The Pleasant Valley War of 1887: Furious Enemies If Crossed

For all its savage cruelty, the violence that broke out so frequently on the open range was usually impersonal- coldly deliberate action taken in defense of property. It did not generally matter whether the antagonists knew each other; it was what they were, not who they were, that was the reason for the conflict. But if personal or family feelings did get mixed up in a range dispute, the violence turned even more vicious and implacable.

So it was with Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War, which for the ferocious tenacity of its combatants was unmatched in the annals of the West. 

That was a quote from Ogden Tanner who wrote the text for the Old West series of books by Time Life Books. This particular beautiful book, is called The Ranchers. It covers today’s episode of The American Southwest which is over The Pleasant Valley War. While an entertaining rendering of this story, The Old West Series of books is not the most accurate version of the true story. That distinction of most accurate must belong to Jynx Pyle’s incredibly crafted The Pleasant Valley War, which I will quote from at length and generously.

I know we’re in the middle of the Apache Kid series which gives some added content to the forthcoming quite large Apache Series but this range war in Arizona is important background for an important character in that Apache Kid series, that character, or real life man, is Sheriff Glenn Reynolds. In order to properly tell the story of his life, I must introduce you to this incredible story of revenge, death, and vigilante justice.

I hope you enjoy this little detour of history that, while taking place in Apache country, doesn’t actually feature any Apaches.

I will say one more thing before we start; this episode is, without a doubt, the most cinematic and dramatic episode I’ve done so far. It reads like a mini series or a long movie. If you’re able to, picture along with me the story of the Graham Tewksbury Feud or Pleasant Valley Range War of Arizona. The largest, deadliest, most violent range war in American Southwest, or American History period.

By the end of this conflict that became known as the Pleasant Valley War, or the Graham Tewksbury Feud, or the Tonto Basin War, by the end of this vendetta, at least 35 people, but up to 50 human beings… I have no doubt 50 people would be killed during this incredibly violent feud. This story ain’t for the faint of heart.

The Pleasant Valley is in Apache country, south of the Mogollon Rim, that place filled with ruins, built by the Salado as they mixed with the fleeing Anasazi from up north. Probably… Regardless, it’s a beautiful green, fresh air spot that rests high above the thorny Saguaro filled valleys below. It’s at around 5,000 feet in elevation.

Pleasant Valley, the setting for this episode, has been renamed to Young, today. Which makes sense once you hear about all the un-pleasantness that took place in the valley. Although, I did read on Arizona’s KJZZ 91.5 website, from an article titled Untold Arizona: In The Pleasant Valley War Some Secrets Will Never Be Told By Matthew Casey, that the town was truly renamed on account of when they wanted a post office, Pleasant Valley Arizona was already taken.

This quite Pleasant Valley is southeast of Payson and straight north of the metal mining town that the Apache’s called Besh Be Gowah, but what the White Eyes called Globe. That town I talked about in the last Apache Kid episode.

Pleasant Valley was 150 riding miles northeast of Phoenix and 150 riding miles east of the Arizona Territory capitol of Prescott. It was deep into the Apache Mountains. It was only a surprising 8 miles from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

It was isolated. It was also quite lush and it had 50 miles of well watered meadows. And these well watered meadows began attracting some ranchers and cattlemen. It was a great place to graze your animals. It was a good hideout for people looking to start over. It was also a dangerous place.

Author, historian, and the quote walking encyclopedia of information on events in Gila County, Arizona unquote that is Jynx Pyle… I mean, Jynx Pyle grew up in the area and is related to people who intimately knew this story. He began writing this history in the 1960s from oral tradition but was told not to turn in his school paper cause it would upset people still alive at that time! He titled his book.. the Pleasant Valley War. Straight and to the point. It was published in 2013. But again, he began writing it in the 60s as a high school student. It’s incredible, and thorough and it made me rewrite dang near this entire episode after I read it. Almost all previous sources I had used in my quick write up and note taking were flat out wrong half the time. Anyways, this is how Jynx Pyle describes the Tonto Basin and Pleasant Valley:

Through the 1880s, Pleasant Valley and the entire Tonto Basin was also a sanctuary for outlaws. Surrounded by mountain ranges holding deep canyons where men with a price on their head could remain lost from the outside world for years, the basin wa a haven for the wanted man, as well as for the still active rustler. God help anyone who followed an outlaw trail into one of those dark canyons. End quote.

That’s the setting of this righteous tale of furious vendetta.

But our story actually begins in Main… far from the towering mountains of Apache country in Arizona. It was there that the patriarch Tewksbury, James Dunning Tewksbury, got wind, along with the rest of the country, of California’s gold rush in the late 1840s.

Filled with visions and dreams of striking it rich, he got on a boat, and sailed around the hemisphere to the opposite coast. Once there, and settled, and not striking it rich, James Tewksbury married an Indian woman. A Hupa Indian woman from Northern California to be exact. The two would then go on to have five children. Four boys and one girl.

After California, the family would resettle in Nevada, but only briefly.

but then… Tragedy struck in 1878, when James’ wife died from quick consumption, aka tuberculosis. Shortly after her death, or its been told she just plain couldn’t leave her people in the northwest, but in 1878, Tewksbury and his four sons and one daughter packed up from Nevada and left for Arizona were they heard of a massive silver strike. That strike being in Globe. That metal town, Besh Be Gowah.

Before long James Sr. married another woman in Globe and the two would continue to raise his youngest, Frank. The daughter, Elvira Tewksbury she disappears from the story after she marries Henry Slosser in Phoenix in 1880.

Meanwhile the three eldest Tewksbury sons, Edwin or Ed, John, and James Jr., or Jim, so Ed, John, and Jim, would head north into Pleasant Valley with a herd of 82 horses. They were one of the first to settle Pleasant Valley.

Why horses though? And not cattle like everyone else that had moved or was moving into the valley? Here’s Jynx Pyle’s summation of the Tewskburys. Quote:

The Tewksbury brothers were half Indian; they were horsemen, able to live off the land. They wanted to ranch, to prosper, but they were not power hungry. Their ambitions fell short of empire building. The brothers were loyal to their friends, dead shots, and possessed hot tempers. They would make furious enemies if crossed. End quote.

Loyal and hot tempered. Furious enemies if crossed…

Quick quirky information about John Tewksbury. He would marry his stepsister, the daughter of the woman whom his father married when they moved to Globe… while that sounds strange at first… it isn’t like they were raised together or even knew each other prior to being adults and the Tewksburys moving to Globe. But still… slim pickings in Arizona in 1880s.

The years rolled on and the youngest Frank would move on up to the valley. And the Tewksburys would increase their lot with 25 heads of cattle, on top of the over 80 horses. Also, James, the father, Tewksbury would move with his wife and step kids up to the valley as well. All the Tewksburys were now in close proximity to one another.

Now let’s fast forward through some Apache raids and shootouts, we’ll get to em in the larger Apache series, but let’s fast forward to 1882. While in town buying some supplies, that town being Globe, but while in Globe, Ed Tewksbury met a man who would change his fate forever. That man was Tom Graham.

The Graham’s clan started out in Scotland in 1818 when Samual Graham was born. He’d marry another Scottish woman and by 1851, they’d be in Ohio, where they’d have five children. The two important Graham children in the beginning of our story are Tom and John Graham. Get ready, there are a lot of Johns in this story.

Just like the Tewksburys, John and Tom Graham had been pulled to the Globe area on account of the mountains of ore. They had three Copper mine claims in the hills, but I’m not sure if they ever panned out… wait, is that where the term comes from? It didn’t pan out… like panning for gold? Hold on… Alright, I’m back. Yes, that is where the term pan out comes from. Gold panning. I guess you don’t pan for copper though. Anyways!

Long story short, Ed Tewksbury told Tom Graham, why don’t you come on up to Pleasant Valley with your newly won herd of cattle and be my neighbor.

Apparently, in Phoenix, the two Graham brothers had won 62 heads of cattle in a poker game! They then herded the cattle all the way up from Phoenix, through the mountains and thickets and thorns and saguaros and snakes and rocks, all the way up to Pleasant Valley.

All the way up to the valley and a mile and a half from the Tewksburys place. Once in Pleasant Valley, the Tewksburys even helped the Grahams build their cabin. Right after the cabin was done, the Grahams even hired Jim Tewksbury as a cowboy for $50 a month, not a measly sum. This friendship it seems, was off to a good start. But there was a slight moral dilemma attached.

You see, shortly after the Grahams arrived, they decided they wanted even more cattle. 200 to be exact. So they bought 200 head from a Mormon rancher named William Flake who was on top of the Mogollon Rim. Not a problem, really, if you have enough hands to help herd em down to the valley. That’s why they hired Jim Tewksbury, after all.

The dilemma arrived when it came time to do the herding. Because on top of the 200 heads of cattle, the Grahams were going to do a little something called mavericking.

Now Mavericking isn’t just putting your hand over a card and hoping the Ace of Spades comes up or something, no mavericking was where you just kinda picked up and stole or took or liberated, depending on your point of view, but mavericking was rounding up whatever loose or lost cattle that was found while driving your herd and keeping them for yourself. It was essentially, cattle rustling.

So, on the drive the Grahams secreted away a bunch of cattle into a canyon, but not all of the mavericked cattle. Before they got to the Mogollon Rim, a cowboy for William Flake came and separated the mavericked ones from the bought ones, feeling good that he’d done his duty, and the cowboy then herded them back to Flake’s ranch. The Grahams then herded their bought cattle down the rim, but on the way, they picked up the secreted away cattle that were hid in the canyon and they herded the whole lot of em into Pleasant Valley.

This is where a powerful and rich Californian, a man new to the area, comes in. This cattleman is names James Stinson. We’ll get to him a bit more in a minute. For now, it’s his ranch foreman that causes some trouble for the Tewksburys and Grahams.

You see, this ranch foreman, a man named John Gilliland, he witnessed the Grahams and Jim Tewksbury herd in the 200 cattle AS WELL AS the clearly stolen cattle. John Gilliland then rode over to the Tewksbury corral where they were being held to confront them about it! The problem is, the exact moment he rode up on the cowboys, was the exact moment they were rebranding the cows to look like their own…

Obviously, that’s stealing and that’s a big problem in the wild west. Especially in Pleasant Valley were cattle rustling was already running rampant.

Nothing came of the confrontation, but the foreman wouldn’t forget what he witnessed that day.

Neither would Jim Tewksbury, apparently, because he would end up telling his father about the whole mavericking incident.

Once he was informed, the elder Tewksbury was horrified at this thievery and he told his sons that they had to quit this band of Graham hooligans at once. Damn the money his was making before they damned his soul. Or worse, got him killed.

After this sage advice, Jim Tewksbury would quit working for the Grahams, but the friendship of the two families continued. This may though… have been the first cast of shade on the bright future the two clans may have had…

So the Tewksburys and the Grahams were still friends and close neighbors. The Tewkesburys had horses and they both had cattle. But the Grahams had a lot more cattle. And their numbers were suspiciously growing.

Despite Jim quitting the Grahams, the two families may have still been working together at this time… and they may have begun to dabble together in a little bit of… rebranding. Or putting their brand over another brand to hide the original brand and essentially steal cattle.

If you had cattle, you had a brand. But it was extremely important that you didn’t have a brand anywhere near or closely resembling any of your neighbors brands. You wouldn’t want to be accused of taking your brand and putting it over another brand, which is what rebranding is. In Pleasant Valley though… at this time… it seemed like everyone had a brand similar to one particular herd owned by one particular man. And that particular man had trouble with all this theft of his cattle.

I am talking about the rich and powerful man of James Stinson.

Stinson was a large and connected cattleman himself but he was often not at his ranch in Pleasant Valley on account of being appointed to the Arizona territorial legislature. So his foreman, John Gilliland took up the reins. This same foreman who witnessed the mavericking and rebranding of Flake’s cattle.

John Gilliland, without wasting much time, accused the Tewksburys of stealing cattle or rebranding some of Stinson’s cattle with their own Tewksbury brand.

Now, By my accounts, the Tewksburys were probably indeed guilty of this offense, but I do think it was mostly at the discretion of the Grahams… but it’s hard to ignore the fact that some of the little cows with the Tewksbury brands were suckling on cows with the Stinson Brand….

Stinson though, told Gilliland to just ignore it, he had a plan of his own that was soon to be set in motion. But John Gilliland no, he uh, he couldn’t abide by that. To him, action had to be taken.

Now, maybe this rebranding and thievery wouldn’t have gone anywhere but the foreman Gilliland and some of his cowboys got a little of that fire water in em, they were sippin’ that whiskey and they got all stirred up to anger. Much like the Apache Kid during his Tizwin bender… Well, John Gilliland, got himself all agitated and rode with one of his cowboys, an Epitacio (Potash) Ruiz, and Gilliland’s cousin, Elisha, over to Ed Tewksbury’s place to confront him.

At that time though, at the Tewksbury place was Ed Tewksbury, John Graham, and Tom Graham. Apparently, Frank and John Tewksbury were out gettin supplies to build John Tewksbury’s wife a cabin of her own. Seein’ as how she had to share a very small place with a bunch of stinky brothers and their stinky friends. Hanging around cows and horses all day sure brings a certain odor to a person.

