employee of Captain John A. Sutter. Marshall was wandering along the bank of the American River where he was building a sawmill when he noticed a peculiar golden stone in the bedrock. It was a find that changed the course of the history of the West.

  James was born in Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1810, and from an early age he worked with his father learning the trade of carpentry, carriage making, and wheelwrighting. In 1828 he left home to start his own life. He settled in the Midwest, farming on land in Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois. Farming proved to be an unsuccessful venture for him, and in 1844 he headed west along the Oregon Trail to Puget Sound. Later he traveled down the Sacramento River, arriving in California in 1845. He quickly found work at Sutter’s Fort and in a short time had acquired several acres of land and livestock.

  Toward the end of August 1847, Captain Sutter and James Marshall’s working relationship had advanced beyond employer and employee, and they formed a partnership to build and op
erate a sawmill on a site fifty-four miles east of the fort. Marshall’s part in the business was overseeing the actual construction and workings of the mill; Sutter supplied the capital to back the venture. Mr. P. L. Weimer and his family were hired on to accompany Marshall to the location to cook and labor for the builders constructing the mill. The building began around Christmas, and gold was discovered a little more than a month later. Marshall glanced down into the river water, and something caught his eye. He leaned forward to get a better look and saw something shining in the gravel. “Gold! Could it be gold?” he said to himself.

  Marshall showed the rock to the workers around him. Many of them suspected the material to be iron pyrite, or fool’s gold. Marshall decided to return to Sutter’s Fort to verify the discovery. Before he left, he swore the mill workers to secrecy. In exchange for their silence, they would be given the chance to prospect on Sundays and after work.

  As Marshall rode swiftly across the beautiful countryside toward the fort, he was troubled by a complication with the land where the gold was found. The property was purchased by Captain Sutter from Mexico and the local Indians, but since the sale of the land, California had become a territory of the United States. Marshall was concerned the United States government would not honor Sutter’s prior claim once the gold strike was made public. When Marshall unveiled his findings to Sutter, Sutter was sure that the rock was gold, and he too was concerned about the claim. Marshall’s hope was that the news of the discovery would be kept quiet long enough for Sutter to be granted full legal title with the new government. It was not to be, however. Marshall and Sutter’s employees began to talk, sharing the news of the find with teamsters and trappers. Within six weeks of the discovery, Sutter’s entire staff at the fort had deserted him, and Marshall’s workers had abandoned the mill.

  Marshall informed the new prospectors in the area that he and Sutter owned a twelve-mile tract of land along the riverbanks. He charged them 10 percent of their take for the privilege of working the gravel. His claim discouraged many miners, but when some of them made their way to San Francisco with full pockets, the rush was on. A band of frustrated miners who felt they were being denied access to the gold defied Marshall. They overtook the nearly completed mill and killed several men who sided with Marshall.

  After being pushed off the stake that he found, Marshall left the area in disgust. He traveled around Northern California searching for another strike but was never fortunate enough to locate one. In 1857 Marshall returned to the Coloma area, where he bought some land and started a vineyard. High taxes and increased competition eventually drove him out of business.

  In 1872 the California State Legislature awarded Marshall a two-year pension. The funds were in recognition of his role in the gold rush. The $200-a-year pension was renewed in 1874 and 1876 but lapsed in 1878.

  James Marshall died a pauper on August 10, 1885, in Kelsey, California. He was seventy-three years old. He was buried in Coloma near the site of the vineyard he once owned. The monument atop his grave features a granite stature of Marshall pointing toward the place he found the glittery substance that dazzled a nation.

  Aaron Augustus Sargent d. 1887

  “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . . on account of sex.”

  —AARON A. SARGENT, 1878

  Among the pioneers who helped California graduate from the wild days of a gold rush territory into a civilized state was Senator Aaron Augustus Sargent. The former cabinetmaker arrived in the mining camp called Nevada in 1849 and was moderately successful in his search for gold. He then became a partner with several others in the Nevada Journal newspaper.

  Sargent was born on September 28, 1827, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and in his teens moved to Philadelphia and worked as a printer. In 1847 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a secretary to a congressman. His background in government helped lay the groundwork for the political life ahead.

  Three years after his arrival in California, Sargent built a small frame house in the center of Nevada City for his fiancée, Ellen Clark. He and Ellen were sweethearts in their youth, and he had promised to return for her once he had made a life for them out west. The pair married in March 1852 and settled into their new home by October.

