Johnny Behan
Encyclopedia
John Harris Behan was from April, 1881 to November, 1882 sheriff
of Cochise County
, Arizona Territory
. Behan was appointed the first sheriff of the newly-created county in February, 1881. The mining boomtown
of Tombstone
was the new county seat
and Behan's headquarters. Immediately before taking office as sheriff, Behan had served five months as undersheriff for the southern area of Pima County
, which included Tombstone, succeeding Wyatt Earp
in this position. Behan married and had two children, but his wife divorced him, accusing him of consorting with prostitutes. He had a relationship with Josephine Marcus
for an uncertain period of time until she too was upset by his liaisons with other women, and she left him for Wyatt Earp
.
Behan was sheriff during the events leading up to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
. He testified at length after the shooting in support of the Cowboy's position that the Earps had precipitated the shootout and murdered three Cowboys. After the Earps were exonerated, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp
was maimed in an ambush on December 28, 1881, and assistant deputy Morgan Earp
was killed by assassins on March 19. The outlaw
Cowboys
named as suspects in both shootings were either let go on a technicality or were provided alibis by fellow Cowboys. Wyatt Earp killed one of the suspects, Frank Stilwell
, in Tucson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt and his federal posse set out after other suspects
, pursued by Johnny Behan and his county posse composed mostly of Cowboys.
Johnny later ran the Yuma Territorial Prison
and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912.
, Jackson County, Missouri
. However the same certificate lists his age of death as 67, not 66 which it would have been for a birth year of 1844. The birth date of October 1844 from the 1900 census was presumably provided by Behan himself at the time, and gives a death age of 67 that agrees with the death certificate. in West Port
in what is now Kansas City, Missouri
, the third of nine children of carpenter
Peter Behan from County Kildare, Ireland, and his wife Sarah. Peter Behan, from County Kildare
, Ireland
, married Sarah Ann Harris, a native of Madison County, Kentucky
, in Jackson County, Missouri
on March 16, 1837. John Harris Behan was named for his mother's family and his maternal grandfather.Although other sources claim a 1845 date of birth for John, in the 1900 Federal census, when he was living in a boarding house at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., he is listed as a "promoter," born in Missouri in October, 1844. His father is listed as born in Ireland, and h9is mother was born in Kentucky. 1900 Federal Census for Washington, D.C., Enumeration District 81, Sheet Number 3, Line 18. This is also corroborated by the 1910 Census for Tucson, Arizona, where he was enumerated in the 2nd Ward of Tucson, Pima County, Territory of Arizona; Pima County Enumeration District No. 103, Sheet 13-A, Line 31.
He moved west to San Francisco, working as a miner and a freighter. During the American Civil War Behan was a 19-year-old civilian employee of Carleton's Column of Union Volunteers
in California. He fought in the Battle of Apache Pass
on July 14–15, 1862 and in 1863 settled in Tucson where he found work delivering freight to military installations. In 1864 he served as a clerk to the First Arizona Legislative Assembly in Prescott
, the territorial seat.
In 1865 he moved to Prescott, the new capital of the Arizona Territory
, where he speculated in real estate and prospected
for minerals. While prospecting along the Verde River
February 28, 1866, he and a few other men were attacked by Indians. Behan helped fight them off and gained a reputation as a brave man. He also operated a sawmill. He was hired as an undersheriff by Yavapai County Sheriff John P. Bourke in 1866. Bourke had married German immigrant and widow Harriet Zaff in 1860, and her daughter, then 14 year old Victoria, must have caught Behan's eye. He married her three years later. He resigned to run for Yavapai County Recorder which he won in 1868. Whenever he wasn't holding office he worked in various saloons
or mines.
where John had been working. Their daughter Henrietta (June 15, 1869-March 6, 1877) was born three months after they married. He was elected to the Territorial Legislature twice, first from the 7th Arizona Territorial Legislature
, which met in Tucson on January 8, 1873 for a six to eight week legislative session. Henrietta died in 1877 of scarletina
at age seven. The couple's son, Albert Price Behan, (July 7, 1872-January 27, 1949) was born in Prescott.
While living in Prescott with this wife and children, Behan served as sheriff of Yavapai County from 1871-73. He was elected to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly
, representing Yavapai Country, in 1873.
Some accounts state that Sadie Marcus
ran away from her parent's home in San Francisco in 1874 and was in Prescott The Prescott Miner reported on October 6, 1874 that “J.H. Behan left on an 'electioneering' tour toward Black Canyon, Wickenburg and other places” north and east of present-day Phoenix. and may have met Sadie Marcus during this trip. She and her friend Dora Hurst and other passengers on a stage coach had been forced to hole up in a ranch house near Cave Creek
by Apache Indians
who had escaped the Cave Creek reservation. Indian fighter Al Sieber
was tracking the Apaches. Josephine said the famous Indian scout led them to safety. According to Josephine, she first met "John Harris" here, who she described as, "young and darkly handsome, with merry black eyes and an engaging smile." Behan was gone for 35 days campaigning for the Sheriff's office. She said “my heart was stirred by his attentions as would the heart of any girl (would) have been under such romantic circumstances. The affair was at least a diversion in my homesickness though I cannot say I was in love with him.” Behan returned on November 11 but lost the election.
In 1875, Behan's wife Victoria filed for divorce, complaining that Behan "at divers times and places openly and notoriously visited houses of ill-fame and prostitution at said town of Prescott." Victoria cited liaisons with several woman, but specifically mentioned a "Sadie or Sada Mansfield," a 14 year old "woman of prostitution and ill-fame" as correspondent in the divorce action. The divorce also cited Behan's threats of violence and unrelenting verbal abuse.
Behan and his wife were divorced in June 1875. Behan moved for a time to the northwest Arizona Territory where he served as the Mohave County Recorder in 1877, and then deputy sheriff of Mohave County
in Gillet
in 1879. He represented Mohave County at the Tenth Arizona Legislative Assembly
which met beginning January 6, 1879 in Prescott. In November, 1879, Behan had a saloon in Tip Top
, a then fast-growing silver mining town in central Arizona. Behan was counted in the 1880 census in Tip Top, Arizona as a saloon keeper. Nineteen year old Sadie Mansfield, whose occupation was given as "Courtesan", the same person that his former wife Victoria had named in their divorce five years earlier, was also living in Tip Top. Sadie Mansfield and Sadie Marcus also were both 19 years old, were born in New York, and their parents were from Prussia.