Well once John Gilliland, his cousin, and his cowboy had arrived, the consensus is, he began to insult Ed. Ed responded in kind. Gilliland responded by pulling a gun and taking a shot.

But you see, they’d been drinkin so maybe Gilliland’s aim was a little off. Also, the shot seemed to have spooked Gilliland’s horse.

Ed’s aim though? Well it was not off and after he got shot at, he did the appropriate thing and he shot back! Apparently at the same time that Gilliland fired a second shot. This second shot of Gilliland’s went through John Graham’s hat!

But Ed’s shot went into the back of the leaning over Gilliland, who’s horse was being uncooperative, and that bullet went up through his flesh until it got lodged in the man’s shoulder. Gilliland then yelled at his cousin to ride away! But his cousin Elisha had other plans and pulled the hammer back on his rifle, and set about to aim at the Tewksburys. But Ed put a bullet in Elisha as well.

That bullet also hit Elisha’s back and came exploding out his hip. He fell from his horse after screaming, I’m killed!

In pain and in fear, John Gilliland rode back to Stinson’s assuming his cousin was dead.

Epitacio Potash Ruiz… he was long gone, he rode away at the first sign of trouble.

Gilliland would get help from his parents and be patched up. Elisha would be carried to the Stinson Ranch by John Graham, Al Rose, John, Jim, and Frank Tewksbury.

It’s strange hearing all of those names together because… let me tell you, this story does not end well for a single one of those men and boys. And many of their deaths are at the hands of the other or someone closely associated with them.

But that was yet to come. For now, the incident greatly upset the patriarch Tewksbury who immediately wrote a letter that was printed on the pages of the Arizona Gazette. And he clearly outlined that the blame was fully on Gilliland and his cousin for showing up unannounced and starting trouble. Oh, and for definitely firing the first shot… although, that’s still debated. As most of this story is. I guess, as most violent incidences are concerned, period. No one wants to be the first one to shoot, although the first one to shoot is usually the one who comes out on top. And alive.

Amazingly, in that same article, the elder Tewksbury also wrote that they wanted no interference from the law regarding this matter and that they would NOT submit themselves for arrest. This was on their property and they wanted to be left alone. They were not pressing charges. Case closed, as far as the Tewksburys were concerned.

Unfortunately, a constable in nearby Strawberry Valley, a very cute town north of Payson, but a constable William Burch had other plans and he had the Tewksburys and the Grahams arrested. You see, he thought that Elisha had been killed. Word hadn’t reached everyone that the boy survived yet.

So with nine men, Constable Burch set out for the Tewksbury Ranch. But along the way, he not only discovered that Elisha was in fact alive, but also that the Tewksbury ranch had about 20 armed men awaiting trouble. The constable realized he was outgunned. He needed a bigger posse. It would take him a few days to gather it together.

In the meantime, Ed Tewksbury and Tom Graham rode together… to Prescott to file their own charges against the Gillilands and Ruiz.

Back at the Tewksbury Ranch, John, Jim, and Frank Tewksbury, along with John Graham, all surrendered to the Constable Burch posse and they were taken to nearby Strawberry Valley.

At the trial in Strawberry Valley… well, the case was thrown out. And it was thrown out for two reasons. First of all, not a single witness came to testify against the Tewksburys. And second… the dead man in question, because they were arrested for murder after all, but the dead man in question was indeed not dead. He was very much alive. And now his story had changed a little… Sure Ed went for his gun first but Elisha’s cousin John Gilliland was more successful at shooting first. Although he wasn’t successful at hitting. Again, on account of the liquor and the untamed horse.

This was a little different than, oh they started shooting as soon as we showed up… So, the case was dismissed… in Strawberry Valley, but it was only just beginning in Prescott.

In Prescott, the case was now against Gilliland and Ruiz but they called on as witnesses the entire gang of Tewksburys, including the two men who were not even there at the time. That would have been the 22 year old Frank, and his brother John. They’d been gone getting supplies to build a fireplace for John’s wife…

By the way… these supplies? They were getting rocks from a nearby Indian ruin to build a fireplace with. Haha how many structures out in the American southwest are reused quote unquote Indian ruins.

Anyways, all the Tewksbury men rode 150 some odd miles west in the middle of a cold, windy, miserable January where the case went nowhere and neither Gilliland or Ruiz were convicted. It had all been for nothing. And on top of it… Frank Tewksbury caught both the measles, and pneumonia on the cold trip. Back at Pleasant Valley things were beginning to get unpleasant. Especially after young Frank passed away.

Obviously, the Tewksburys blamed Stinson for the death of their younger brother. And it was at this point that it seems the Tewksburys and the Grahams decided to team up and begin mavericking Stinson cattle from all over the valley. Not only did Stinson deserve some stollen cattle over the death of Frank, the Tewksburys thought, but Stinson was an outsider, an intruder, and he had showed up after the Tewksburys with his money and influence. And besides, Stinson was always gone on business anyways.

Here is a great but long excerpt from Jynx Pyle again, where he quotes a relative. I mean, this guy compiled the true encyclopedia of this whole event:

Quote:

According to Floyd Pyle, who got his information from Harvey Colcord, the Graham and Tewksbury men had an oral agreement to work together and brand mavericks into a joint ownership brand.

Stinson had the only big cow herd in the valley, so he would likely supply most of the mavericks. This did not bother the Tewksbury brothers because they resented Stinson’s “high-handed” ways. They regarded him as an intruder in the valley. Stinson had made an effort to buy out the earlier settlers in order to control the rights to all the Pleasant Valley grazing, and in so doing, had incurred the displeasure of the Tewksburys. They had come first and they would stay.
Ed Tewksbury is quoted by Bob Voris on page 43 of his unpublished manuscript titled The Pleasant Valley War. The Tewksburys quote, tried to get along with Stinson when he first came, but it was impossible, so we stole a few head of his cattle just to torment the old man. End quote.
Drusilla Hazelton agrees with Voris. In her unpublished manuscript titled, The Tonto Basin’s Early Settlers, she states on page nine: quote, The Grahams and Tewksburys immediately became good friends and through devious means and questionable tactics a sizeable herd of cattle was acquired in partnership, all branded TE connected. End all quotes.

So while the feud between these two families is yet to consume the valley, their actions of rustling cattle and causing trouble, was laying the groundwork for a violence between Anglos that the west had not previously seen nor would see again. Not counting the Battle of Glorietta Pass in 1862 in New Mexico, of course.

These two families, the Tewksburys and the Grahams were seemingly in partnership to rebrand stolen cattle, mainly from Stinson, and grow fat and happy… so what on earth happened?

Stinson, it turns out, had married a Mormon woman and had converted. So, he was not a violent man. He was a literal judge and he wanted to build himself a cattle country empire in this here Pleasant Valley. He wasn’t going to be breaking any laws to get what he wanted, an he wasn’t going to kill anyone to save his herds.

He really only had one way to fight these rustlers… turn them on each other. This was why he told Gilliland to leave it be. He had things in motion. He had a plan with steps and an end goal… of course, his plan didn’t work out the way he had wanted it and it resulted in 50 people dying but…

Stinson’s first step was what has been called the Treaty of War. This was a contract between John Graham and James Stinson made at the courthouse in Yavapai county on November 14th, 1883 which states that John Graham will receive 25 cows and 25 calves, so 50 heads of cattle in total for information regarding who was stealing and rebranding his own cattle. This was clearly in regards to the Tewksburys. And John Graham had to have known that.

As Jynx Pile points out, this is a 180 degree turnabout for John Graham. The Tewksburys had invited the Grahams there. They’d helped them herd cattle. They’d helped them steal cattle! They’d helped them build their cabin. Their corral. They were friends. Ed Tewksbury may have even saved John’s life at the Tewksbury’s ranch during the Gilligan shootout!

Loyal and hot tempered. Furious enemies if crossed… well, the Tewksburys were about to be crossed… by their best friends, the Grahams.

In 1884, it was time for the Treaty of War to come into effect.

By this time, the Tewksburys had a new man on their team. George Blaine.

And Stinson had a new foreman: Marion McCann.

And John Graham had a mission: betray Ed Tewksbury.

In June of 84, the plan took effect when John, Jim, and Ed Tewksbury all had to go to court in Prescott… again. But they were accompanied by Blaine, William Richards, and Herbert Bishop. All six men were accused by Stinson or secretly John Graham, but all six had been accused of stealing 10 heads of cattle from the Stinson ranch and rebranding em. They had three indictments headed their way.

The real kicker came when the second indictment included the charge of also stealing 10 heads of cattle from… John and Tom Graham.

How on earth was that possible if they were friends and working together to steal cattle from Stinson! Unless… the Tewksburys were starting to piece it together.

Unfortunately though, while in Prescott, MORE indictments came for Blaine and Jim Tewksbury when they were accused of committing armed robbery in Apache County.

The story, according to the Mormon Polygamist Joseph Fish, the two, George Blaine and Jim Tewksbury came into his Apache County Mormon ACMI Store with masks and guns and told em to put their hands in the air! Or else!

The attendees eventually raised their hands before one of the masked men came over to Joseph Fish who had been counting money. According to Fish, the man then, quote, ordered me to give him the money that was in the safe which was open at the time as I had been counting it to see if it tallied with the cash balance on the cash book. I hesitated a little and he commenced to gradually pull on the trigger of his pistol. End quote.

Eventually, Joseph Fish gave the men what they wanted, which amounted to $500, a pistol, some binoculars, and a few other stuffs from the store before the two assailants hopped on their horses and escorted the men some 50 yards from the store, so they couldn’t grab irons and take out the robbers. The thieves then put spurs to horse and took off towards Holbrook. Before cutting towards the Tonto Basin and Pleasant Valley.

Joseph Fish would later learn the names of the armed robbers were… Jim Tewksbury the half breed Indian, and his accomplice the rough and ready from Colorado George Blaine.

Things were looking rough for the Tewksburys.

That is, until they found themselves a new and unlikely ally. The Daggs Brothers. I will return to the Daggs Brothers in a little bit but they straight up bought John Tewksburys and George Blaine’s ranches which allowed the Tewksburys and their allies to pay for their bonds so they didn’t sit in jail.

It must have been painful to sell their land but in reality, the Daggs brothers never kicked either of them off their property. It seems instead, a deal was struck between the two parties. A deal I will go into shortly.

Later that summer in 1884, the court trial begins and the attorneys for the Tewksburys discover… the Treaty of War and the Stinson and Graham agreement. It was most likely now, in this moment that the Tewksburys realized they’d been betrayed by the Grahams. They were in court fighting for their freedom. They’d sold their ranch to outsiders… and then they learned their good friends and neighbors had betrayed them.

This… is the moment that the Pleasant Valley War began. No one knew at this time that the feud would consume and flood the valley with blood… but some were seeing the writing on the wall. Including Stinson, himself.

The trial was a total disgrace for the Grahams and Stinson, but way more for the Grahams, and the jury and the judge could smell a rat and when it was discovered this was all a set up… every charge against the Tewksburys were dismissed.

And immediately after the trial, two Tewksbury gang partisans, with one being Al Rose, a name that will come up later, but Al Rose and another man turned right back around and filed charges against John and Tom Graham.

The two Grahams were arrested, they were denounced in court, they were censured in the newspapers, and their names became mud. They were indicted by a Grand Jury and set to appear in court the following summer… This was the beginning of the end for the Grahams. It was also the second piece of the foundation to crumble. Soon, the entire valley would collapse.

On his way out of Prescott, George Blaine bought a cartridge of .45s and told the Tewksburys he was gonna clean out the, quote, damned Stinson gang. End quote.

The Treaty of War it seemed, had backfired… but true to its word, it started a war.

As for the armed robbery trial, there was no real evidence against Blaine or Jim Tewksbury and since the main witnesses had moved to Mexico to continue practicing polygamy, there was no real trial either.

Blaine and Jim were acquitted.

Did they really commit armed robbery on a little Mormon store near St. Joseph, Arizona and steal a gun, binoculars, or field glasses as they called it, and $500?

I don't know.. but I would’t put it past them.

It is impossible to stay neutral in telling or reading about or hearing this story of the feud and as Jynx puts it in the beginning of his book, quote, anyone who spends a significant amount of time researching the pleasant valley war will come to favor one side or the other. So although I have done my best to give a fair account of each event, I freely admit to feeling more at home in the Tewksbury camp. End quote.

I freely admit that I do too. Especially after learning about this pointless betrayal.

So it kinda sucks to admit that yeah.. they probably held up a store at gunpoint and rode away below the rim. In reality, these men will do a lot more vile and violent things in the near future.

After the treaty of war was discovered, the Tewksburys were betrayed. Everything was about to change… John Tewksbury, 29 years old, already a long and crazy life, he couldn’t stand for it.

On July 24th, 1884, John Tewksbury rode over to the Graham’s ranch where John and Tom Graham, as well as several Stinson men were milling about. Once there, John Tewksbury got off his horse, walked over to John Graham, and slapped him in the face. The Yavapai Criminal Records then states quote, Graham took the abuse and did not fight back whereby Tewksbury faced down both the Stinson riders and the Graham brothers then rode away. End quote.

