The Cochise County Cowboys is the modern name for a loosely associated group of outlaws living in Pima and Cochise Counties in Arizona in the late 19th century. The term "cowboy", as opposed to "cowhand," had only begun to come into wider use during the 1870s. In that place and time, "cowboy" was synonymous with "cattle rustler" and did not have the later association of cowboys as those who worked with ranchers and cattle. Such thieves frequently rode across the border into Mexico and stole cattle from Mexican ranches that they then drove back across the border to sell in the United States. Some modern writers consider them to be an early form of organized crime in America.
In response, the Mexican government eventually lowered tariffs and added forts along the border, making cross-border rustling and smuggling less attractive. The Cowboys then began to steal cattle and horses from neighboring American ranches, reselling them to unscrupulous butchers. They held up stagecoaches, stole the strongboxes, and strong-armed passengers for their valuables. In some instances, they killed drivers and passengers.
Origins and background
Tombstone, Arizona, was one of the last frontier towns in the American Old West. Outlaws from all parts of the western territories felt the pressures of encroaching civilization and the increased presence of lawmen and the courts, backed by growing populations of farmers and citizens desiring law and order. The town had boomed in less than 18 months from about 100 miners living in tents and shacks to more than 7,000 people by , when Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan Earp arrived in Tombstone.
Virgil Earp had been appointed deputy U.S. marshal for eastern Pima County in Prescott and was directed to relocate to Tombstone to concentrate on suppressing the Cowboys' illegal activities. He arrived with his brothers Wyatt and Morgan. Wyatt looked for business opportunities. When those did not work out, he started riding shotgun for Wells, Fargo & Co., guarding their silver bullion shipments. He was appointed as a Pima County deputy sheriff from June 1880 until November of that year, and Virgil Earp was hired as Tombstone's city marshal in June 1881.
Cowboys as outlaws The word cowboy did not begin to come into wider use until the 1870s. The men who drove cattle for a living were usually called cowhands, drovers, or stockmen. While cowhands were still respected in West Texas, in Cochise County the outlaws' crimes and their notoriety grew such that during the 1880s it was an insult to call a legitimate cattleman a "cowboy." Tombstone resident George Parsons wrote in his diary, "A cowboy is a rustler at times, and a rustler is a synonym for desperado—bandit, outlaw, and horse thief." The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country ... infinitely worse than the ordinary robber." Legal cowmen were usually landowners and generally called herders or ranchers.
On September 16, 1881, forty days before the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Tombstone Epitaph wrote about the "Cow-boy Nuisance" in Arizona:
The notoriety and power of the Cowboys spread from coast to coast. Well-known members of the group included Ike, Billy, and Phineas Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, Curly Bill Brocius, Billy Claiborne, Calico Jones, Johnny Ringo, Frank Stilwell, Pony Diehl, Pete Spence, and Harry Head. Virgil Earp thought that some of the Cowboys had met at Charleston, Arizona, and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us." Three Cowboys were killed by lawmen in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. Others were later accused of trying to kill Virgil Earp and of assassinating Morgan Earp. Wyatt Earp's posse killed four more Cowboys when they ran down those identified as taking part in the attacks on his brothers.
Virgil Earp told the Arizona Daily Star on May 30, 1882, that:
He estimated that the Cowboys numbered nearly 200, and that during his time in Cochise Territory about 50 had been killed. A modern estimate puts the number of Cowboys at about 300. Many modern writers consider them to be one of the first and earliest forms of organized crime syndicates in American history.Alexander, Bob (2014). Bad Company and Burnt Powder: Justice and Injustice in the Old Southwest. Frances B. Vick Series. University of North Texas Press. pp. 259–261. .Robb, Brian J. (2015). A Brief History of Gangsters. Chapter 1: "Lawlessness in the Old West". Running Press. .
Cowboys vs. business owners Many of the ranchers and cowboys who lived in the countryside were resentful of the growing power of industrialists from northern states, who increasingly influenced local politics and law in the county. The ranchers largely maintained control of the country around Tombstone, in large part because of the sympathetic support of Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, who favored the Cowboys and rural ranchers. He grew to intensely dislike the Earps. Behan tended to ignore the Earps' complaints about the McLaurys' and Clantons' horse thieving and cattle rustling. As officers of the law, the Earps were known to bend the law in their favor when it affected their gambling and saloon interests, which earned them further enmity from the Cowboy faction.
Political and regional conflicts
Under the surface were other tensions aggravating the simmering distrust. Most of the Cowboys were Democrats and Confederate sympathizers from southern states, especially Texas. They considered the business owners and the lawmen, especially the Earps, to be Northern Republican carpetbaggers.
Economic conflicts According to Virgil Earp, the Cowboys were "saddlers", men who lived in the saddle. Their primary occupation was raiding haciendas in Sonora, Mexico, for cattle. They sold the cattle in Tombstone to cooperative butchers. When they couldn't find cattle to steal, they robbed stages and engaged "in similar enterprises". He said that as soon as they had money to spend, they roared into Tombstone to spend it freely in the saloons, brothels, and "faro banks".