Sadie apparently returned to San Francisco for a period of time. She wrote that Johnny came for her in San Francisco and persuaded her parents to approve their engagement. Some modern researchers question the likelihood that her father, a Reform Jew
, would approve her union with Behan, an unemployed office-seeker, 34, a Gentile
, and a divorced father.
Behan said he could not leave his livery stable business for a wedding in San Francisco. She thought Johnny’s marriage proposal was a good excuse to leave home. She wrote, “life was dull for me in San Francisco. In spite of my bad experience of a few years ago the call to adventure still stirred my blood." They lived together as husband and wife.
Sometime during early 1881, Josephine arrived home to find Behan in bed with the wife of a friend of theirs, and she kicked Behan out of the home they had built with her father's money. One version of the story is that Sadie had taken Albert, who had a hearing impairment, to San Francisco for treatment. Upon their return, they arrived late in the evening and a day earlier than expected. They found Behan in bed with another woman.
It is not known how Marcus and Wyatt Earp
began their relationship, but at some point in 1881 they began having a relationship. Similarly, it is not known when Earp and his current wife Mattie Blaylock
ended their relationship. Tombstone diarist George W. Parsons
never mentioned seeing Wyatt and Sadie together and neither did John Clum in his memoirs.
Behan was embarrassed by the public breakup. Most Tombstone residents thought that Marcus and Behan were legally married. Her breakup with Behan was publicized by the The Tombstone Epitaph. Earp had been in a common-law marriage with Mattie Blaylock
since about 1873 and she was listed as his wife in the 1880 census.
returned from a visit to San Francisco in October and was ready to end the relationship, but Johnny persuaded her to continue. They lived together as husband and wife.
When Behan first arrived in Tombstone, he worked as bartender in the Grand Hotel, a favorite of the outlaw
Cowboys
. He also bought part interest in the Dexter Livery Stable
with John Dunbar. The Dunbars through their home town in Bangor, Maine, were "close family friends" of the powerful Senator James G. Blaine
, one of the most powerful Republican congressmen of his time. The Dunbars used their influence to help Behan get appointed Sheriff of the new Cochise County, in February, 1881. Behan had already served two terms in the Territorial Legislature and was more politically connected than Earp. When the state created Cochise County, Governor John C. Frémont
appointed and the territorial legislature approved Behan as Sheriff on February 10, 1881.
, who Wyatt had supported during the campaign.
Shibell won the election by a 46-vote margin. Opponent Bob Paul filed suit on November 19 alleging ballot box stuffing
in the San Simon Cienega precinct, since the precinct delivered a 103 to 1 vote for Shibell in a precinct estimated to contain only 15 eligible voters. James Johnson later testified for Bud Paul in the election hearing and said that the ballots had been left in the care of Democrat Phin Clanton
. Meanwhile, a week after the election on November 9, 1880, Earp resigned. The position of undersheriff was now open, and Shibell immediately selected Democrat Johnny Behan to serve as Tombstone area undersheriff.
In February 1881, the San Simon results were thrown out by the election commissioners, but Shibell filed an appeal. He was finally removed from office in April and replaced by Bob Paul. On February 1, 1881, during the vote counting investigation, the eastern area of Pima County containing Tombstone had been split off to form the new Cochise County. Behan used his political connections from his prior service in the territorial legislature to win appointment by Governor John C. Frémont
and the legislature to the new Cochise County sheriff position on February 10, 1881. In a back room deal, he promised Wyatt Earp a position as Cochise County undersheriff, if Earp (the only other previous undersheriff for Tombstone) would not oppose Behan's appointment. Behan took office in the new position in April, with his offices in the county seat, Tombstone, but reneged on the deal with Earp, appointing prominent Democrat Harry Woods instead.
Later that year, Behan gave a contrived explanation of his actions during the hearings after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He said he broke his promise to appoint Earp because of an incident shortly before his appointment. Searching for a stolen horse belonging to him, Wyatt learned in late 1880 that the horse was in nearby Charleston. Wyatt spotted Billy Clanton attempting to leave town with the horse and, hand on his gun, persuaded Billy to release it. Behan was in Charleston to serve a subpoena on Ike Clanton. Billy carried the subpoena
from Behan to Ike using Wyatt's horse. Ike was hopping mad when Behan finally found him, for Earp had told Clanton that Behan "had taken a posse of nine men down there to arrest him." Behan took offense at Wyatt's tactics and changed his mind about appointing Wyatt. Holliday reported in an interview in 1882 that "from that time a coolness grew up between the two men."
As Cochise County sheriff, one of Behan's duties was collecting prostitution, gambling, liquor, and theater fees, taxes for which he received 10% of all proceeds. He developed a reputation for graft and was seen as the head of the "Ten Percent Ring.". Rumors of graft
and corruption followed him during his tenure as sheriff.
, as is also Henrietta Behan. Son Albert P. Behan (died Jan. 27, 1949 in Prescott) is buried in the Arizona Pioneer's Home Cemetery, . Behan's eight year-old son Albert, who had a hearing impairment, was living with his mother, grandmother and his uncle John Bourke Jr. in Prescott in 1880. His mother sent Albert to live with his father in Tombstone sometime afterward. Behan was already living with Josephine Marcus in 1880, and Albert grew close to her. This relationship lasted for much of the rest of their lives.
At the preliminary hearing into Ike's murder charges against the Earps after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
, Behan explained that he appointed Woods rather than Earp due to an incident involving a stolen horse of Virgil Earp's, which was recovered by Wyatt from Billy Clanton. This happened sometime after Behan had been appointed undersheriff in November 1880, and his move to Cochise Country Sheriff the next spring. At the time, Wyatt was not a law officer, but had used the threat of Behan riding out to the Clanton's ranch as a bluff to get Clanton to turn over the horse. As it happened, Behan was riding to the ranch to serve a subpoena related to the ballot-box stuffing incident, not to recover the horse, and the incident embarrassed the Cowboys
and also Behan who for a time had been made to look like he was supporting Earp against the Cowboys.
, "Curly Bill" Brocius
, Johnny Ringo
, and a group of cattle rustlers and ranchers, loosely known as "Cowboys
." Some of the Cowboys were also active as rustlers in the U.S. side of the border after the Mexicans lowered tariffs and stepped up military patrols after 1882. Frank Stilwell was an assistant Deputy under Behan for several months until shortly before he was a suspect in the Bisbee stage holdup. Behan employed several of the outlaws as sheriff's deputies during their pursuit of Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp
's posse after he was alleged to have killed Frank Stilwell
in Tucson.