Loyal and hot tempered. Furious enemies if crossed.

It’s worth mentioning that while all of these court dates and trials and travels to the big city of Prescott were going on… while the running of a ranch and rustling cattle and dealing with the Tewksbury fiesta parties… parties that were famous around these parts… while all of that was going on plus the raising of cattle and the fights with their neighbors and the growing of an empire in pleasant valley, while all of this both clean and nefarious work was going on… it’s worth mentioning that Ed Tewksbury, was becoming famous around the territory for killing lions… By the summer of 1884, while his brother faced down angry cowboys, Ed had killed six lions in that year alone…

It was a sign of things to come.

Also in 1884, the final incident between the Tewksburys and the Stinsons occurred. It would be the final straw for ole Judge Stinson, too.

In July of that year, John Tewksbury, and three other men in their faction, those men being William Richards, George Blaine, and Ed Rose, well all four of em rode over to the Stinson’s ranch to talk about and plan the upcoming fiesta & rodeo that John Tewksburys father put on every year. Either they talked about the rodeo or they talked about rounding up Stinson’s cattle to sell, I’m not sure.

Remember though, that Blaine had bought some 45s and had promised to wipe out the Grahams… and in the Tewksbury’s mind, the Grahams and the Stinsons were one and the same.

Well, at the Stinson ranch the group met his new foreman, a Marion McCann. And with Marion McCann were five other cowboys who met the Tewksbury gang at the gate. They apparently exchanged some words before eventually, the foreman McCann had had enough and he told the Tewksbury group to get lost. Well, that is except for Ed Rose, he could stay since he was trying to stay neutral in the growing feud.

Requests turned to threats which turned to insults which turned into George Blaine cussing out McCann which led to threats which ended up getting George Blaine shot in the throat by McCann. The bullet would exit the back of his neck.

To be fair though, it was reported that Blaine fired first from his horse and he fired high. While McCann, expecting some gunplay, grabbed his conveniently ready rifle and did not miss.

During the shootout, John Tewksbury fired back twice and missed and he too was shot. Apparently he did not share in his brother Ed’s talents as an accurate shooter. Both John Tewksbury and George Blaine would flee on horseback and both would survive. The matter would be settled in court in Prescott.

Before his wound had even healed, Blaine would sell and leave Pleasant Valley.

In similar fashion, tired of the violence beginning to erupt around him, sad that his plan had backfired, and leery of the sheep that were moving into the valley, the ole Judge Stinson eventually listened to his wife and he sold his horses, cattle, and land and left for greener pastures. Or, Phoenix. Only thing green down there are the saguaros, but Stinson left.

Sure, he’d played a huge role in starting the feud by pitting the two sides, the Tewksburys and the Grahams against each other but he wasn’t going to stick around to see how it played out.

Technically he didn’t start anything, he was only reacting as best he could to the events around him but some of the blame for the bloodiest and most violent feud outside of the war of northern aggression that the United States has ever seen… some of that blame rests on Stinson. Only a little.

Meanwhile, the Grahams would get arrested again for cattle rustling but they’d fail to appear in court. They’d forfeit the bonds people put up for em. They’d lose over half their herd. They’d put their holdings and their ranch up for sale, but no one took the bait. Their name continued to be mud. They weren’t very good at raising cattle, heck, they weren’t even very good at rustling cattle!

But soon, more soldiers, more backup, more friends would arrive to help the Grahams.

The first of those arrivals for the Grahams was Tom and John’s half brother Billy Graham.

The second of those arrivals for the Grahams were more numerous and much more troublesome. These were the Belvins from Texas and they became next door neighbors to the Grahams. Neighbors and good friends.

The oldest Blevins boy, Andy Blevins he was wanted for cattle theft in Texas AND selling whiskey to Indians in Oklahoma. And he’d either jumped off a train while under arrest or escaped from jail in Texas… either way, this whole affair forced him, Andy Blevins to change his last name to Cooper to avoid the law.

Andy’s father Mart Blevins and his brother Hamp Blevins also came to the area with Andy. As well as Mart’s wife, their daughter Mayseeya. And eventually John Black Blevins his family, and Sam Houston Blevins. Also with them was a cell mate and friend by the names of George Gladden and his family.

Although they mostly lived on top of the Mogollon Rim with their women and children, they did have a small ranch in Pleasant Valley. And the story goes, the owners of the cabin, Will and John Quincy Adams as well as their LDS families, left the valley to attend the Temple in St George Utah on the northwest border of Arizona. But when they returned they found Andy Blevins Cooper had taken up residence and simply refused to leave. With the help of his reputation and his six shooter of course.

Another story has it that Andy paid the Adams 200 bucks but wanted to continue looking mean. But I wouldn’t put it past him to just take someone’s property. There’s a good chance he’d done the same thing to another Mormon family on top of the rim a year or so before while they were attending Church Conference.

These were the kinds of people that attached themselves to the Grahams at this part of our story. The Blevins were outlaws, they were tough men. They had reputations… and warrants…

And as soon as they got to the valley, their first order of business was horse thieving. And the two main thieves were Andy and Hamp.

We must now mention even more friends, partisans, acquaintances, and backup for the Grahams. The cowboys of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company. Aka The Hashknife Boys.

This Aztec Land and Cattle Company had just relocated from Texas to Arizona after the company bought a million acres in northern Arizona from a railroad company. And with them they brought 33,000 head of cattle and 2,000 horses. As Jynx Pyle puts it, while many of these men were mostly honest and hardworking, just as many were gunslingers. Sometimes they’d get drunk and shoot up a town. Sometimes they’d shoot up Indians. Sometimes they’d shoot up each other. Some of them used to run with famous outlaws like Billy the Kid. Some of these cowboys would become outlaws later. One man even described these Hashknifers as quote, many of the worst men that ever left Texas.

Not all of the men that came with the outfit were cowboys, many were enforcers who would ensure that no cattle was stolen, and more importantly, no sheep grazed the cattle grass.

Many of these cowboys and enforcers would side with the Blevins and the Grahams. They were cattlemen. Cowboys. And they hated the Tewksburys sheep. I’ll get back to that in a moment.

From now on though, we’re going to call the cowboys from the Aztec Land and Cattle Company by their nickname, the hashknife boys. And they were called that on account of their brand looking like a hashknife.

What’s a hashknife you ask? Good question, I didn’t know so I had to look it up. According to the Hashknife Pony Express, the quote, oldest officially sanctioned Pony Express in the world. End quote. According to these men who bring history to life every year, quote, The Hashknife was a tool originally used by chuck wagon cooks to cut meat for hash, often fed to cowboys on the range. The Hashknife brand originated in Texas as the identification of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, which moved to Holbrook, AZ in 1866. End quote. The hashknife looks like the combination between an old school corkscrew and a crescent moon. But the crescent moon is a blade. I’ll have a picture of one up on the site.

So these boys were called the Hashknife boys since their brand looked like one. And they, originally being from Texas, fell right in with the Blevins and Grahams. Ogden Tanner in the ranchers writes about these boys quote, Together with their hosts, the Hashknife boys were helping to expand the mavericking of a few neighbors cattle into one of the most extensive and lucrative rustling operations in the entire southwest, reaching out far beyond pleasant valley through Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and into mexico. One rancho who lost virtually all of his livestock described the rustlers as a quote, thoroughly organized band of criminals who sought by hook or crook to take possession of the valley. End all quotes. 

In other words, they were bad news. But their injuries spread beyond cattle rustling too. Eventually, they also stole the Tewksbury’s horses. Which got them accused of stealing the Tewksbury’s horses by the Tewksburys themselves. In response, the Hashknife boys and the Grahams called the half Indian half white Tewksburys injuns and blacks and vowed to quote, run the damn blacks out of the country! End quote.

Remember, Ed Tewksbury was half native American and apparently he was quite dark.

I hesitated to tell this story but I think I just have to. It’s not inappropriate or anything it’s just, not central to the story. But I guess it kinda is. Also, it’s so good. And it gives depth to Ed Tewksbury, wether this story is even real or not. It’s just a great Wild West Tale, regardless.

It’s from the awesome Jynx Pyle’s comprehensive book:

In the fall of 1885, [probably 1886] after the Tewksburys had gone into the sheep business, a party of rustlers came into the town of Payson headed by a man named Gladden who said he was looking for a half-breed sheep man, and who was spending money lavishly. He insisted on meeting the head officials of the town. Upon being introduced to Emor [Emer] Chilson, deputy sheriff, and John Meadows, Justice of the Peace, Gladden said, “I have killed two men, I had to do it. I will not be arrested by you or anyone else.” While speaking, he patted his gun in a significant manner. Then he insisted on treating the crowd. After everyone had poured his drink, Gladden looked down the line to Ed Tewksbury and said loudly, “Here’s where I draw the line. I’ll not drink with a black man. The mother of Tewksbury was an Indian squaw and Ed was quite dark. The family was among the earliest settlers in Pleasant Valley and had always stood for justice. Ed was always well-dressed, usually wearing gloves. At this time, he was wearing dark clothes and white gloves. As Gladden spoke, Tewksbury quietly removed his gloves and placed them in his pocket. Then he walked down the line and slapped Gladden soundly on both sides of his face, paused a moment, and repeated the punishment saying contemptuously: “If you can’t use both guns, draw one! Gladden made no attempt to draw either of the guns at his belt, but rushed out of the saloon with his hands extended up and crossed the street to his pack crying, “Give me my rifle; give me my rifle.” He did not return to the crowd. End quote.

This was the wild west after all, and these characters, these cowboys and men and Hashknifers were as wild and woolly as it gets.

Speaking of woolly, it’s time we bring one of our main antagonizers into the fold of this story.

Ogden Tanner of the Old West Ranchers book writes, quote, as much a menace as the rustler, and in the eyes of a cattleman even more contemptible, was the sheep. A lowly pedestrian among the mounted knights and barons of the plains, the herder was a peculiar sort who spent months at a time alone with his flock. He generally spoke little English and came from other than Anglo-Saxon stock- perhaps Mexican or Indian or Basque. Or… he might be a Mormon. Which made him almost as much an alien. End quote.

Mormons are essentially alien. It’s true.

Clearly, these shepherds, these sheepherders were not liked. But the cattlemen and cowboys hated the actual sheep even more.

At this point in time, the number of sheep had skyrocketed in the west and would eventually top 1.5 million. The problem is… sheep as the legendary conservationist John Muir put it, were quote, hoofed locusts. End quote. The Cattlemen agreed. A saying among them about sheep was quote, everything in front of a sheep is eaten, and everything behind is killed. End quote.

These woollymonsters were truly hated by the cattle barons who were, probably rightfully so, worried about gettin’ sheeped. Which is when sheep come from the lowlands, eat all the cow’s grass, and continue right on up to the high mountains, leaving the rancher with no grass until the following year, if he was lucky.

Also at this time, There were laws on the books in the territory of Arizona that stated no sheep could graze within two miles of cattle range. That shows the influence of the cattlemen in the region.

There was also a very real understanding between the Sheep men and the cattle men that said the sheep did not go south of the Mogollon Rim. End of story. No matter how tempting it was to let them sheep eat that sweet sweet grass to the south and below the high cliffs, it was a non issue. As Jynx Pyle points out, there are quite a few marked and unmarked graves of sheep herders on the Mogollon Rim. If you even got close to the rim at the helm of them wooly stinkers, you were liable to wake up dead.

That border was about to be tested though. With, quite foreseeable outcomes, might I add.

Earlier I mentioned the Daggs Brothers. It’s high time we bring them in too. I know, I’ve brought in a bunch of people into the story recently but the sides of the conflict are starting to form.

Over near Flagstaff, Arizona which is today on I-40 and which town sits south of the Grand Canyon and beneath the towering San Francisco peaks, you know, the place where the Kachinas emerge from, well, over near Flagstaff the largest sheep operation in the area, especially Northern Arizona, was owned by the Daggs brothers.

The Daggs consisted of five brothers: Peru Paxton, William, John, Robert, and Jackson Daggs and they were all from Missouri but they’d arrived to Flagstaff via California. Once in Flagstaff they eventually grew their California herd from 1,500 to 50,000 sheeps.

They weren’t just sheep herders though. One of the brothers, John, owned the Flagstaff Brewery and two other brothers, Robert and Jackson were attorneys. They were also involved in everything from real estate to railroads. From mining to banking. They had an Ice plant. They had a land development company. They even ranched with cattle! They were wealthy and they were connected to both the law and law enforcement.

They also now owned John Tewksbury and George Blaine’s land and they planned on moving some sheep down into it. Down… from the top of the Mogollon Rim.

For some time now, the Daggs brothers had been terrorized and harassed and harangued by the Hashknife boys who continuously pushed them off their ranges up north so that the cattle could graze instead of the sheep. The Hashknife boys also apparently would drive the Daggs sheep into the little Colorado River where they would drown them by the hundreds.

The Daggs had little choice but to start going south, especially after the ranchers were taking over the north. And they finally had an in with the Tewksburys.

This battle was quickly morphing into a feud over sheep and cattle instead of just cattle rustling. And the battle was about to heat up. Around this time, one of the Hashknife boys apparently remarked that they planned to quote, start a little old war of our own. End quote.

