A Visit to the Boothill Grave Yard

Boothill Graveyard lies just off the highway between our RV park and the town of Tombstone.  Buried here are outlaws and victims of outlaws, along with regular citizens and "the refined element" of Tombstone's early days.  The stories of their deaths shows what a hard life it was back then, and also how many hot-tempered people there were.  Mixed in with deaths from meningitis, diphtheria, medical mistakes, and pneumonia, were people shot over mining arguments, the color of a guy's shirt, or how he drove his cattle.

The lady at the front desk when you walk in was a hoot.  She asked us where we live, and I said, "Well,  we just live in our RV and travel around, so I guess we're homeless."

Then another visitor behind us said, "Oh my goodness, they're homeless!" (I've never heard anybody so pleased to hear someone is homeless!).  She went on to say they are from Ontario, and had been toying with the idea of doing what we're doing.  We chatted a bit, and I started to walk around the gift shop, and the desk lady said, "Now you get back here, I'm not through with you yet."  LOL!!

She told me I needed to sign the guestbook, and "just put whatever state your car tags say."  She also gave us the schpiel about how visiting the graveyard is free, but for $3.00 we could have the booklet that told about all the graves.  I was going to tell her, "Yeah, we found all that online," but then we figured what the heck.  Three dollars for a morning's entertainment is not bad at all

Florentino was found dead with several bullet wounds in his body.

Chas Helm was shot by William McCauley after an argument between the two about whether it's best to drive cattle fast or slow.

Peter Smith was struck on the head with a fire poker and killed by Thomas Doland.

Bill Delaney, along with 4 other men, was hanged legally after being found guilty of killing several people during a robbery of a store in Bisbee.  They were all hanged on one scaffold in the courthouse yard.

Margarita was a dance hall girl, and was stabbed by another dance hall girl named Gold Dollar, when they were quarreling over a man.

Frank Bowles was thrown from his horse, causing his rifle to discharge and injure his knee.  After lying in camp for several weeks trying to heal, his friends took him to a doctor for an amputation, but it was too late.

Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury were killed at the OK Corral, in a fight between the Earp Brothers with Doc Holiday and the cowboys.

Freddie Fuss was a small boy who died from drinking stagnant water from one of the mines.

Many of the graves were marked "unknown".  There is a list of people they believe some of the graves belong to, they just don't know which ones are which.

John Heath was taken from the county jail by the Bisbee mob.  He was said to be the leader of the 5 men who were hanged in the courthouse lawn.  He was hanged from a telegraph pole west of the courthouse.

Mrs. Campbell was the wife of a restaurant owner.  She died suddenly of severe stomach cramps and spasms.  Poisoning was suspected.

John Gibson was a driver for an ore team.  One day he fell from the wagon and his skull was crushed from the wheel of another wagon.

George Johnson was hanged for being in possession of a stolen horse, which he had bought from someone.

Deron was shot for his part in a train robbery.

The Kansas Kid was a cowboy killed in a stampede.

Lester Moore was a Wells Fargo agent at Naco who had a dispute with a man over a package.  Both men died.  UPS and FedEx guys have it easy these days.

Douglas Lilly was a driver for the Sycamore Water Company, and was thrown from his wagon, trampled by the horses, and died when the wagon ran over his head.

3-fingered Jack Dunlap was shot by Jeff Milton.  Dunlap was in a band of train robbers and tried to rob a train that Milton was guarding.  Dunlap was critically wounded and the rest of his band abandoned him.  He was found and brought to Tombstone, where he lived long enough to inform on his friends.

Dutch Annie was called "The Queen of the Red Light District".

James Tulley was employed by the Grand Central Mining Company.  One day, to avoid being crushed as the cage shot up towards the roof timbers overhead, he jumped... and fell 250 feet to the bottom of the shaft.

Emmett Nunnelley's grave is one of the latest ones in the cemetery.  With the help of townspeople, he spent the last year of his life seeking to restore, as much as could be restored, this old cemetery.  It was his request to be buried here.

John Swain Slaughter's grave was the only other 1940's burial we saw here.  Old John was nearly 100 years old when he died.  He came here in 1879 with the John Slaughter family, and spent his life in and around Tombstone.

The people who have restored the cemetery have done a very nice job.  Pebble walking paths between and around all the graves, larger stones on top of all of them, native plants throughout.

There was a separate section down the hill for the Jewish cemetery.