Behan spent most of his term in office in personal and legal conflict with the Earps. Behan eventually lost his girlfriend, Josephine Marcus, to Wyatt Earp, although the details of this are lost, and Josephine is known to have spent time in San Francisco between leaving Behan and publicly going with Earp. She also had possibly worked as a prostitute in Tombstone prior to her involvement with Earp. Contrary to later portrayals of her, she was not a popular or well-known actress at the time, although she did work as an actress in theatre
. For a time in Tombstone Josephine Marcus signed her name as Josephine Behan, but no marriage document has ever been located. Josie formed a close bond with Behan's 9-year-old son Albert, and remained in contact with him throughout the rest of her life.
for "accounting irregularities". Stilwell was arrested by a combined federal and sheriff's posse a month later for a Bisbee stage robbery, an action which would indirectly lead to the O.K. Corral gunfight.
Behan was a key player in the events immediately preceding shootout at the O.K. Corral
on October 26, 1881. Behan went down to try to disarm the Cowboys carrying weapons in violation of city ordinance. Behan attempted to persuade Frank McLaury to give up his weapons, but Frank insisted that he would only give up his guns after City Marshal
Virgil Earp and his brothers were disarmed. While Ike Clanton was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury said he had decided to remain behind to take care of some business. A letter written afterward by their older brother, William McLaury, a judge in Fort Worth, Texas
, claimed that both Frank and Tom were planning to conduct business before leaving town to visit him in Fort Worth. Billy Clanton, who had arrived on horseback with Frank, intended to go with the McLaurys to Fort Worth.
After Behan talked to the Cowboys, he saw the Earps and Holliday walking down Fremont Street. He walked about "22 or 23 steps" and intercepted them at Bauer's Butcher Shop. Wyatt said he gave them conflicting information. First, he told Virgil, "For God's sake don't go down there or you will get murdered." When Virgil replied, "I am going to disarm them," Behan said, "I have disarmed them." Later on Behan insisted he had said he went to see the Cowboys only "for the purpose of arresting and disarming them."
Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the four lawmen. Behan testified for the prosecution during the preliminary hearing, supporting the Clanton's version of events. According to the prosecution, the Cowboys had offered no resistance. Behan gave strong testimony that the Cowboys had not resisted but either thrown up their hands and turned out their coats to show they were not armed. He told the court that he heard Billy Clanton say, "Don't shoot me. I don't want to fight." He also testified that Tom McLaury threw open his coat to show that he was not armed and that the first two shots were fired by the Earp party.
Behan testified that from the time the Earps passed him by to confront the Cowboys, he had watched them closely. Under cross-examination by attorney Thomas Fitch
, he admitted seeing Holliday carrying the messenger shotgun
towards the confrontation. All the witnesses testified that Holliday had been seen with a shotgun. Behan also testified he was concentrating on the Earps during the gun fight, but he did not see the shotgun used. He insisted that Holliday fired the first shot from a nickle-plated revolver. But the coroner had already testified that Tom McLaury was killed by a shotgun blast. For Behan's "testimony to make any sense, the court would have to believe that Holliday marched down Fremont Street carrying a shotgun; put it aside in order to pull out his pistol; fired the first shot, presumably at Billy Clanton; and then picked up the shotgun in order to kill Tom McLaury—all in the space of a few seconds."
Behan's sympathy to the Cowboy
was well known, and documents were located in 1997 that showed Behan served as guarantor for a loan to Ike Clanton during the Spicer hearing that followed.
Three defense witnesses gave key evidence that discredited Behan's testimony. One of the most notable witness was H. F. Sills, an AT&SF RR
engineer who had just arrived in town and knew none off the parties involved. The second key witness was Addie Bourland, a dressmaker whose shop was across the street from the gunfight, and the third was Judge J.H. Lucas of the Cochise County Probate Court, who corroborated Addie Bourland's testimony. Justice Wells Spicer ruled on November 30 that there was not enough evidence to indict the men.
. The Cowboys who were identified as suspects in both cases got off on either legal technicalities or were provided alibis by men who said they were in Charleston at the time Morgan was shot. Wyatt felt he had no choice but to take the law into his own hands.
On March 20, while escorting Virgil and his wife Addie through Tucson to catch a train, new Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp and Warren Earp
, Doc Holliday, Johnson and Sherman McMasters shot Frank Stilwell
as he was lying in wait in the train yard. Justice of the Peace
Charles Meyer issued arrest warrant
s for the Earp posse. He sent a telegram to Tombstone telling Behan they were wanted in Tucson for killing Stilwell. The telegraph office manager was a friend to the Earps and delayed delivery long enough to allow the Earps and their associates to get ready to leave town Tuesday evening. Behan got the telegram in the early evening. He found the men in the lobby of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, heavily armed. He told Wyatt he wanted to see him. Wyatt replied, "Johnny, if you're not careful, you'll see me once too often."
In September, 1882, after the Earp Vendetta Ride, Behan had a feud with his own deputy, Billy Breakenridge
. An investigation found that Behan had somehow set aside $5,000 in funds while he was sheriff from unknown sources. Due to public and legislative unhappiness with Behan's performance, he was last on the Democratic Party's list of nominees for Sheriff, an unusual result for a seated sheriff. Behan failed to gain the nomination and left office in November, 1882.
. He killed one of several prisoners who died during a large escape attempt, saving a guard's life. On April 7, 1888, he was promoted to prison superintendent, serving until July, 1890. His management of the prison was marked by prison disorder and mismanagement of public funds, generating complaints by the press. The Arizona Republic noted that $50,000 had passed through prison official's hands without any accounting. He faced censure for misuse of public funds and for running the prison in a "coarse and brutal manner" in 1890. The complaint against him specifically cited the prison conditions afforded Manuela Fimbres,a woman incarcerated in the Yuma Prison. She was allowed to roam free within the prison, and she became pregnant, delivered a child, and got pregnant again while he was warden. Former Tombstone resident and writer George W. Parsons
commented that he thought Behan was "on the wrong side of the bars".
After 27 years in Arizona, Behan moved east, and in 1891 was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and by 1892 was in a commission business in Washington, D.C. He worked in various government and commissary capacities to the end of his life.
On July 3, 1893, he became an Inspector at Port of Customs at El Paso, Texas. On March 12, 1894 he received a 50% pay increase and was elevated to the position of Chinese Exclusion Inspector. (Behan had been a founding member of the "Anti Chinese League" in Tombstone). For the next several years he traveled throughout the southwest arresting illegal Chinese immigrants. In 1897 he worked in the U.S. Patent Office, until at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war
, Behan volunteered for and became corral-master or quartermaster at Tampa, Florida. When this conflict ended, trouble in the Far East began, and in 1900 he served overseas during the Boxer Rebellion
.