By now, everyone in Pleasant Valley from the north end to the south near Globe essentially had to be on a side wether they wanted to or not. Jynx Pyle tells a great story from the notes of a Sam A Haught about a man, John Rhodes, who was connected to the Daggs. This John Rhodes had recently took over Blaine’s ranch. Blaine was the one who leapt up out the valley after a bullet leapt out the back of his neck through his throat. The story goes as follows:

John Rhodes came in with the PK cattle. Two Graham men met him in the road.

Are you the man who brought these PK cattle in here?

He said, Yes.

They said, We are at war with the Tewksburys.

John said, So I hear.

They said, We want you to join us.

John said, I do not know the Tewksburys or Grahams.

The Graham men said, we do not allow anyone in Pleasant Valley unless they join us.

Rhodes drew his pistol and said, No SOBs can make me do anything I don’t want to do.

End all quotes.

This story repeated itself up and down the valley with multiple people retelling it. Local newspapers reported on the escalating armed cowboys of the two factions. Everyone knew the two sides. Everyone knew something was brewing.

Every now and then this war gets portrayed as being binary between cattle and sheep. Cowboys and sheep herders, but that just isn’t really the truth. Yes, that’s some of it. But so many ranchers and cattle men sided with the Tewksburys, who were connected and had Sheep. 

In reality, the Tewksbury’s mainly had sheep for the sole purpose of running the Grahams out but that of course, as so many plans of mice and men do, it backfired and enflamed the already precarious nature of the Valley.

Really, it was a war about rustling. It was between men who wanted to live and men who wanted to hinder others from living. A tale as old as time.

Jynx, as usual, puts it perfectly when he wrote, quote:

it is well to remember that all during the Pleasant Valley War, not only were the Tewksburys fighting the Grahams, but they were protecting their considerable horse herd from the outlaws. In this, they were on the same side of the war as other ranchers, and for this reason they were sided by several of those ranchers. End quote.

So it ain’t just sheep vs cattle, but that does play a very large role in the war. And it’s about to be the spark that ignites it.

In February of 1887, in order to move some of the sheep from the top of the Rim and down into Pleasant Valley, over to the Tewksbury’s land, the Daggs brothers hired a Mexican who had two Indians, I would guess Navajo, because they often are sheep herders, but the Daggs hired a Mexican who hired two Indians to help them move a large portion of the flock from the Flagstaff area to the Tewksburys land.

On this journey, one of the Tewksburys allies, a William Jacobs, herded two of the Daggs brothers flocks himself. It seems, they were armed in preparation for any trouble.

Of course, trouble arrived. But from an unexpected source…

Right at the edge of the Mogollon Rim, 3 miles north of the Graham’s Ranch before they’d descended down into the Valley, the Mexican Sheepherder was ambushed by a lone gunman who complimented the man’s rifle and asked to see it. He of course had his own gun on the Mexican. When the herder had no option but to hand it over, the lone gunman holstered his pistol, took the rifle, chambered a round, aimed it at the Mexican, and killed him. With his own rifle. A single shot.

The murderer, was a man named Bill Colcord. He was friendly with the Tewksburys. He and his brother Harvey did not like the Grahams and they’d had their horses and cattle stolen from em, they’d been threatened by them! But the Colcords simply couldn’t live with sheep in the valley eatin’ their cattle’s grass. The Colcords were hardy men who could look after themselves and had since they were quite young.

So Harvey distracted the Tewksburys at their ranch while Bill went up and murdered the Daggs Mexican herder. He left the sheep where they were before riding straight towards the Grahams, making sure to leave an easy to follow trail. Later Indian trackers would even say that murder was committed by a man on a horse… who headed straight for the Graham Ranch after the deed was done.

The war had begun. After months of heavy stares from heavily armed men across the fence lines of the ranches… The first casualty of battle was an unnamed Mexican herder just north of the Rim by men close to the Tewksburys. And they framed the Grahams.

The Colcords, allied with the Tewksburys, murdered a Tewksbury man and framed it on the Grahams, thus, they started the hot war in the Pleasant Valley. The Graham Tewksbury Feud had just popped off.

Now, multiple sources say that the Mexican was Basque. Some also say he was Navajo or just Indian. A lot of sources also claim this happened twice. In 188FIVE and in 1887. And worst of all, every source, mentions that the Mexican man after he was killed, was beheaded. With his head found 15 feet from the rest of him.

But Jynx Pyle, he cites sources at the time that say he was Mexican. And he disputes the beheading incident. He wrote of this murder and Bill Colcord, quote:

Payson justice of the peace, William Burch, who rode to pleasant valley said nothing about the herder being beheaded. Nothing in Bill Colcord’s considerable written history suggests he was possessed of such a vile nature. Joe Haught, Butch Haught, and this author, never heard or read anything about his being beheaded in the history handed down by our respective families. End quote.

In every matter concerning the Pleasant Valley War, I tend to believe what the walking encyclopedia Jynx Pyle wrote. He has the most and best sources and he said it right there… history handed down by our respective families. The man is in the know.

Shortly after this murder, another sheep herder murder occurred on the Rim.

This one can squarely be placed on the shoulders of Hamp Blevins.

Hamp had gotten into an altercation with a Daggs man named Samual Shull, a shepherd. During this curfuffle, Shull won quite handily and apparently he beat the snot outta the young Blevins.

As often occurs, this didn’t sit well with Blevins and not long after, someone discovered Shull at his cabin with a nice shotgun hole or, holes, in his head.

The Sheriff at that time, rode out, scoured the area for clues, but… he did not find enough evidence to warrant arresting the young Hamp Blevins. No one was charged for the murder of the herder. That’s two Daggs men down. Therefore, two Tewksburys dead. Both Sheepherders. Both on the Mogollon Rim.

Soon, the violence would pour down from the cliffs like blood and fill the valley itself.

That Sheriff, by the way, was named Sheriff Billy Mulvenon. You WILL hear more about him shortly. This was his second, but not his last time coming to the area of the battlefield of the Tonto Basin War.

The place really did need some sort of law enforecemnet though. By the summer of 1887, so many small families with small plots of land and small herds had been run out. Their cattle were stolen at night. Their tools stolen when they were at church. Their houses stolen when they were in town. The Hashknifers and enforcers and outlaws, they ran rampant through the Valley.

And make no mistake, their headquarters were at the Grahams place. That’s where they took their stolen goods and cattle and horses and sheep meat. That’s where they hung out and planned and drank and schemed.

One of the Tewksbury’s descendants, a Walter Tewksbury, in the 1940s, would bring to light the graves of two young boys who were killed by the Graham faction while watching the Tewksbury’s horse herd in 1887. Jynx said their names aren’t on any list that exits of those murdered during the feud.

How many other unnamed people were killed during this far reaching war in Arizona?

It wasn’t just lives that were taken though, entire cabins, corrals, homes, entire ranches would be burned to the ground, mostly by the Hashknife gang throughout the entire conflict. Reading the names of so many people who were burned out of a home is pretty sad…

But of course, a lot of people were also shot out of the valley as well. Some survived, some did not.

At some point in 1887, Andy Blevins Cooper would even offer $50 for each half breed black injun Tewksbury scalp he was given. Things were gettin’ nasty. And they were about to get nastier. Much, nastier…

In July of 1887, after shooting the sheep herder, after burning all the farms and corrals, and after Andy’s letter which offered a reward for Tewksbury scalps, after all of that, Andy’s father Mart Blevins noticed he had some horses missing.

Of course, he suspected the Tewksburys. Naturally, he took the bait and went on a looking for these missing horses.

He followed the trail all the way to the next life.

Some accounts have him buried up on top of the Rim. Other accounts… have him shot and killed and ate by range hogs. This… is a theme that will happen again. Surprisingly.

On Range Hogs, Jynx writes that they’re quote, formidable animals, big and rangy as a black bear and bearing with the temperament of a cornered badger… he then writes, quote, anyone who has seen a dove of wild hogs go after a carcass will testify to a blood lust akin to that of the wolf. End quote. 

Later a skull, the only part of the human body a hog can’t eat, apparently, was found in the hollow of a tree. Leaning against the tree, was Mart’s rifle.

After some time, Hamp Blevins, angry at the disappearance and killing of his father, called upon his brothers and some Hashknifers to join in on the search and to bring some justice to the Tewksburys.

On August 9th, the Blevins brothers Andy, Charlie, and Hampton along with cowboys and enforcers John Payne, Thomas Carrington and Robert Gillespie, as well as an enemy of the Tewksburys, a man named Tom Tucker, and a few others, they all rode with revenge on their mind.

The thing is though, the Tewksburys were warned. They knew trouble was coming their way. So George Newton, Jim Houck, Jim & Ed Tewksbury and a few others, seven in total, they rode to the first house the Graham Gang would have arrived to on this side of the valley.

They were ready.

Once the Graham Gang with their hashknife allies arrived to a sheepherder’s ranch north of the Tewksbury’s, a place owned by a man named George Newton, but a place they called the Middleton Ranch, once there, they expected to start a fire with its logs. They were surprised when they realized it was full. They had ridden into a trap.

Thinking quick, one of the Graham men, to ease the tension, shouted:

Let us in, will you. We want something to eat!

Instead of George Newton’s reply, the voice of Jim Tewksbury, yelled back, quote, we aren’t keeping a boarding house here, especially for the likes of you! End quote.

Naturally, guns were drawn and shots were fired.

Who fired the first shot, is unknown. But I imagine as soon as the boys on horseback turned to leave the trap, they were fired upon by those inside. Those inside probably figured as soon as these men rode away, they’d wait and besiege the cabin from a distance.

The first one hit, was Hampton Blevins. Tanner wrote that he was quote, blasted from his saddle with a bullet in his brain. End quote.

The second victim was the Hashknifer John Payne. He was apparently a notorious gunman for the cowboys but this was his last gunplay. First his horse got shot out from under him. As he slithered out from under the beast and staggered back up, he fled on foot. But a bullet ripped through his ear. He stumbled and grabbed his ear in pain mere seconds before a third and fatal shot dropped him to the dust.

Ironically, John Payne was a victim of his own little war. He was the hash knifer who’d declared earlier that they were going to start one.

Yet another of the Hashknife boys was shot in the chest after his horse fell on his rifle. But he somehow managed to grab the reins and mount another horse before he galloped away. He’d later pass out and fall off the horse. There on the ground his life slipped away… until a cold rain woke him up. He’d survive the bullet that passed through both lungs and he’d move to New Mexico. Jynx says there, he would participate in yet another Range War.

Another Graham man was shot in the leg. The bullet would hit his horse which would die on the trail as he fled. He’d have to walk 30 miles with a gunshot wound but he’d survive. He’d also quit the territory after this shootout.

Tanner wrote of the incident quote, within a little more than 10 seconds all five of the riders had been struck by gunfire from the cabin; two were dead and the rest had ridden off in a total rout. No one inside the cabin was hurt. End quote.

He said all five of the riders but I do believe there were six of them there on the outside of the cabin. Regardless, the damage was done.

Jynx writes of the aftermath, quote, two men and three horses lay in front of the Middleton ranch house. One animal rolled and kicked feebly as life left him. For a time, no one left the house. End quote.

Then… cinematically… incredibly… after some time and after the adrenaline rush had died down. One man braved an exit of the Middleton Cabin to take stock of the carnage. But he wasn’t outside two seconds before rushing back in and slamming the door.

He told the group, y'all aint gonna believe this but the hills are teaming with painted up Indians on horseback.

Sure enough, coming down from the hills were 30 Apaches, painted for war.

But they wouldn’t be having their war at the Middleton Ranch, no sir. As soon as they saw the dead and dying horses, the two dead men, and the rifle barrels and pistol holes aimed at them from inside the ranch, they gave an Indian yell and leapt up out there.

One of the men in the cabin would later tell his son of the story and while laughing, he’d say, quote, all you could see was G strings and horse tails! End quote.

If anyone wants to pay to write a screen play, I will give you a masterpiece for this story.

When the Graham side returned to bury the bodies a few days later, they would also set fire to the Middleton Ranch.

A few days after the Middleton Ranch shootout, the Grahams sent men into the mountains to track down the killers. They found em too. The Tewksbury gang was in a quote rocked up fortress in the Sierra Anchas. End quote. The Grahams intended to keep them there. Forever.

They began with rifle fire which kept the men pinned down. Then the Graham men guarded their water source, which was a spring nearby. They intended for this to be their final resting place.

But instead, Jim Tewksbury snuck out in the middle of the night and killed the guard at the spring. He then filled everyone’s canteens and was preparing to walk back to the fortress when his brother, Ed, saved his life by shooting and killing a man who was sneaking behind him… I’m telling you, this story is so exciting and cinematic. But it’s only getting started.

Ten days after the Middleton Ranch shootout the feud claimed yet another Graham man. But this one… had the Graham name himself.

While riding through the valley, one source said he was on his way back home from a dance in Phoenix, another said he was just riding between ranches and was crossing a creek, but in Pleasant Valley while on his horse, Billy Graham was surprised and shot only a few miles from his home. He’d survive the shooting, and ride back home with his intestines almost dragging the ground. He’d die a day or two later… But not before fingering Ed Tewksbury for the murder.