The Cowboys' generous spending habits earned them friends among the businessmen in town, who welcomed them. There the Cowboys freely expressed their opinions publicly, loudly, and with little opposition. When the Cowboys broke the law, the businessmen feared alienating their customers and hesitated to support lawmen when they confronted cattle thieves or stage robbers. Virgil Earp said that a lawman "doing his duty must rely almost entirely upon his own conscience for encouragement. The sympathy of the respectable portion of the community may be with him but it is not openly expressed."
Known criminal associates
The lines were not always distinct between the outlaw element and law enforcement. Doc Holliday had a reputation as a killer. He was friends with Bill Leonard, who was implicated in a stagecoach robbery.
On , 1881, three Cowboys tried to rob a Kinnear & Company stagecoach carrying US$26,000 in silver bullion (about $ in today's dollars) near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City. It was en route from Tombstone to Benson, Arizona, the nearest rail terminal. The Cowboys were later identified as Bill Leonard, Harry "The Kid" Head, and Jim Crane, assisted by Luther King.
The brothers Frank and Tom McLaury had a ranch outside Tombstone, which they may have used to receive and sell stolen Mexican cattle. When six U.S. Army mules were stolen from Camp Rucker by Calico Jones and an unknown accomplice (some sources say it may have been Ike Clanton), Wyatt Earp assisted the U.S. Army in a search. They found the animals on the McLaurys' ranch on the Babacomari River. They also found the branding iron used to change the "US" brand to "D8". Frank Patterson and other Cowboys promised to return the mules but showed up two days later without the animals and laughed at the lawmen.
Pony Diehl was mentioned in the records of the events leading up to and after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He was suspected of involvement in numerous robberies and cattle rustling and of involvement in the theft of US Army mules, along with Sherman McMaster. McMaster had been a Texas Ranger in 1878–79, during which time his unit captured and held Curly Bill Brocius as prisoner for five months. He was also accused of stealing U.S. Army mules and of robbing a stage with outlaw Pony Diehl.
The Clanton family, led by Newman Haynes Clanton, had a ranch in a valley outside Tombstone that was likely used for selling stolen Mexican beef. He was assisted by his sons Ike, Billy, and Phin Clanton. Old Man Clanton was involved in the robbery, murder, and torture of a number of Mexican smugglers who were ambushed on their way to Tucson in the 1879 Skeleton Canyon Massacre. He was killed on August 13, 1881, by Mexican soldiers in a retaliatory raid along the Mexican border at Guadalupe Canyon. Ike Clanton repeatedly threatened the Earps and Doc Holliday in the days leading up to the shoot-out on at the OK Corral. Unarmed, he ran from the gunfight.
Cowboys and the law Frank Stilwell had previously been accused and acquitted of two murders. He was named a deputy county sheriff by Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan in April 1881. He was dismissed four months later for "accounting irregularities" relating to the collection of taxes. Law enforcement officers who came into conflict with the Cowboys included Fred White, who was killed by Curly Bill Brocius in what was ruled an accidental shooting. Virgil Earp was at times both U.S. Deputy Marshal for the Southeast Arizona Territory and Tombstone City Marshal. Wyatt Earp had been the Pima County deputy sheriff from June to .
On June 28, 1881, Virgil was appointed by Tombstone Mayor John Clum as the permanent Tombstone City Marshal and was paid $150.00 per month. He was to enforce all town ordinances, including the city's ban against carrying a deadly weapon. John J. Gosper, Secretary of State for the Arizona Territory and acting governor after John C. Frémont's virtual abandonment of his post, interviewed both Sheriff Behan and Deputy U.S. Marshal (and Town Marshal) Virgil Earp. Behan and Earp blamed each other for failing to bring the Cowboys under control. In a report to Washington, D.C., in September 1881, Gosper expressed his dismay with both lawmen:
Weapon ordinance
To counter the ongoing problems with weapons in Tombstone, the biggest city in the county and the county seat, its city council passed an ordinance on April 19, 1881, that prohibited carrying a deadly weapon in town. It required everyone to deposit weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town. As City Marshal, Virgil Earp was charged with enforcing this ordinance.
The initial version of Ordinance No. 9, in effect in April, 1880 unintentionally allowed individuals to carry deadly weapons in plain sight, only banning concealed weapons. It had little effect and the later version was passed with the intent to prevent carrying any deadly weapons without a permit. The revised version was in effect when Virgil Earp attempted to disarm the cowboys before the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
After the gunfight on October 26, 1881, in which three Cowboys died, the Earps and Holliday had to defend themselves against murder charges filed by Ike Clanton. The defendants cited the weapons ordinance during the preliminary hearing held by Justice Wells Spicer. In his ruling exonerating the lawmen of murder, Judge Spicer described Frank McLaury's insistence that he would not give up his weapons unless the marshal and his deputies also gave up their arms as a "proposition both monstrous and startling!"
Earp and the Cowboys conflict