In 1901, after the war ended, he returned to Tucson where he became the Business manager for the Tucson Citizen. He moved to El Paso, Texas, where he worked as a purchasing agent for Texas Bitulithic, a paving company. While in El Paso during 1908, he campaigned for sheriff but lost. On December 14, 1910, the acting governor of Arizona Territory gave him a commission as a Railroad policeman in Mexico. He followed that with work supervising survey parties repairing levee breaks on the lower Colorado River. During 1911-12, he was head of the commissary for the Arizona Eastern Railroad.
on June 7, 1912. While some sources state that Behan died of Bright's disease
(immune-related renal failure), his death certificate states that Behan died primarily of "arterial sclerosis" (a term used at the time for heart disease), and noted that Behan had been suffering with this problem for 5 years. The secondary cause of death listed on the same death certificate states Behan also had syphilis
, and states that he had contracted it thirty years earlier (which would coincide with his time in Tombstone). The source of some of the information on the death certificate was Behan's son, Albert.
John Behan was buried on the day after his death in Tucson's Holy Hope Cemetery, in a grave whose exact location has since been lost. Enthusiasts of old west history placed a commemorative plaque near the site in 1990.
(1993) by Jon Tenney, and in Wyatt Earp
(1994), by Mark Harmon
. In the 1967 film, Hour of the Gun
, a character obviously inspired by Behan is portrayed as a corrupt county sheriff named "Jimmy Bryan".
Behan appears as a saloon owner in Tip Top, Arizona
in The Nightjar Women in the weird western anthology Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter by Edward M. Erdelac.
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Cochise County
Cochise County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*78.5% White*4.2% Black*1.2% Native American*1.9% Asian*0.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.0% Two or more races*9.6% Other races*32.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
. Behan was appointed the first sheriff of the newly-created county in February, 1881. The mining boomtown
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
of Tombstone
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
was the new county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
and Behan's headquarters. Immediately before taking office as sheriff, Behan had served five months as undersheriff for the southern area of Pima County
Pima County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*74.3% White*3.5% Black*3.3% Native American*2.6% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.7% Two or more races*12.4% Other races*34.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, which included Tombstone, succeeding Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
in this position. Behan married and had two children, but his wife divorced him, accusing him of consorting with prostitutes. He had a relationship with Josephine Marcus
Josephine Earp
Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was an American part time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. Known as "Sadie" to the public in 1881, she met Wyatt in the frontier boom town Tombstone, Arizona Territory when she was living with Cochise...
for an uncertain period of time until she too was upset by his liaisons with other women, and she left him for Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
.
Behan was sheriff during the events leading up to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, of the United States. Outlaw Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed, but Ike's brother...
. He testified at length after the shooting in support of the Cowboy's position that the Earps had precipitated the shootout and murdered three Cowboys. After the Earps were exonerated, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp
Virgil Earp
Virgil Walter Earp fought in the Civil War. He was U.S. Deputy Marshal for south-eastern Arizona and Tombstone City Marshal at the time of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory. Two months after the shootout in Tombstone, outlaw Cowboys ambushed Virgil on the streets of...
was maimed in an ambush on December 28, 1881, and assistant deputy Morgan Earp
Morgan Earp
Morgan Seth Earp was the younger brother of Deputy U.S. Marshals Virgil and Wyatt Earp. Morgan was a deputy of Virgil's and all three men were the target of repeated death threats made by outlaw Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. This conflict eventually...
was killed by assassins on March 19. The outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
Cowboys
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...
named as suspects in both shootings were either let go on a technicality or were provided alibis by fellow Cowboys. Wyatt Earp killed one of the suspects, Frank Stilwell
Frank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
, in Tucson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt and his federal posse set out after other suspects
Earp vendetta ride
The Earp Vendetta Ride, lasting from March 20 to April 15, 1882, was a manhunt for outlaw Cowboys led by newly appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp. He was searching for men he held responsible for maiming his brother Virgil, the Tombstone Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal, and assassinating his...
, pursued by Johnny Behan and his county posse composed mostly of Cowboys.
Johnny later ran the Yuma Territorial Prison
Yuma Territorial Prison
The Yuma Territorial Prison was a prison in the Arizona Territory of the United States and now in present day Yuma, Arizona. The Territorial Prison is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.The site is...
and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912.
Early life
Johnny H. Behan was born in October 23, 1844John H. Behan's Arizona death certificate lists his date of birth as October, 1845 in WestportWestport, Kansas City
Westport is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Originally its own town, it was annexed by Kansas City in 1897. Today, it is one of Kansas City's main entertainment districts.-Background:...
, Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...
. However the same certificate lists his age of death as 67, not 66 which it would have been for a birth year of 1844. The birth date of October 1844 from the 1900 census was presumably provided by Behan himself at the time, and gives a death age of 67 that agrees with the death certificate. in West Port
Westport, Kansas City
Westport is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Originally its own town, it was annexed by Kansas City in 1897. Today, it is one of Kansas City's main entertainment districts.-Background:...
in what is now Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, the third of nine children of carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
Peter Behan from County Kildare, Ireland, and his wife Sarah. Peter Behan, from County Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, married Sarah Ann Harris, a native of Madison County, Kentucky
Madison County, Kentucky
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2008, the population was 82,192. Its county seat is Richmond. The county is named for Virginia statesman James Madison, who later became the fourth President of the United States. This is also where famous pioneer Daniel...
, in Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...
on March 16, 1837. John Harris Behan was named for his mother's family and his maternal grandfather.Although other sources claim a 1845 date of birth for John, in the 1900 Federal census, when he was living in a boarding house at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., he is listed as a "promoter," born in Missouri in October, 1844. His father is listed as born in Ireland, and h9is mother was born in Kentucky. 1900 Federal Census for Washington, D.C., Enumeration District 81, Sheet Number 3, Line 18. This is also corroborated by the 1910 Census for Tucson, Arizona, where he was enumerated in the 2nd Ward of Tucson, Pima County, Territory of Arizona; Pima County Enumeration District No. 103, Sheet 13-A, Line 31.
He moved west to San Francisco, working as a miner and a freighter. During the American Civil War Behan was a 19-year-old civilian employee of Carleton's Column of Union Volunteers
California Column
The California Column, a force of Union volunteers, marched from April to August 1862 over 900 miles from California, across the southern New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and then into western Texas during the American Civil War. At the time, this was the longest trek through desert terrain...
in California. He fought in the Battle of Apache Pass
Battle of Apache Pass
The Battle of Apache Pass was fought in 1862 at Apache Pass, Arizona in the United States, between Apache warriors and the Union volunteers of the California Column as it marched from California to capture Confederate Arizona and to reinforce New Mexico's Union army...
on July 14–15, 1862 and in 1863 settled in Tucson where he found work delivering freight to military installations. In 1864 he served as a clerk to the First Arizona Legislative Assembly in Prescott
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
, the territorial seat.