A cowboy at Billy’s house told authorities later, that some of his final words were, quote, I saw Ed Tewksbury shoot me. End quote.

Well… that may have been what Billy Graham saw, but it ain’t what was said had happened.

The aforementioned James Houck muddies the waters a bit here.

The deputy sheriff, Houck would later say of the incident that it was justified cause he thought it was the brother, John Graham who he had a warrant for, and not Billy. John had allegedly stollen some horses recently, although, there is some doubt as to the veracity of that accusation. It’s quite possible Houck stole the horses himself to frame the Grahams… James Houck would later say of this shooting, quote, when I first see it was him, I tried to speak to him , but it was of no use. Everybody was carrying a gun them days. As he pulled his gun I turned loose and shot him. His horse whirled, and I shot three or four times. End quote.

As Billy lay dying with his intestines hanging out, he fingered Ed Tewksbury, and not the deputy sheriff James Houck, as the shooter. Despite Houck confessing to the shooting. Apparently, not many believed the ruse from the deputy, though.

And, as Jynx points out, Houck didn’t return from driving a herd of sheep from atop the Mogollon Rim until September 5th. These drives normally take a month. Meaning, he was most likely on top of the rim with sheep and not down in the valley during the shooting.

Ed didn’t really inspire confidence either when the authorities came to arrest him, but found that he had already fled for the hills.

It was time for the Grahams to seek their revenge. And they would seek it, two weeks later, on the early morning of September 1st.

At this time, Jim, John, and Ed Tewksbury, along with a few other of their confederates had left their ranches and their flocks and cattle and were hiding in their mountain stronghold. Much like the Apache. Meanwhile, they left their wives, including John’s 8 month pregnant wife, Mary Ann, and their daughter with the Tewksbury elder JD Tewksbury. Papa Tewksbury. Also there was John’s mother in law, who was also, JD’s wife. If you’ll recall. Everyone was at JD Tewksbury’s because the sons figured, since he’d never been in on the fighting or the feud, it was neutral or safer at least, territory.

But after weeks of hiding in the mountains, John missed his wife. He needed to see her and their daughter and their unborn child. Other men felt the same. Understandable… but unfortunate also.

It was decided then that John and Ed would go down and check on the situation and they’d be escorted by John Rhodes, and Bill Jacobs.

At the same time, from the Graham Blevins stronghold rode out a large posse of about 20 men towards JD Tewksbury’s ranch. The posse included John and Tom Graham, Andy Blevins Cooper, his two brothers Charlie and John Black Blevins, Mose Roberts, and a bunch more hash knife boys.

In the Cabin were Ed, Lydia, Mary Ann, Bertha, and a few other Tewksburys. Children included. Sons and daughters. As well as John Rhodes and a few others. JD Tewksbury was in Prescott.

Once the Graham Blevins posse had arrived around 8 in the morning, they hid amongst the rocks and the trees that dotted the hillside and spied down on the comings and goings. Which comings and goings eventually included John Tewksbury, and William Jacobs who were out grabbing some horses.

Neither stood a chance and both were killed out in the open. 100 shots were fired.

William Jacobs took three well grouped shots to the back, with each bullet breaking his spine.

John Tewksbury took a bullet to the neck… the coroner found tufts of his own hair in his hands and fingernails indicating the bullet did not kill him quickly and instead inflicted an enormous amount of pain.

Their bodies were stripped of their rifles, belts, cartridges, and revolvers.

The Graham Blevins faction would continue to stay sheltered and would continue to fire until around 4pm that first day, the first of September.

When the guns went silent, Mary Ann was told by Tom Graham that her husband was dead. And so was Bill Jacobs.

She asked, probably through tears, if she could bury him.

Tom yelled back, quote:

NO! The hogs have got to eat them! End quote.

So apparently, the Grahams and the Blevins had learned of Mart’s fate.

Revenge was to be served. And the hogs were going to eat it.

Inside the cabin, Ed Tewksbury and John Rhodes felt helpless but insisted on staying to protect the women and children that were all being besieged by gunfire from the hillside.

The siege would last days…

Ed, the lion killer kept the Graham faction at bay with his deadly shots.

And Tom Graham kept the rest of his men from burning down the cabin with everyone in it. Thankfully.

Eventually it was decided that someone had to go get help or this would end even worse…

John Rhodes emerged heroically and decided he’d try and make it to some back-up.

And make it he would. 

He escaped in the dead of night and rode hard to the other Tewksbury in the mountains.

Jim Tewksbury and his men, including Jim Roberts, then rode hard for their homes while Rhodes rode further on to Payson to grab some help from the law.

Meanwhile, the siege was still going. Jynx suggests from his incredibly exhaustive research, that the bodies of the two dead men, laid on the ground for 10 or 11… days. The siege lasted a harrowing amount of time.

Eventually Jim Tewksbury and his men arrived and dug in behind the cabin and with their fire combined with Ed’s deadshots, the Graham Blevins posse was kept at bay. And even more men were arriving to back up the Tewksburys. But as I mentioned, some of that backup was the law.

Obviously, neither side wanted that. The siege only lifted once the Grahams got word that the badge was on its way.

Not only the Grahams left though, but also the Tewksbury men and some of the women.

When the law arrived in the form of John Meadows, only John Rhodes, Lydia Tewksbury, JD’s wife, and her son Thomas Shultes were at the cabin.

The justice of the Peace and coroner John Meadows buried the rotting bodies of Jim Tewksbury and Bill Jacobs.

Amazingly, in the middle of the siege that would kill his son and scar his family for life, JD Tewksbury, who was in Prescott, in the middle of the siege on September 8th he was interviewed by the Prescott Weekly Courier which published this quote on September 9th, still during the siege, quote:

The father of the Tonto Basin Tewksburys is in Prescott and has convinced all who have talked with him that his boys and their friends are in the right. End quote.

It is very safe to say, news of the death of his son and the siege on his home had not reached his ears. Which means its safe to assume the siege probably lasted a harrowing 9 days…

No matter how long it lasted though, it was long enough for a truly grisly scene to unfold. A scene that would make national headlines and frankly shock the newspaper reading nation at that time.

I’ll let Tanner describe it:

As both sides fired sporadically, the situation took an unexpected grisly turn. A band of half-wild hogs appeared just beyond rifle range and, to the horror of those inside the cabin, began to root and grunt about the bodies of their two fallen comrades, starting to make a meal of them. The Tewksburys called frantically to their assailants, but the Graham bunch refused to grant a truce for burial or even to allow someone to drive the beasts away. End quote.

Charles Perkins was with the Justice of the Peace John Meadows, when they arrived to the scene of the recently lifted siege. Charles Perkins helped to bury the two bodies and he later told this story, quote:

It was not possible to move them. They were badly torn by the hogs, and decomposition had gone so far that burying them was a  most disagreeable task. All we did was dig two very shallow graves and roll the swollen, mutilated bodies into them with our shovels. End quote.

The Blevins then, had gotten their revenge.

Immediately after the siege, Jim would infamously say quote, no damned man can kill a brother of mine and stand guard over him for the hogs to eat him, and live within a mile and a half of me. End quote.

This was going to be a fight to the death.

After the siege of the JD Tewksbury Ranch, the brave and valiant John Rhodes who went to go get help would not only continue to fight with the Tewksburys, but he would become one of them when he would marry Jim’s widowed wife Mary Ann. He’d raise Jim’s children as his own with the kids in one hand, and a gun in the other.

Days after the killings of John and Bill, in a saloon, in the Town of Holbrook, Arizona, a town on the other side of the Mogollon Rim from the Pleasant Valley and its happenings, and a town directly on I-40 and west of Petrified Forest State Park, in Holbrook, 3 days after the murders, Andy Blevins Cooper was overheard boasting, bragging even, about being the one who had just killed the Tewksbury man and their friend.

After this apparent boast, probably at a saloon, Andy walked across the railroad tracks to a cottage he, his brother John Blevins, John’s wife, a bunch of other friends, and their mother were staying.

Before long, the news of the boast and of the man being in town, that man being the notorious and wanted for cattle rustling, horse thievery, and murder, Andy Blevins Cooper, but news of his boast and his whereabouts reached the ears of the newly elected sheriff, Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens.

Now first of all… this man could have his very own episode. I mean, his name, Commodore Perry Owens, is fanciful enough. He was not actually a naval captain, by the way, but rather, his parents were partial to the American Hero of the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. 

Then there’s his appearance. I will have a picture of him at the site but… it makes me regret recently cutting my very long hair. He looks like the caricature of a wild west man. Big Wild Bill vibes. I’m envious. The mustache, the gun belt, the tie, the hair. Amazing.

Then there’s his story.

Actually, before I tell his story, one of the little fun books I have called Wild West Characters by Dale Pierce said of Commodore Perry Owens, quote, While he looked like some foppish dandy or stage actor, his appearance was certainly deceptive and no one ever laughed at him to his face. End quote. I absolutely believe it.

At age 13 he runs away from home, joins the railroad, and becomes a sharpshooting bison hunter, providing meat for his fellow workers. Apparently, he was so good with a rifle that he could shoot accurately from the hip, like some kind of wild west Sean Connery James Bond. He was also ambidextrous and could shoot accurately with both hands. It is said he would be able to shoot a can with alternating hands across a field. He was incredible. He was also flawed and quite possibly a murderer and a liar. Although, I tend to believe the man and his tall tales.

After the railroad, Owens became a cowboy in Oklahoma and New Mexico before heading out west to Arizona. Now, in Arizona, in the early 1880s, our web of characters becomes entangled and in Arizona, Commodore Perry Owens became a ranch foreman for the future Sheriff Deputy James Houck. The same man that would later claim to have shot Billy Graham although he probably did not. Houck will be mentioned again.

While acting as Houck’s foreman though… Commodore Perry Owens was accused of and arrested for killing a Navajo boy! And stealing his horses! He was held in jail at Fort Wingate where the Indian agent wrote, quote, I saw over twenty five Indians who have been shot at by them during the past year or two, including an Indian woman. end quote. Them being Houck and Owens. So the man was not without his faults. Possibly… murderous faults.

And to entangle the man even more, while working as foreman, you’ll never guess who he rode with… Andy Blevins Cooper. The two would steal back stolen horses from Navajos together… often bringing back more horses than were stolen. Both, are accused of killing Navajos…

But a surprisingly short amount of time after that Navajo killing incident, Commodore Perry Owens was himself, elected sheriff of Apache County, Arizona in November of 1886 after running on a platform to end the then rampant corruption within the law enforcement office. But also, to destroy the rustler hold on that part of the wild west country at that time. The whole territory had had enough of the rustlers and every day the newspapers were reporting more compounding crimes and thefts. As Jynx puts it perfectly, quote, the press was covering depredations like a cow pie on a doodle bug and the public was demeaning the law do something. End quote. Newly Elected Commodore Perry Owens, was just the man to do that something. Or so, he thought.

It wasn’t just that Andy Blevins Cooper was bragging about killing the Tewksbury men. The reason why he had to finally be put down was because he also had a current warrant out for his arrest for stealing 25 horses from a local Mormon rancher. Andy was also suspected, by now, in 1887 of killing two lawmen who had been pursuing him. He was accused of killing 3 Navajo men he had stolen horses from. He was accused of cattle rustling. He was accused of cold blooded murder even in Texas! The man was a true outlaw. A renegade. He had a serious rap sheet. He had an evil in em.

Well it seems the people had had enough of this Andy Blevins Cooper and the county board of commissioners gave Commodore Perry Owens 10 days to arrest him or be kicked out of office.

You’da thought Owens would have gone after this Andy Blevins Cooper fella immediately after taking office but that’s where it gets tricky, as I mentioned earlier…

First of all, Andy Blevins Cooper the outlaw, was a good shot. He was mean and tough and ornery. There’s a good possibility Owens didn’t wanna die. Who does, right?

Secondly, and possibly more importantly to the question of why hadn’t Owens gone after this infamous man yet…. Is because they may have been friends. Or at least acquaintances. They rode together, stole back, and a few extra, horses from the Navajos, they shot at and hit Navajos together. They were probably old cowboy buddies who’d ridden together possibly since Texas. It’s said they even courted the same woman once upon a time. So it’s quite possible, that Commodore Perry Owens didn’t want to kill or be killed by his old buddy. No matter how nasty Andy was.

All that was about to change though, on September 4th, 1887.

After arriving to Holbrook, Owens headed to the cottage that the Blevins were renting across the railroad tracks. There were most certainly 12 people in that house, including friends, wives, women, and children when Commodore Perry Owens arrived. It was 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon.

Sheriff Owens himself provides the details of what happened next in the inquests that followed the shooting. Autopsy reports seemingly backed up his crazy wild west tale. But eyewitness accounts within the house tell a different story, and a more believable one. It’s an insane shootout however it’s told and it all unfolded in about a minute’s time…

Commodore Perry Owens testified that as he approached the house, he noticed that it was a full one. He also testified that he saw Andy Blevins Cooper. His old acquaintance. His target. But Andy was in a room in the back of the house, oblivious to Owens arrival.

Sheriff Owens climbed onto the porch and knocked on the front door. The minute begins.