  While Ellen was creating a comfortable home, Aaron was busy vigorously presenting the political campaign in the California newspaper he now solely owned. He favored the policies of the Whigs and the early Republican-style party. An opposing point of view was enthusiastically espoused by a newspaper called Young America, which heralded the views of the Democrats.

  Ellen worried in 1853 when the printed attacks on her husband became so heated he expected to be challenged to a duel. However, a friend, Judge David S. Belden, came to Aaron’s defense before a challenge was issued. Editor R. A. Davridge of Young America was threatening to shoot Aaron because of his strong political views. A crowd gathered. Judge Belden stepped in, drew his pistol, and announced he wanted to give a demonstration of his shooting skills. Using cards as targets, Belden shot rapidly until the gun was empty, hitting a card with each shot.

  He then announced he’d be happy to talk to anyone who didn’t like Aaron Sargent, a man who had a family, which he himself did not, and thus had nothing to lose if the discussion ended in the exchange of bullets. No one accepted.

  In the summer of 1852, Sargent pursued a law degree and was admitted to the California bar in 1854. Shortly afterwards he opened his own practice in Nevada City and eventually became the county’s district attorney.

  While Aaron was making his mark on the legal and political world, his wife was raising their two children and building her own quiet legend. In addition to founding the first women’s suffrage group in Nevada City in 1869, she served as president of similar organizations and presided at conventions called to gather women together to encourage them to continue the fight for the right to vote.

  Fiery abolitionists and early feminist Susan B. Anthony visited the Sargent home in 1871. As a young Quaker, Susan Anthony had worked in the antislavery movement until passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1863 banned slavery in the United States. With that victory she turned her attention to another case of unjust treatment in a land where all were said to be created equal—women’s rights. At that time in history, Susan, Ellen, and Aaron were three of the nation’s biggest supporters of women’s rights.

  When Aaron was elected to the U.S. Senate, the Sargent family moved to Washington, D.C. At the end of his term in the Senate, he was elected to the 37th, 41st, and 42nd Congresses and served in that capacity for more than ten years. In 1861 he was the author of the 1st Pacific Railroad Act, an act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

  Sargent’s most controversial political move occurred in 1877 when he introduced a revision to the constitution that would give women the right to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, forty-three years after it was introduced.

  Sargent retired from politics in 1883 and resumed his law practice in San Francisco. He passed away on August 14, 1887, from heart failure and was interred at the Laurel Hill Cemetery. When the cemetery was moved to make room for more buildings, Sargent’s remains were brought back to Nevada City. In 1888 his ashes were scattered over his Quaker Hill mining claim and his vault was moved to a new location as a monument to his pioneering deeds. Aaron Sargent’s grave marker is now located at the Pioneer Cemetery in Nevada City, California.

  Aaron’s gracious and determined wife, Ellen, died in 1911. She too was buried in the San Francisco Laurel Hill Cemetery, and more than a thousand people attended her graveside service. The mayor of San Francisco ordered all flags flown at half-staff in her honor.

  Doc Holliday d. 1887

  “He was very much disliked and under the influence of liquor was a most dangerous man.”

  —LAWMAN-TURNED-SPORTSWRITER

  BAT MASTERSON’S THOUGHTS AB
OUT DENTIST-

  TURNED-GUNFIGHTER DOC HOLLIDAY

  He was as charming and beguiling as he was fearless and deadly. He was the most well-known doctor in the Old West and behaved more like an outlaw and less like a gentlemen dentist from Georgia. Doc Holliday was a skilled gunfighter who preferred gambling to any other profession.

  John Henry Holliday was born to Alice Jane McKey and Henry Burroughs Holliday on August 14, 1851, in the tiny town of Griffin, Georgia. He attended the finest schools for the sons of southern gentlemen. In his free time he roamed the woods around town, learning the ways of the wilderness. He also took up pistol practice and was an excellent marksman by the time he was fourteen years old.

  His life changed in 1866 when his mother died from tuberculosis. She had been a stabilizing force in his life, and with her death came a melancholy that he would carry with him to his grave. Relations between John and his father were strained when Henry married a twenty-year-old woman three months after his wife’s funeral. John shot a Union soldier in an altercation over a watering hole shortly after the wedding. In an attempt to protect his son, John’s father sent him to dental college in Pennsylvania. Henry threw off bounty hunters looking for John by telling them his son was attending school in Baltimore.

  John graduated in 1872 and returned home with a strange cough. He was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. Doctors told him that he wouldn’t live six months in Georgia and suggested he move to Texas, where the climate was better. Just before he moved he attended the funeral of his brother, who had died of the same ailment.