In 1865 he moved to Prescott, the new capital of the Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, where he speculated in real estate and prospected
Prospector
Prospector may mean:*Prospecting, exploring an area for natural resources such as minerals, oil, flora or fauna*Prospector , a unified catalog for Colorado and Wyoming...
for minerals. While prospecting along the Verde River
Verde River
The Verde River is the north and northwestern watershed of the Salt River–Verde River Watershed that co-join and enter the Gila River at Phoenix, Arizona, located in the U.S. state of Arizona...
February 28, 1866, he and a few other men were attacked by Indians. Behan helped fight them off and gained a reputation as a brave man. He also operated a sawmill. He was hired as an undersheriff by Yavapai County Sheriff John P. Bourke in 1866. Bourke had married German immigrant and widow Harriet Zaff in 1860, and her daughter, then 14 year old Victoria, must have caught Behan's eye. He married her three years later. He resigned to run for Yavapai County Recorder which he won in 1868. Whenever he wasn't holding office he worked in various saloons
Western saloons
A Western saloon is a kind of bar particular to the American Old West. Saloons served customers such as fur trappers, cowboys, soldiers, gold prospectors, miners, and gamblers. The first saloon was established at Brown’s Hole, Wyoming, in 1822, to serve fur trappers...
or mines.
Marriage, family and divorce
In March 1869, Behan married 17-year-old Victoria Zaff in San Francisco, the girl's home town. The couple moved back to Prescott, Arizona TerritoryPrescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
where John had been working. Their daughter Henrietta (June 15, 1869-March 6, 1877) was born three months after they married. He was elected to the Territorial Legislature twice, first from the 7th Arizona Territorial Legislature
7th Arizona Territorial Legislature
The 7th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened on January 6, 1873, in Tucson, Arizona Territory.-Background:...
, which met in Tucson on January 8, 1873 for a six to eight week legislative session. Henrietta died in 1877 of scarletina
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
at age seven. The couple's son, Albert Price Behan, (July 7, 1872-January 27, 1949) was born in Prescott.
While living in Prescott with this wife and children, Behan served as sheriff of Yavapai County from 1871-73. He was elected to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly
7th Arizona Territorial Legislature
The 7th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened on January 6, 1873, in Tucson, Arizona Territory.-Background:...
, representing Yavapai Country, in 1873.
Relationship with Josephine Sadie Marcus
On September 28, 1874, Behan was nominated as Sheriff at the Democratic convention in Yavapai County.Some accounts state that Sadie Marcus
Josephine Earp
Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was an American part time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. Known as "Sadie" to the public in 1881, she met Wyatt in the frontier boom town Tombstone, Arizona Territory when she was living with Cochise...
ran away from her parent's home in San Francisco in 1874 and was in Prescott The Prescott Miner reported on October 6, 1874 that “J.H. Behan left on an 'electioneering' tour toward Black Canyon, Wickenburg and other places” north and east of present-day Phoenix. and may have met Sadie Marcus during this trip. She and her friend Dora Hurst and other passengers on a stage coach had been forced to hole up in a ranch house near Cave Creek
Cave Creek, Arizona
Cave Creek is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona in the United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town was 4,951.-Geography:...
by Apache Indians
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
who had escaped the Cave Creek reservation. Indian fighter Al Sieber
Albert Sieber
Albert Sieber was a German-American military figure, prospector, and Chief of Scouts during the Apache Wars.-Biography:...
was tracking the Apaches. Josephine said the famous Indian scout led them to safety. According to Josephine, she first met "John Harris" here, who she described as, "young and darkly handsome, with merry black eyes and an engaging smile." Behan was gone for 35 days campaigning for the Sheriff's office. She said “my heart was stirred by his attentions as would the heart of any girl (would) have been under such romantic circumstances. The affair was at least a diversion in my homesickness though I cannot say I was in love with him.” Behan returned on November 11 but lost the election.
In 1875, Behan's wife Victoria filed for divorce, complaining that Behan "at divers times and places openly and notoriously visited houses of ill-fame and prostitution at said town of Prescott." Victoria cited liaisons with several woman, but specifically mentioned a "Sadie or Sada Mansfield," a 14 year old "woman of prostitution and ill-fame" as correspondent in the divorce action. The divorce also cited Behan's threats of violence and unrelenting verbal abuse.
Behan and his wife were divorced in June 1875. Behan moved for a time to the northwest Arizona Territory where he served as the Mohave County Recorder in 1877, and then deputy sheriff of Mohave County
Mohave County, Arizona
Mohave County is located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 200,186, an increase of 45,154 people since the 2000 census count of 155,032. The county seat is Kingman...
in Gillet
Tip Top, Arizona
Tip Top is a ghost town in Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1876 in what was then the Arizona Territory.-History:Primarily a silver-mining town, it had a post office from August 12, 1880, until February 14, 1895...
in 1879. He represented Mohave County at the Tenth Arizona Legislative Assembly
10th Arizona Territorial Legislature
The 10th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened on January 6, 1879, in Prescott, Arizona Territory....
which met beginning January 6, 1879 in Prescott. In November, 1879, Behan had a saloon in Tip Top
Tip Top, Arizona
Tip Top is a ghost town in Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1876 in what was then the Arizona Territory.-History:Primarily a silver-mining town, it had a post office from August 12, 1880, until February 14, 1895...
, a then fast-growing silver mining town in central Arizona. Behan was counted in the 1880 census in Tip Top, Arizona as a saloon keeper. Nineteen year old Sadie Mansfield, whose occupation was given as "Courtesan", the same person that his former wife Victoria had named in their divorce five years earlier, was also living in Tip Top. Sadie Mansfield and Sadie Marcus also were both 19 years old, were born in New York, and their parents were from Prussia.
Sadie apparently returned to San Francisco for a period of time. She wrote that Johnny came for her in San Francisco and persuaded her parents to approve their engagement. Some modern researchers question the likelihood that her father, a Reform Jew
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, would approve her union with Behan, an unemployed office-seeker, 34, a Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
, and a divorced father.
Behan said he could not leave his livery stable business for a wedding in San Francisco. She thought Johnny’s marriage proposal was a good excuse to leave home. She wrote, “life was dull for me in San Francisco. In spite of my bad experience of a few years ago the call to adventure still stirred my blood." They lived together as husband and wife.