With an eight month old baby in her arms, Eva Blevins, wife to John Black Blevins answered the door.

Owens asked if Andy was there and Eva replied with a shout to Andy. She had no idea of Owens intent.

Andy opened a door nearby, looked up, and saw Owens with his rifle at his hip.

Sheriff Owens said something to the effect of, I want you Andy. And before he was even done speaking he let loose a bullet that tore through Andy’s stomach. The man dropped to the floor. The blood and gore exploded onto Eva and the eight month old.

Seconds later, Eva’s husband, John Black Blevins ran out the house with the family’s rifle and shot wildly at Owens. The bullet missed. It would hit Andy’s horse which was tied to the tree in the front yard.

Owens, after hearing the wild shot and without hesitation whipped to his right and fired at John. The bullet tore through John’s shoulder. John Black Blevins ran back inside, out of the fight.

Mose Roberts, quit writing his letter in the corner, and jumped out of a window on the side of the house.

Owens was already backing up from the porch and from his vantage point he could see the side of the house and Roberts, who was recovering from the jump.

Frightened but… unsure of what to do, Mose Roberts turned, and ran.

Owens put a bullet through Robert’s back. The bullet would explode out of his chest.

Roberts fell to the ground but crawled up to and eventually through the back door of the house…

Owens would later claim he had a pistol on him when he jumped. Eva said it was planted.

From his spot on the street, The sheriff could see Andy crawling around on the floor. He may have been going for his gun.

Commodore Perry Owens put a round through the door at the crawling man and this time the bullet hit Andy in the hip. His movement in the house ceased.

Andy’s other brother, 15 year old Sam Houston Blevins after grabbing Andy’s Colt revolver, came running through the front door towards the sheriff. Sam Houston’s hands were outstretched.

He screamed, I’ll get im!

Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens put a bullet through Sam Houston Blevins heart. He fell back and into his mother’s arms where he died instantly.

The battle was over. All in less than a minute.

It’s cinematic.

It’s heroic.

It’s tragic.

It’s the wild west.

More victims of the Pleasant Valley War.

Tanner writes of the followup, quote:

Two days later the coroner's jury ended its investigation and rendered its verdict, finding that Owens had acted quote, in discharge of his duty, end quote, clearing him of any crime. A local newspaper noted, quote, Outside of a few men, a very few at that, Owens is supported by every man, woman and child in town. End quote.

Not surprisingly, the Blevins' side of the story, discounted at the time, reflects considerably less credit on Commodore Perry Owens. End all quotes.

I essentially told a mix, but mostly Eva’s side of the story. There’s just no way Sheriff Owens would have won in a fair fight. So he had to level the playing field by shooting first. Again, the one who shoots first is often the one who lives to shoot again. He told a different tale of everyone having guns and he acted valiantly. In reality, he acted the only way he could in order to stay alive.

Andy would survive in excruciating pain for another day before succumbing to his wounds.

Mose Roberts would survive a week before dying.

John Black Blevins would recover from the shoulder wound. But he was quickly arrested. He was eventually, pardoned on his way to jail. They apparently just let him out of the coach and told him to walk home. Which he did. He was the only surviving member of the Blevins family. He quit his law breaking days soon afterwards.

After fleeing to the mountains, the Tewksburys and their men stayed up there near a spring where they could keep an eye on their flocks and an eye on the Grahams.

The Grahams, learning of this hideout, mounted up, and secretly crept through the forest early in the morning to kill their enemies.

But Jim Roberts of the Tewksburys saw the Grahams coming and yelled for everyone to get up and start shooting!

Lead poured into the forest and whizzed between the attackers who hid behind the trees and attempted to fire back.

One man, Henry Middleton, unrelated to the previously mentioned Middletons who owned the ranch of the first real shootout… well Henry Middleton the Hashknifer was shot in both legs and both leg bones were shattered. Another of the Graham faction had been shot through the calf.

Eventually, having the low ground and being shot at by the likes of the Tewksburys was enough for the men to flee although, they left both of their injured their on the hills.

Later in the evening though, after the sun had set, the Graham men came back with a wagon and loaded up their injured comrades. Some of these men that came back included Tom and John Graham.

And according to Jim Roberts, the Tewksbury men quote, sat right above them on that little sugar loaf hill and saw them, every move they made, and didn’t fire a shot at them. End quote.

I wonder if the Graham men knew they were spared in this instance… The Tewksburys could have ended the feud right then and there.

This most recent shootout, which would see Middleton succumbing to his wounds, so it did result in a death. But this newest eruption of violence and death, combined with the shootout at Holbrook and the other distressing events in the region, it all forced the territorial government of Arizona to finally act and on September 10th, 1887, the territorial Governor Conrad Zulick, ordered Sheriff William Mulvenon of Prescott to round up a posse, ride into Pleasant Valley, and arrest everyone he came into contact with on both sides. It didn’t matter if they were Tewksbury or Graham or Hashknife or friends of either. Just round em up and arrest them. This war had to come to an end.

In reality, in Washington, this little range war and the continuous Apache murders, like the rampage of the Apache Kid, were causing Arizona to be looked over when it came to statehood. The liz, the people in DC were leery of letting this quite uncivilized, dangerous, and downright backwards territory filled with outlaws, Indians, rustlers, gunfighters, sheep herders, and… mormons, that strange territory of Arizona. DC wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of them joining the Union. Something had to be done. Jynx writes, quote, as faith will move a mountain, so will enough public pressure move a government. End quote.

But first, quick aside about the governor I learned from Jynx Pyle… The governor, Conrad Zulick when he was appointed governor by president Grover Cleveland, it was because two main reasons. The first, because the president didn’t know anyone but him who wanted the job, and second: Zulick was in a bind, and what better way to get out of a bind than to be appointed governor of Arizona by the President of the United States? That bind, you may be wondering? He was in jail in Sonora Mexico. Not sure on what charges but he was slipped out of there in the dead of night and coyoted on over the border and set up in Prescott. These Wild West Characters, I tell you what. We used to be an interesting nation, that’s for sure. Interesting and dangerous.

As for Sheriff Mulvenon, Jynx pointed out something that the other sources failed to mention about what was about to go down. Well, he does that for everything in this story but this particular time, Jynx shined a light on the fact that this wasn’t Sheriff Mulvenon’s first time coming to Pleasant Valley to clean it up. It turns out, he’d attempted to clean out this den of rustlers and murderers earlier in 1887 after the murder of the Mexican sheepherder.

Apparently, the Sheriff and his men were camping at the top of the Rim, getting ready to descend into chaos with the hopes of stopping things before they started, but in the middle of the night, sittin’ around their campfire, he and his posse were surrounded by men who stayed in the trees and the dark. I imagine they could hear hammers being cocked. Twigs being broken. Horses neighing. Shadows moving through the evergreen branches.

But one rider emerged from the dark and spooky forest, a forest I have talked about before… this is like, the exact spot I saw that Elk, if you remember what I’m talking about… still gives me shivers. But this was pretty much very near that place I saw the elk on top of the Mogollon Rim. 

From the shadows though, emerged one rider who strode to the fire and told the lawman that this place didn’t need no law. This here war was between these two factions and quote, when we get it settled, if there is anyone left, we will send for you to come in. End quote. Amazing line. If there’s anyone left… how right this rider was though…

The dark and mysterious man then told the law man that they had no quarrels with the Sheriff or his men so he better just go on and get lost. If he didn’t he’d lose and he’d die and it would be rather regrettable but necessary.

The Sheriff, a hardened serious, and tough man, not to be dissuaded told him that heck, if he and his posse could’t clean this place up, then he’ll call in the militia.

The dark mysterious man then said the militia, quote, they couldn’t find an army in here if the army wanted to hide. There’s a bunch over on that hill right now looking straight at you, but you don't even know who it is, and never will know. End quote.

I doubt the mysterious man was bluffing… but after that he rode away and his men dispersed. I imagine that posse didn’t sleep well that evening.

The Sheriff ignored the dark man on the horse though, the man that was no doubt Jim Tewksbury, but the Sheriff ignored the Tewksburys only to be accosted the following day by the Grahams when they and a large, well armed group of men rode up on the Sheriff and told him to get lost, this wasn’t his fight.

This time, the Sheriff did indeed leave, and then he and his men vowed to never speak of the attempt again… I only am able to tell you this on account of the oral tradition passed down. Now sure, as I have said a few times before, oral traditions aren’t worth the paper they’re written on but as Jynx puts it, the gist is there.

Like, for sure the quotes from Jim around the dark campfire can’t be 100% accurate but the story remains the same.

And that story is, this here posse the lawman Sheriff Mulvenon was putting together, this wasn’t his first foray into the battlefield of the Tonto Basin.

So, Sheriff Mulvenon and 25 to 40 heavily armed deputies from Yavapai, Gila, Apache and Maricopa Counties rode themselves into the valley and installed themselves in an old Fort which had been converted into a store. The Perkins Store, to be exact. The owner of the store was the one who buried the two bodies of Jim and Bill at JD’s ranch and he ALSO buried Hamp Blevins at the Middleton Ranch. The man was really in the thick of it.

And yes, that old Fort was built to defend the people against, Apache raids. But by these days, those raids were no longer a threat. This Range war though, was definitely a threat to the safety of the region.

It’s also important to note that this Perkins store had a stone wall across the street from it that was being built. Mainly a low stone wall probably 5 feet tall.

Also important, the Perkins store was in view of the Grahams Ranch.

Along with the Sheriff was a man named Thomas Jacobs who was the brother of the deceased William Jacobs. He was the one shot with John Tewksbury and subsequently eaten by hogs.

Instead of just blitzkrieging the valley like a thunderstorm and rounding everyone up, the sheriff had a plan and once he arrived at the store, he put that sneaky plan into motion. He sent out six men to ride by the Graham ranch to kinda, get them suspicious so the ringleaders would come out and investigate, maybe assault these new men in town.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Mulvenon set up a good portion of his men in the store and a large portion of his posse behind the wall across the street from the old fort.

Well, the sheriff’s plan worked and before long, two shots rang out across the valley from Al Rose’s house, which was answered by three shots coming from the Grahams. Apparently they had a sort of signaling system.

Shortly after the smoke signals, John Graham and Charles Blevins rode out of the ranch and up to the store to see what was going on. They circled the store a few times… talking low towards one another. They then rode over to the five foot wall across the street and both men cautiously stood up on their stirrups and peered over. Only barrels and hard eyes met their questioning gazes.

But at that exact moment the two men, Graham and Blevins were high up on their stirrups, legs straightened, using one hand to hold onto the stirrup and the other to reach for a gun as they leaned over the wall that hid the sheriff’s posse, the Sheriff himself emerged with a double barreled shotgun.

Put up your hands boys, I want you.

The two men instead, reached for their guns.

Sheriff Mulvenon’s shotgun put a solid hole in Blevins back before he could react and he was dead before he hit the ground. I read somewhere he had six or seven holes in him.

The sheriff’s other barrel hit Graham’s horse in the neck but as the horse fell, one of the men from behind the wall, stood and fired a rifle shot which put him down.

But he wasn’t yet dead. No, he died hours later but he almost died right then when a man came from behind the wall and aimed his rifle over the dying Graham man.

That man, that sheriff deputy, was none other than the man who took the fall for killing Billy Graham. James Houck.

It’s at this point that Houck and sheriff Mulvenon walked over to the dead or dying Blevins and attempted to put another shot in him before they were stopped and dissuaded to from the rest of the posse.

The shooting must have alerted Tom Graham because he took off for the hills. He wouldn’t be seen again for some time.

After the shooting the posse lined up men in a row that was a hundred yards long and started walking in unison to the Graham’s house. But before they could surround it, John’s wife came out, walked over to Mulvenon, and collapsed at his feet. She would tell the Sheriff about everyone in the house. No shootout occurred.

When the posse arrived back at the store, John Graham had died.

Next up, the sheriff and his posse rode for the Tewksburys. But… curiously, their arrest went much different. The sheriff had actually sent a rider over to their ranch to inform them that he had warrants, he’d just arrested a Graham, that was a white lie, and that he and his posse would be there soon to arrest them.

When Sheriff Mulvenon arrived at the Tewksburys, instead of a shootout, Ed and Jim Tewksbury and five others were patiently waiting.

I’ll let Tanner describe what happens next, quote:

They surrendered without protest but were outraged to learn that Tom Graham was still free. Within a few days of their hearing in Prescott, the Tewksburys were out on bond and back in Pleasant Valley, at liberty to pick up the feud again. End quote.

That brings up some suspicions in my mind… the fact that the sheriff sent out word to the Tewksburys who surrendered peacefully but were angry when they learned Tom had gotten away, almost as if they were assured that Tom would be taken care of if they surrendered. Like maybe they’d worked something out before hand.

Then there’s the appearance of the Tewksbury loyal sheriff deputy James Houck who may have killed John Graham, and who almost shot Blevins again before being stopped by the apparently startled posse.

Why were they startled? Well, it appears, in testimony that emerged later, the sheriff, Mulvenon, had arranged with some of the posse, but not all… remember, some of these men were told to ARREST the Grahams and Tewksburys, not shoot em in the street.