Sometime during early 1881, Josephine arrived home to find Behan in bed with the wife of a friend of theirs, and she kicked Behan out of the home they had built with her father's money. One version of the story is that Sadie had taken Albert, who had a hearing impairment, to San Francisco for treatment. Upon their return, they arrived late in the evening and a day earlier than expected. They found Behan in bed with another woman.
It is not known how Marcus and Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
began their relationship, but at some point in 1881 they began having a relationship. Similarly, it is not known when Earp and his current wife Mattie Blaylock
Mattie Blaylock
Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about 8 years...
ended their relationship. Tombstone diarist George W. Parsons
George W. Parsons
George Whitwell Parsons was a licensed attorney turned banker during the 19th century Old West. He is remembered due to his having kept an accurate diary of his days in the west, which gave detailed accounts of his interaction with Old West notables such as Wyatt Earp and "Curly Bill"...
never mentioned seeing Wyatt and Sadie together and neither did John Clum in his memoirs.
Behan was embarrassed by the public breakup. Most Tombstone residents thought that Marcus and Behan were legally married. Her breakup with Behan was publicized by the The Tombstone Epitaph. Earp had been in a common-law marriage with Mattie Blaylock
Mattie Blaylock
Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about 8 years...
since about 1873 and she was listed as his wife in the 1880 census.
Behan moves to Tombstone
Behan arrived in Tombstone in September, 1880. Josephine Sadie MarcusJosephine Earp
Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was an American part time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. Known as "Sadie" to the public in 1881, she met Wyatt in the frontier boom town Tombstone, Arizona Territory when she was living with Cochise...
returned from a visit to San Francisco in October and was ready to end the relationship, but Johnny persuaded her to continue. They lived together as husband and wife.
When Behan first arrived in Tombstone, he worked as bartender in the Grand Hotel, a favorite of the outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
Cowboys
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...
. He also bought part interest in the Dexter Livery Stable
Livery yard
A livery yard or livery stable , or boarding stable is a stable where horse owners pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses. A livery or boarding yard is not usually a riding school and the horses are not normally for hire...
with John Dunbar. The Dunbars through their home town in Bangor, Maine, were "close family friends" of the powerful Senator James G. Blaine
James G. Blaine
James Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time Secretary of State...
, one of the most powerful Republican congressmen of his time. The Dunbars used their influence to help Behan get appointed Sheriff of the new Cochise County, in February, 1881. Behan had already served two terms in the Territorial Legislature and was more politically connected than Earp. When the state created Cochise County, Governor John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
appointed and the territorial legislature approved Behan as Sheriff on February 10, 1881.
Undersheriff and sheriff
Wyatt Earp had been appointed undersheriff for the eastern section of Pima County by Pima County Sheriff Charles Shibell on July 29, 1880. The Cowboys, mostly Southerners, supported the Democratic ticket and Shibell. Elections were held on November 2, and it was expected that Democrat Shibell would be defeated by Republican Bob PaulRobert H. Paul
Robert H. Paul was a law enforcement officer in the American Southwest for more than 30 years. He was sheriff of Pima County, Arizona Territory from April 1881 to 1886 and a friend of Deputy U.S. Marshall Virgil Earp and his brother Wyatt Earp...
, who Wyatt had supported during the campaign.
Shibell won the election by a 46-vote margin. Opponent Bob Paul filed suit on November 19 alleging ballot box stuffing
Ballot stuffing
Ballot stuffing is the illegal act of one person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. The name originates from the earliest days of this practice in which people literally did stuff more than one ballot in a ballot box at the same time...
in the San Simon Cienega precinct, since the precinct delivered a 103 to 1 vote for Shibell in a precinct estimated to contain only 15 eligible voters. James Johnson later testified for Bud Paul in the election hearing and said that the ballots had been left in the care of Democrat Phin Clanton
Phineas Clanton
Phineas Fay Clanton was the son of Newman Haynes Clanton and the brother of Billy and Ike Clanton. He was witness to and possibly played a part if a number of illegal activities during his life...
. Meanwhile, a week after the election on November 9, 1880, Earp resigned. The position of undersheriff was now open, and Shibell immediately selected Democrat Johnny Behan to serve as Tombstone area undersheriff.
In February 1881, the San Simon results were thrown out by the election commissioners, but Shibell filed an appeal. He was finally removed from office in April and replaced by Bob Paul. On February 1, 1881, during the vote counting investigation, the eastern area of Pima County containing Tombstone had been split off to form the new Cochise County. Behan used his political connections from his prior service in the territorial legislature to win appointment by Governor John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
and the legislature to the new Cochise County sheriff position on February 10, 1881. In a back room deal, he promised Wyatt Earp a position as Cochise County undersheriff, if Earp (the only other previous undersheriff for Tombstone) would not oppose Behan's appointment. Behan took office in the new position in April, with his offices in the county seat, Tombstone, but reneged on the deal with Earp, appointing prominent Democrat Harry Woods instead.
Later that year, Behan gave a contrived explanation of his actions during the hearings after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He said he broke his promise to appoint Earp because of an incident shortly before his appointment. Searching for a stolen horse belonging to him, Wyatt learned in late 1880 that the horse was in nearby Charleston. Wyatt spotted Billy Clanton attempting to leave town with the horse and, hand on his gun, persuaded Billy to release it. Behan was in Charleston to serve a subpoena on Ike Clanton. Billy carried the subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
from Behan to Ike using Wyatt's horse. Ike was hopping mad when Behan finally found him, for Earp had told Clanton that Behan "had taken a posse of nine men down there to arrest him." Behan took offense at Wyatt's tactics and changed his mind about appointing Wyatt. Holliday reported in an interview in 1882 that "from that time a coolness grew up between the two men."
As Cochise County sheriff, one of Behan's duties was collecting prostitution, gambling, liquor, and theater fees, taxes for which he received 10% of all proceeds. He developed a reputation for graft and was seen as the head of the "Ten Percent Ring.". Rumors of graft
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and corruption followed him during his tenure as sheriff.
His son Albert in Tombstone
Behan's wife Victoria remarried hardware merchant Charles A. Randall in Prescott, Arizona Territory on September 15, 1881.Behan's ex-wife Victoria Zaff (April 18, 1853—May 15, 1889) married Charles A. Randall and is buried in the Bourke-Randall family plot in Citizen's Cemetery in Prescott, ArizonaPrescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
, as is also Henrietta Behan. Son Albert P. Behan (died Jan. 27, 1949 in Prescott) is buried in the Arizona Pioneer's Home Cemetery, . Behan's eight year-old son Albert, who had a hearing impairment, was living with his mother, grandmother and his uncle John Bourke Jr. in Prescott in 1880. His mother sent Albert to live with his father in Tombstone sometime afterward. Behan was already living with Josephine Marcus in 1880, and Albert grew close to her. This relationship lasted for much of the rest of their lives.
Beginnings of friction with Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp testified later say that he had promised not to publicly campaign to the governor against the appointment (not election) of Behan, in return for an appointment by Behan as Behan's own undersheriff. But after being appointed, Behan appointed another man, Southern Democrat Harry Woods, to the position that Wyatt thought would go to him.At the preliminary hearing into Ike's murder charges against the Earps after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, of the United States. Outlaw Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed, but Ike's brother...
, Behan explained that he appointed Woods rather than Earp due to an incident involving a stolen horse of Virgil Earp's, which was recovered by Wyatt from Billy Clanton. This happened sometime after Behan had been appointed undersheriff in November 1880, and his move to Cochise Country Sheriff the next spring. At the time, Wyatt was not a law officer, but had used the threat of Behan riding out to the Clanton's ranch as a bluff to get Clanton to turn over the horse. As it happened, Behan was riding to the ranch to serve a subpoena related to the ballot-box stuffing incident, not to recover the horse, and the incident embarrassed the Cowboys
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...
and also Behan who for a time had been made to look like he was supporting Earp against the Cowboys.
Affiliation with the Cowboys
The records show evidence that Cochise County Marshall Behan was sympathetic to the interests of and a friend to Ike ClantonIke Clanton
Joseph Isaac Clanton was born in Callaway County, Missouri. He is best known for being a member of group of outlaw Cowboys that had ongoing conflicts with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan Earp and Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday. The Clantons repeatedly threatened the Earps because they interfered with...
, "Curly Bill" Brocius
William Brocius
William "Curly Bill" Brocius was a gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of Arizona Territory during the early 1880s. He had a number of conflicts with the lawmen of the Earp family, and he was named as one of the individuals who participated Morgan Earp's assassination....
, Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo
John Peters "Johnny" Ringo was an outlaw Cowboy of the American Old West who was affiliated with Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell in Cochise County, Arizona Territory during 1881-1882.-Early life:...
, and a group of cattle rustlers and ranchers, loosely known as "Cowboys
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...
." Some of the Cowboys were also active as rustlers in the U.S. side of the border after the Mexicans lowered tariffs and stepped up military patrols after 1882. Frank Stilwell was an assistant Deputy under Behan for several months until shortly before he was a suspect in the Bisbee stage holdup. Behan employed several of the outlaws as sheriff's deputies during their pursuit of Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
's posse after he was alleged to have killed Frank Stilwell
Frank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
in Tucson.
Behan spent most of his term in office in personal and legal conflict with the Earps. Behan eventually lost his girlfriend, Josephine Marcus, to Wyatt Earp, although the details of this are lost, and Josephine is known to have spent time in San Francisco between leaving Behan and publicly going with Earp. She also had possibly worked as a prostitute in Tombstone prior to her involvement with Earp. Contrary to later portrayals of her, she was not a popular or well-known actress at the time, although she did work as an actress in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. For a time in Tombstone Josephine Marcus signed her name as Josephine Behan, but no marriage document has ever been located. Josie formed a close bond with Behan's 9-year-old son Albert, and remained in contact with him throughout the rest of her life.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
In August, 1881, Behan fired deputy Frank StilwellFrank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
for "accounting irregularities". Stilwell was arrested by a combined federal and sheriff's posse a month later for a Bisbee stage robbery, an action which would indirectly lead to the O.K. Corral gunfight.
Behan was a key player in the events immediately preceding shootout at the O.K. Corral
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, of the United States. Outlaw Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed, but Ike's brother...
on October 26, 1881. Behan went down to try to disarm the Cowboys carrying weapons in violation of city ordinance. Behan attempted to persuade Frank McLaury to give up his weapons, but Frank insisted that he would only give up his guns after City Marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
Virgil Earp and his brothers were disarmed. While Ike Clanton was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury said he had decided to remain behind to take care of some business. A letter written afterward by their older brother, William McLaury, a judge in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, claimed that both Frank and Tom were planning to conduct business before leaving town to visit him in Fort Worth. Billy Clanton, who had arrived on horseback with Frank, intended to go with the McLaurys to Fort Worth.
After Behan talked to the Cowboys, he saw the Earps and Holliday walking down Fremont Street. He walked about "22 or 23 steps" and intercepted them at Bauer's Butcher Shop. Wyatt said he gave them conflicting information. First, he told Virgil, "For God's sake don't go down there or you will get murdered." When Virgil replied, "I am going to disarm them," Behan said, "I have disarmed them." Later on Behan insisted he had said he went to see the Cowboys only "for the purpose of arresting and disarming them."
Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the four lawmen. Behan testified for the prosecution during the preliminary hearing, supporting the Clanton's version of events. According to the prosecution, the Cowboys had offered no resistance. Behan gave strong testimony that the Cowboys had not resisted but either thrown up their hands and turned out their coats to show they were not armed. He told the court that he heard Billy Clanton say, "Don't shoot me. I don't want to fight." He also testified that Tom McLaury threw open his coat to show that he was not armed and that the first two shots were fired by the Earp party.
Behan testified that from the time the Earps passed him by to confront the Cowboys, he had watched them closely. Under cross-examination by attorney Thomas Fitch
Thomas Fitch (politician)
Thomas Fitch was an American laywer and politician. He defended President Brigham Young of the Church of Latter-day Saints and other church leaders when Young and his denomination were prosecuted for polygamy in 1871 and 1872...
, he admitted seeing Holliday carrying the messenger shotgun
Coach gun
A coach gun is a double-barrel shotgun, generally with barrels approximately 18" in length placed side by side . The name comes from the use of such shotguns on stagecoaches by shotgun messengers in the American Wild West and during the Colonial period of Australia.-History:The term "Coach gun"...
towards the confrontation. All the witnesses testified that Holliday had been seen with a shotgun. Behan also testified he was concentrating on the Earps during the gun fight, but he did not see the shotgun used. He insisted that Holliday fired the first shot from a nickle-plated revolver. But the coroner had already testified that Tom McLaury was killed by a shotgun blast. For Behan's "testimony to make any sense, the court would have to believe that Holliday marched down Fremont Street carrying a shotgun; put it aside in order to pull out his pistol; fired the first shot, presumably at Billy Clanton; and then picked up the shotgun in order to kill Tom McLaury—all in the space of a few seconds."