Well, some men testified that there was a secret understanding among the sheriff and some of the posse members and deputies to not take any Grahams alive. In True West Magazine I even read that the governor gave the word to the sheriff to take no Grahams alive. He apparently said, quote, Kill them and no one will be hurt for it. End quote. Apparently, the sheriff passed this down to some but not all of his men.

Some of these men then also testified that the sheriff never told the two men, Graham and Blevins, to drop their guns but instead when they peered over that wall, distracted, they were shot with that shotgun in cold blood.

A grand jury actually indicted Sheriff Mulvenon, but he was found not guilty.

Later in life, Sheriff Mulvenon would serve in the Arizona Territorial Legislature before opening a brewery in Prescott. He built that brewery after the 1900 Prescott fire, a fire my wife and I learned about after eating a delicious meal in town a while back at the Palace Restaurant and Saloon. That brewery the sheriff would open is now the Gurley Street Grill and it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

At this point in our story, the autumn of 1887, Tom Graham, who had fled the ranch in Pleasant Valley actually shows up just outside of Phoenix when on October 8th, the 33 year old man married the 17 year old daughter of the local Tempe, Arizona reverend Mr. Melton. The marriage would not last long. On account of Tom not lasting too much longer.

But before his demise, Tom Graham sold his Graham ranch in the valley, bought some land in Tempe, and then turned himself into authorities. He just walked into the Phoenix sheriff’s office and asked if maybe, hey, is there a warrant out for my arrest perchance? I’m ready to give up this dangerous vendetta life.

On October 16th, Sheriff Mulvenon himself arrested Tom Graham and took him back to Prescott to stand before a grand jury. This hearing was to take place on the same day that the recently also arrested by Mulvenon, Ed and Jim Tewksbury were to be tried. The trial was set for December of that year.

All men were found guilty and hanged by the neck, right?!

Of course not. No witnesses showed up and after two postponements, all charges were dropped. Truthfully, by the end of this, no member of either the Graham family or Tewksbury family would ever be convicted of a crime… That’s mostly because the survival rate of the two families was next to zero. But for now, the three men, Ed Tewksbury, Jim Tewksbury, and Tom Graham were free to live their lives in peace.

But peace was not in the cards.

Back at Pleasant Valley, a slew of murders, lynchings, and hooded assassinations were taking place.

The nearby town of St. Johns, its St Johns Herald published the following regarding this new wave of violence:

When the people finally make up their minds they have stood it long enough, their mode of dealing with these outlaws will be as swift and terrible as they have been patient and enduring. End quote.

How very prophetic.

William Bonner of the Graham faction would be killed by the Tewksbury men after the trial. Although he had recently been taken to train robberies so he wasn’t missed.

One of the Tewksbury’s allies, George Newton, he drowned in the Salt River after a meeting with Ed Tewksbury. His widow offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could recover the body. It was never found. The people of the valley were reaching their limit.

One of the Graham’s allies, Al Rose, had actually been rounded up and arrested by Sheriff Mulvenon but his charges were dropped and before long, he was back in Pleasant Valley. Al Rose immediately starting running his mouth and talking a big talk about murdering the Tewksburys. He then received a note to leave the valley immediately or else. He would apparently wait too long though and one morning while feeding his horses, he’d be surrounded by about 10 hooded men and shot up to 11 times including a shotgun blast to the face.

It’s here I must introduce a puzzling and quite mysterious part of the Pleasant Valley, Tonto Basin War, the Committee of Fifty. Tanner says they were quote, formed to aid the forces of law and order, chiefly, it seems, by killing anyone who was deemed a threat to peace. End quote. Phyllis de la Garza in her Apache Kid said of the committee quote, lynchings, shootings, ambush, night riders, and hooded vigilantes calling themselves the committee of fifty turned the Tonto Rim into a battleground. End quote.

So a bunch of hooded vigilantes shooting and stringing people up in the valley after years of deaths, unmarked graves, and shootouts… Jynx Pyle says of this quote, the vigilante tools of trade were the gun and the rope and were equal in the danger they dealt. The guns went off, the ropes went on; the result was a permanent six by three chunk of real estate. End quote.

It’s this committee of fifty, whose members have never been identified, that turned up the heat in the war at this time. Were they sheriff deputies? Were they ex confederates and Indian fighters turned cattle men? Were they two competing groups of hooded men taking each other out like warring groups of ninja knights? Jynx Pyle compiles a very good and compelling list of the men, men who lived on the fringes of the valley who were sick of losing cattle and horses, men with violent ties to history. Men who were tied to the law. And men who were tied to the feud.

One of the men was probably the infamous gun for hire, deputy, and just all around cowboy legend, Tom Horn. He is getting his own Roadrunner exclusive episode very soon.

Another masked man was no doubt, the deputy and friend to Commodore Perry Owens, James Houck. He had participated in so many of the other violent goings on in the area during the war. I wouldn’t doubt that he was one of the vigilantes.

I also, after reviewing my notes and reading more on Commodore Perry Owens, I would not doubt that he was also under the mask.

Even Ed the lion killer Tewksbury rode under the mask. Maybe not every time but certainly for the lynching of Al Rose.

Yet another man under the mask, and the man who organized the entire committee in the first… this man was an ex confederate Colonel… a man named Colonel Jesse Ellison. He had a lot of men that followed his lead too… including:

The most important man for our story who was under the mask, he is the reason I’m doing this episode in the first place. A man who owed much to the just mentioned colonel Ellison. A man named Glenn Reynolds. The soon to be sheriff of Gila County.

Author of The Apache Wars, The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy who Started the Longest War in American History, Paul Andrew Hutton, an author I quoted from quite a bit in the Apache Kid episode and someone I will quote a lot from in the large Apache series, he called Sheriff Reynolds, quote, a remarkable specimen of the pioneer stock that settled the American Southwest. End quote.

Let’s take a slight detour to the incredibly interesting and brave man that is Glen Reynolds.

His start was in Texas in 1853 which made him only a boy when the Civil War broke out. But that didn’t stop him from becoming a fighter and a killer at such a young age. You see, when the war ensued, the men in his family and in his town had to go fight the northern invaders which left him at home, defending his family from the now restarted and deadly Comanche attacks and raids.

The Comanche had been on the defense right up until the Civil War began and then they noticed that the Americans kinda stopped paying attention to them. Well, they took advantage of that and began raiding again in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mexico, the southwest in general. As did the Apaches. So, Glen Reynolds bravely defended his Texas home from Comanches until the war ended. He then, naturally, grew up and became a cowboy.

That is until he was elected sheriff of Throckmorton County, in Texas. Throckmorton County is not far from Abilene. It’s south of Wichita Falls and west of Fort Worth. During this time, Reynolds met up with an older Texas Ranger and Confederate soldier named Colonel Jesse W Bud Ellison who by this time had become a cattleman himself.

But, this older cattleman and ex confederate had had enough of Texas. At that time, barbed wire was going up ever which way and closing off heretofore open range which obviously caused hard feelings and harder actions. Range wars all throughout Texas and basically the entire Western Cattle Country of the United States began erupting.

So by 1887, the Colonel was wanting to get outta the Lone Star State, outta the violence, and outta the way of the dang fences. Colonel Ellison was quoted as saying, If I stay longer I’ll have to gunfight my neighbors, and I don’t want to do that. End quote. Been there, brother.

Unfortunately, the place he chose to up and move to, wasn’t much better off it turns out…

Back in Texas, Col. Ellison, his quite large family, along with Glenn Reynolds and his family, and 2 to 3,000 heads of cattle, 200 horses, enough cowboys, and wagons filled with furniture, household necessities, and everything they couldn’t get out in the far west, they all boarded a train for Arizona.

Once in Arizona, specifically at a place known as Bowie Station, which is just north of the Chiricahua Mountains and south of I-10, well once at the station as the large Texan group unloaded and prepared to head to their new home, someone or some group purposefully stampeded The Colonel’s herd, in the hopes, you see, of stealing a few for themselves.

apparently, this caused such a fracas through the town of Bowie that windows were shattered, houses were knocked off their foundations, fences were smashed, clotheslines were torn up and strewn about. The place was a wreck.

The Colonel would later call it, quote, the damndest melee I ever saw. End quote. This man saw the Civil War! And he was a Texas Ranger! So it must have been quite the mess.

With the help of Glenn Reynolds and other hardened and tough men and cowboys, the Texans regathered their scattered cattle and headed on foot towards the Tonto Basin with their women and children and kitchen sinks. Right smack into the jaws of the Pleasant Valley War.

But first, and it’s worth mentioning this further slight detour, before they could make it up to their future homes in the warzone, the Texans ran into another annoying snag. This one was from the hands of a filthy bureaucrat.

Right outside of the San Carlos Reservation, a place my Roadrunner’s will recognize on account of it featuring heavily in the Apache Kid episodes, but at the San Carlos Apache Reservation, the ex Confederate Colonel Ellison and his group of cowboy pioneers ran into a little man named Indian Agent Clum.

On the outskirts of the reservation, Clum announced that, ope, I apologize but it seems you cannot pass through here since you don’t have the necessary legal permit to herd your cattle through the reservation. And oh, I am just SO sorry, but that permit does indeed take 90 days to obtain. And oh my goodness, I am just so sorry to again tell you that if you decide to forgo the permit and just herd yourselves and your cattle through the reservation, it seems very apparent that the Apache will just go ahead and stampede your cattle while your moving em. You’ll no doubt lose a few. You might not get them all back. I am so sorry.

Well… obviously, the Colonel simply could not abide by this unfortunate turn of events that he blamed on the opposing side of the war he had previously fought against winning. This was inevitably the future of a nanny bureaucratic government after all.

So the Colonel looked to Glenn Reynolds and the two had a little sideline. There, they discussed the next course of action, which ended up being, inviting Clum to stay the night in their camp and enjoying their hospitality… at the point of gun. Clum accepted, and Clum had such a great time and felt so strongly about his new friendship that, the next morning, Clum had a change of heart. And he not only waived the silly permit, but he decided to escort the entire group the whole way to Globe, so he could personally make sure no stampeding happened.

What a nice fella.

No stampeding happened.

And then… anywhere from 1,800 to 3,000 cattle, I saw both, although Jynx does say 1,800, and I’m always inclined to believe him, especially when he cites census numbers to back up his claims, but anyways, a whole bunch of cattle, in 1885, arrived to what would soon be the hottest range war in the west.

As a matter of fact, later, the Colonel would say of his time in the valley, quote, you couldn’t leave a horse in your own barn at night and be sure of finding him there the next morning. End quote.

Their final destination was actually a place just 18 miles northeast of Payson, Arizona.

Now, if you haven’t been to Payson, it is absolutely beautiful. It’s at the top end of the Pleasant Valley, way up in the mountains far above Phoenix and the Saguaros. It’s much cooler and the mountain alpine air is clean and refreshing. It sits just below the Mogollon Rim.

The last time I was there my friend, my wife, and I hit up the Tonto Natural Bridge. It was winter so there was ice and a little snow but the water still flowed down the falls and dripped through the massive open archway caused by the bridge. It’s a beautiful spot.

I actually wanted to move to Payson but the wife vetoed it. I’m glad she did.

So this big ole group of Texans arrive North of Payson before Glenn Reynolds takes his share and heads further east to his own plot of land in the Sierra Anchas, on the border of Pleasant Valley, practically on top of it, which, much to his dismay, the place was already enveloped in the Pleasant Valley War.

Now I’m sure, the ex sheriff of Throckmorton County Texas tried to steer clear of any participation in the war, but he soon found out no one was capable of escaping the feud’s vortex and eventually he was sucked in.

Unfortunately, it was under heart-breaking circumstances.

When Glenn Reynolds moved to Pleasant Valley he was already married, to a woman named Gussie, and the two had five children. Well, it wasn’t long after moving that Gussie and Glenn’s baby son George, contracted a serious illness. The best chances for George’s survival laid in a medicine… that medicine was in Globe. All the way down the Pleasant Valley.

At this time, during the height of the vendetta, anybody riding the hills at night was liable to go missing or get killed. Think of all the deaths and disappearances that have happened so far… I haven’t even covered them all.

Unable to go himself, Glenn sent a rider, a cowboy who worked for him, to Globe to retrieve the medicine. Phyllis de la Garza covers what happens next, quote:

The mercy rider tied his spur rowels to prevent jingling, while at the same time padding his horse’s hooves. But riding the lonely trail that night, the rider was shot and wounded, and did not return to the ranch. The baby died. End quote.

At least two young people, including an infant, were now dead because of this war. Frank Tewksbury, and George Reynolds.

Glenn Reynolds, the ex sheriff could no longer sit idly by.

Which brings us to the killing of Al Rose.

Now, I’m not sure if Al is the one who shot the rider that was sent by Glenn, but it seems to make sense. I say that because when questioned about the murder by authorities, Ed Tewksbury accused Glenn Reynolds of the murder! Ed said that Glenn actually shotgunned Al in the face, before they hanged him! The county coroner would actually remark that the wounds on Al Rose’s face were consistent with buckshot. Glenn never faced trail for the murder. And in fact, he would soon become sheriff of Gila County.

Now… this may not actually be the angle and it’s very possible that Ed Tewksbury shotgunned Al Rose in the face after Al Rose ran his big mouth by bragging that there was a new widow in the Valley. That widow being Mary Ann, his dead brother’s widow who married Rhodes, who by the way also wore a mask for the committee of Fifty. But Ed Tewksbury very likely killed Al Rose and blamed it on Glenn Reynolds later in life. And he did that because well, as you’ll see in the next Apache Kid episode, Reynolds isn’t long for this world and when Ed told people it was Glenn, Glenn Reynolds was already dead.

But right now in our story, Glenn Reynolds is alive.

After the death of his son, and the murder of Al Rose, Glenn moved his family out of the valley and into Globe where he ran for Sheriff in November of 1888. There, the newcomer defeated the incumbent and the former sheriff and put on the star yet again.

How involved he was in the recent and upcoming killings is unknown but surely, he was involved. But it seems, he was a partisan of neither faction but he did loyally follow the creator of the committee, colonel Ellison.

Phyllis de la Garza writes of Glenn Reynolds and his lack of a side when she wrote quote:

In a number of sources Glenn Reynolds' name comes up in connection with the Pleasant Valley vendetta. There is some disagreement as to how involved he was with the vigilante ridings and killings.

Reynolds, at various times in his Texas days raised both sheep and cattle, he even carried a beautiful pocket watch given to him by friends back in Texas that had both sheep and cattle figures engraved on the gold case.

Most accounts describe Reynolds as a quote, brave, honorable, Christian gentleman, law-abiding, ... unimaginative, family man. End all quotes.

The symbolism of the pocket watch having both sheep and cattle is pure gold. I couldn’t have written it better myself.

Forced to kill for vengeance on account of his dead infant son. Who was murdered over a feud they had nothing to do with. Forced to take action and become sheriff. On top of all that, Glenn Reynolds may have donned the mask at night to do what the badge didn’t allow him.

The summer before Glenn Reynolds became sheriff, the summer of 1888. The masked Committee of Fifty lynched three more Graham partisans. More lynchings followed as well as the aforementioned drowning. Tanner writes of this summer and the following fall when he wrote, quote:

By then, lynching was so rife that one rancher recalled seeing men quote, hanging all up and down Cherry Creek, with, Maggots dropping out of them, end quote. In their zeal the grim crusaders sometimes equated suspicion with guilt; more than one stranger passing through the valley was hastily strung up for being unable to explain his presence to the satisfaction of the committee. End quote.

I don’t actually buy that last part where innocent men were sent swinging. This Committee of Fifty was careful with their targets and usually only hanged horse or cattle thieves they could prove were guilty but the court couldn’t.

In the end, the lynchings and the extra judicial killings, worked. The terror of the valley switched from plaguing its residents to plaguing the original terror perpetrators themselves. Cattle theft slowed. Shootings ceased. At one point in these months of lynchings, the range foreman for the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, the head of the Hashknifers, Ed Rogers apparently hopped a train for the east and never returned. But he did send word back to please send his horse to him.

It’s even been stated that Tom Grahams move to the Phoenix area was on account of getting a similar note as Al Rose to leave the valley or else.

By the end of 1888, the feud began to sputter out. I mean, it helped that very few Tewksbury’s and Graham’s were even alive to continue it. Jim Tewksbury was dying of Slow Consumption or Tuberculosis and had interestingly enough, moved to Tempe Arizona… to help with the TB, you ask?

No of course, not. To kill Tom Graham, obviously. But he would never get the chance to as he got too dang sick. And then he died on December 3rd of 1888.

So really, by the end of 1888, the only two left to continue the feud were Tom Graham and Ed Tewksbury. The two men who had met at that shop in Globe way back in 1882.

The vendetta wasn’t quite over yet, though. For years, from 1889 to 1892, men involved with Tom Graham, who again, was way down in Tempe, but he kept his holdings up in the Valley. But for years, men that involved themselves with the Grahams continually found themselves shot or hanged.

And an occasional Tewksbury man would end up dead as well. One in particular, by drowning, severely hurt Ed Tewksbury and this man, George Newton’s death may have sealed the fate of Tom Graham.

Although the flames of the feud had died down, the embers were still hot enough to cause a spark. And the final spark erupted on August 2nd of 1892.

For over three years, the recently married and settling down Tom Graham had lived in Tempe, Arizona, seemingly escaping justice. Just ranching with his small family on his modest farm while keeping his holdings in the valley. But all throughout this time, for some reason, the man, Tom Graham couldn’t leave well enough alone and apparently for those three years, he continually sent menacing and taunting letters to the Tewksburys.

Mary Ann Tewksbury Rhodes even said of these letters that Tom coulda lived out his life in Tempe, but for these stupid letters.

On the morning of August 2nd, two young ladies, or two girls, not sure, but two young ladies spied two horses and two men seemingly hiding behind a thicket near their home. They then noticed the two men raise their rifles and to their horror, as they followed the aim of the guns, they realized the rifles were pointed towards a man driving his four horse team and wagon.

Ed Tewksbury, put the rifle to his shoulder and called out, Tom Graham!

Tom looked back at the hidden avengers, noticed the guns and tried to duck. Ed fired the bullet which tore through Tom’s back. It entered at his kidneys, wound its way up his vertebrae, shattering a few of them, and then exiting his neck. He either fell into the street or fell into his wagon. The horses, startled by the shot, took off for Ed Cummings family residence.

John Rhodes and Ed Tewksbury fled for the hills.

The two young women were home with Tom Graham as he laid dying. He would blame Ed Tewksbury and John Rhodes before death. The last of the Grahams had now died.

Immediately the alarm went out and the law was in hot pursuit of the two murderers. Eventually, after a 10 mile chase through the rocky and thorny Arizona wilderness, John Rhodes was caught, arrested, and taken prisoner.

Edward Tewksbury was arrested at his ranch in Pleasant Valley as he was working. He proclaimed his innocence. He had no idea Tom Graham was dead. He hadn’t thought about that man in ages.

The law didn’t believe him and they secretly smuggled him back to Phoenix before anyone could lynch the last remaining Tewksbury.

I’ll now quote from the August 11th, 1892 Edition of the Arizona Gazette for the next bit of unbelievable drama in this exciting and relentless feud:

“The courtroom was quieter than it had been and even the voice of the Cross-examiner was less harsh then usual. Suddenly a rustle of skirts was heard. Mrs. Graham, widow of the murdered man, rushed across the closed in place. She had been sitting quietly near the reporter’s table and reached the seat of the prisoner before any of the spectators fully appreciated her intention. In her hand, concealed by a black silk reticule, she held a pistol. Before Rhodes even knew she was in his vicinity, the crazed woman thrust the cocked pistol to his side and pulled the trigger. She aimed for the heart, but the hammer in its descent caught upon a handkerchief on the edge of the cloth bag and the cartridge was not exploded. This seems to have been accomplished in less than a second. She tugged frantically to release the hammer of the revolver when Sheriff Montgomery grasped her by the wrists and bore her back into the arms of her father, Rev. W. A. Melton, who had followed her from where they had been sitting. He also tried to take the revolver away but the aid of several deputies was necessary before the clenched hands of the woman could be opened and the revolver secured. Its cloth impediment was still attached. Rhodes, taken by surprise, was for a moment quiet, then sprang toward the corner of the courtroom, raising his chair as a shield against further attack from the woman or anyone in the audience.”

The scene from the Dark Knight comes to mind…

So Mrs Graham had failed to kill her husband’s killer. Even worse for her, and for many in town who wanted this whole affair over with and some justice seen, John Rhodes produced a convincing alibi and his famous and expensive attorney, Thomas Fitch, successfully got John Rhodes off.

It’s worth mentioning when I say famous attorney Thomas Fitch, I mean he was probably the most famous attorney in the west. Two decades prior to this trial, he had actually successfully defended Prophet and President of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young during his trial over polygamy. He also successfully defended Virgil, Morgan, and Wyatt Earp as well as Doc Holliday after the gunfight at OK Corral 10 years prior! Well, this time, he successfully got John Rhodes off.

As for Ed Tewksbury, well, he wasn’t so lucky. He was found guilty after a deliberation of two days by the jury. Unfazed, his attorneys appealed on legal technicalities. This motion got Ed a second trial and this trial was dismissed when the jury could not agree on a verdict.

After a little over three years in jail for the murder of his last remaining rival, Ed Tewksbury was released. He was, unbelievably, a free man.

There were no more Grahams to seek vengeance. There were no more Tewksbury’s to avenge.

Immediately after the trial, Ed got a job doing what he was good at, rounding up animals for his bosses to sell. He did such a good job he got his employer outta debt. Ed Tewksbury’s name was good.

Then, in 1897, Ed married an attractive lady named Braulia Lopez.

In 1900 Ed even teamed back up with the famous Tom Horn, again, a man who will be getting his own episode for the Roadrunners, soon. Tom had probably been in the Committee of Fifty and now, he and Ed Tewksbury were chasing train robbers and cattle rustlers. They rode 300 miles together through the wild and rocky country of the Tetons way up in Wyoming and Idaho. They’d get into three pitched gun battles with these outlaws. Eventually Tom Horn and Ed Tewksbury even killed a couple of the quote unquote bad men.

Eventually Ed moved to Globe where he did what seemingly everyone with a storied past did at that time and he became a deputy sheriff. Tanner wrote, quote, his reputation, some said, was enough to make any desperado think twice before starting trouble. End quote.

Jynx Pyle writes of Ed’s reputation when he wrote, quote, As a gunfighter with handgun or rifle, Ed Tewksbury had no superiors and damn few equals in the entire realm of the Old West. His temper and nerve combined with gun-handling skills put him on a par with John Hardin or any of the famous western gun fighters. There are those who would argue that he shot from ambush. Of course he did! He was half-Indian and he was fighting a war, but if a man wanted to meet him head on, Ed was not a hard man to find and he never took a backward step from anyone. End quote.

In 1904 though, the last remaining member on either side of the Pleasant Valley War or the Tewksbury Graham Feud… or the Tonto Basin War, the last man standing was laid down by tuberculosis at age 46. He left a young beautiful wife with 4 kids.

On his death bed, he would apparently tell his stepmother that he did in fact kill Tom Graham.

The feud was over… but all the way up until 1904, men in Pleasant Valley were being sniped, killed, hanged, and disappeared. The war may have ended in 1887, or 1892, but the skirmishes continued for over a decade. Jynx even points out incidents well into the mid 20th century… aftershocks of the bloodiest range war in American history.

In 1921, author and future episode star, Zane Grey wrote a novel based on the war called To the Last Man, and despite us having over 20 Zane Grey novels, my wife and I don't have that one, unfortunately. But we’re tracking it down.

Well in the forward to that novel, Zane Grey wrote, quote some of the stories told me are singularly tempting to a novelist. But, though I believe them myself, I cannot risk their improbability to those who have no idea of the wilderness of wild men in a wild time. End quote.

In 2018, a reporter, Matthew Casey went to the small town of 700 people known as Young and interviewed the old timers, the restaurant owners, and the then President of the Pleasant Valley Historical Society. Her name was Marilyn Freegard. Casey quotes from her in his article:

“To me, it’s important to save the history of the area,” said President Marilyn Freegard. “There is more to this community than just the Pleasant Valley War.”

But many people will visit to learn specifically about the war, which exploded out of a bitter feud between two families that stole cattle.

“Well, the Grahams did it,” Freegard said. “The Tewksburys did it. I mean, I think it’s still happening today. But I won’t mention any names.” End all quotes.

This episode you just listened to, was originally going to be a Roadrunner exclusive episode but I decided it’s such a great story, it must be heard by all. And I thought I might tantalize some listeners into signing up… because this is the type of content and stories you’re missing out on by not being a Roadrunner with us. As I mentioned in the intro, I am in the middle of a series over the Red Renegade of the West, the Outlaw known as The Apache Kid. I stumbled upon him during my reading for the forthcoming Apache series and knew I had to cover him.

If you’re interested in all the goodies that come with being a member of the fan club of the American Southwest, head on over to my sub stack and sign up for $5 a month or $50 a year. The link is on the homepage of the website, the American southwest dot com. Or you can search Thomas Wayne Riley the American southwest at substack. After signing up, you’ll receive notes in the mail from me, stickers, a coloring book, and plenty of history content including stories, reads, and thoughts.

If you’re in any way connected with someone that would like a miniseries or long movie over this incredible story, hit me up and I will write you a screenplay. I am a future accomplished novelist after all.

If you’re a roadrunner, stay tuned for part 2 of the Apache Kid. Followed swiftly by an expose of Tom Horn, and then part three of the Apache Kid. If you’re not a Roadrunner, the long series over the Apache will be out before too long. Thank y’all again, and I’ll be seeing you soon, in the American Southwest.

Pleasant Valley War by Jynx Pyle

The Old West: The Ranchers by the Editors of Time-Life Books with text by Ogden Tanner

Wild West Characters by Dale Pierce

The Apache Kid by Phyllis de la Garza

The Apache Wars, the Hunt fr Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton

https://kjzz.org/content/601350/untold-arizona-pleasant-valley-war-some-secrets-will-never-be-told

https://archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1/yavapai-sheriff-william-billy-mulvenon-and-the-pleasant-valley-war