Behan's sympathy to the Cowboy
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...
was well known, and documents were located in 1997 that showed Behan served as guarantor for a loan to Ike Clanton during the Spicer hearing that followed.
Three defense witnesses gave key evidence that discredited Behan's testimony. One of the most notable witness was H. F. Sills, an AT&SF RR
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
engineer who had just arrived in town and knew none off the parties involved. The second key witness was Addie Bourland, a dressmaker whose shop was across the street from the gunfight, and the third was Judge J.H. Lucas of the Cochise County Probate Court, who corroborated Addie Bourland's testimony. Justice Wells Spicer ruled on November 30 that there was not enough evidence to indict the men.
Seeks Earps' arrest
On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and maimed. On March 19, assassins shot through a window and killed Morgan EarpMorgan Earp
Morgan Seth Earp was the younger brother of Deputy U.S. Marshals Virgil and Wyatt Earp. Morgan was a deputy of Virgil's and all three men were the target of repeated death threats made by outlaw Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. This conflict eventually...
. The Cowboys who were identified as suspects in both cases got off on either legal technicalities or were provided alibis by men who said they were in Charleston at the time Morgan was shot. Wyatt felt he had no choice but to take the law into his own hands.
On March 20, while escorting Virgil and his wife Addie through Tucson to catch a train, new Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp and Warren Earp
Warren Earp
Baxter Warren Earp was the youngest brother of Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, James, and Newton Earp. He was not present during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. After Virgil was maimed in an ambush, he joined Wyatt and was in town when Morgan was assassinated. He helped Wyatt in the hunt for the outlaw...
, Doc Holliday, Johnson and Sherman McMasters shot Frank Stilwell
Frank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
as he was lying in wait in the train yard. Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
Charles Meyer issued arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
s for the Earp posse. He sent a telegram to Tombstone telling Behan they were wanted in Tucson for killing Stilwell. The telegraph office manager was a friend to the Earps and delayed delivery long enough to allow the Earps and their associates to get ready to leave town Tuesday evening. Behan got the telegram in the early evening. He found the men in the lobby of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, heavily armed. He told Wyatt he wanted to see him. Wyatt replied, "Johnny, if you're not careful, you'll see me once too often."
In September, 1882, after the Earp Vendetta Ride, Behan had a feud with his own deputy, Billy Breakenridge
Billy Breakenridge
William Milton "Billy" Breakenridge was an American lawman, teamster, railroader, soldier and author. He was assistant Tombstone City Marshal in the Arizona Territory when the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place....
. An investigation found that Behan had somehow set aside $5,000 in funds while he was sheriff from unknown sources. Due to public and legislative unhappiness with Behan's performance, he was last on the Democratic Party's list of nominees for Sheriff, an unusual result for a seated sheriff. Behan failed to gain the nomination and left office in November, 1882.
Later life
Behan lived primarily in Tombstone through 1886. In 1887, he moved to Yuma where he became the assistant superintendent of the Yuma PenitentiaryYuma Territorial Prison
The Yuma Territorial Prison was a prison in the Arizona Territory of the United States and now in present day Yuma, Arizona. The Territorial Prison is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.The site is...
. He killed one of several prisoners who died during a large escape attempt, saving a guard's life. On April 7, 1888, he was promoted to prison superintendent, serving until July, 1890. His management of the prison was marked by prison disorder and mismanagement of public funds, generating complaints by the press. The Arizona Republic noted that $50,000 had passed through prison official's hands without any accounting. He faced censure for misuse of public funds and for running the prison in a "coarse and brutal manner" in 1890. The complaint against him specifically cited the prison conditions afforded Manuela Fimbres,a woman incarcerated in the Yuma Prison. She was allowed to roam free within the prison, and she became pregnant, delivered a child, and got pregnant again while he was warden. Former Tombstone resident and writer George W. Parsons
George W. Parsons
George Whitwell Parsons was a licensed attorney turned banker during the 19th century Old West. He is remembered due to his having kept an accurate diary of his days in the west, which gave detailed accounts of his interaction with Old West notables such as Wyatt Earp and "Curly Bill"...
commented that he thought Behan was "on the wrong side of the bars".
After 27 years in Arizona, Behan moved east, and in 1891 was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and by 1892 was in a commission business in Washington, D.C. He worked in various government and commissary capacities to the end of his life.
On July 3, 1893, he became an Inspector at Port of Customs at El Paso, Texas. On March 12, 1894 he received a 50% pay increase and was elevated to the position of Chinese Exclusion Inspector. (Behan had been a founding member of the "Anti Chinese League" in Tombstone). For the next several years he traveled throughout the southwest arresting illegal Chinese immigrants. In 1897 he worked in the U.S. Patent Office, until at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, Behan volunteered for and became corral-master or quartermaster at Tampa, Florida. When this conflict ended, trouble in the Far East began, and in 1900 he served overseas during the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
.
In 1901, after the war ended, he returned to Tucson where he became the Business manager for the Tucson Citizen. He moved to El Paso, Texas, where he worked as a purchasing agent for Texas Bitulithic, a paving company. While in El Paso during 1908, he campaigned for sheriff but lost. On December 14, 1910, the acting governor of Arizona Territory gave him a commission as a Railroad policeman in Mexico. He followed that with work supervising survey parties repairing levee breaks on the lower Colorado River. During 1911-12, he was head of the commissary for the Arizona Eastern Railroad.
Death and burial
Behan died at St. Mary's Catholic Hospital in Tucson, ArizonaTucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
on June 7, 1912. While some sources state that Behan died of Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
(immune-related renal failure), his death certificate states that Behan died primarily of "arterial sclerosis" (a term used at the time for heart disease), and noted that Behan had been suffering with this problem for 5 years. The secondary cause of death listed on the same death certificate states Behan also had syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
, and states that he had contracted it thirty years earlier (which would coincide with his time in Tombstone). The source of some of the information on the death certificate was Behan's son, Albert.
John Behan was buried on the day after his death in Tucson's Holy Hope Cemetery, in a grave whose exact location has since been lost. Enthusiasts of old west history placed a commemorative plaque near the site in 1990.
Popular culture
Behan has been depicted in most films involving the Earps and the OK Corral gunfight - most notably in TombstoneTombstone (film)
Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....
(1993) by Jon Tenney, and in Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp (film)
Wyatt Earp is a 1994 American semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Isabella Rossellini, Mark Harmon,...
(1994), by Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon is an American actor who has been starring in American television programs and films since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS series NCIS.-Early life:Harmon was born Thomas...
. In the 1967 film, Hour of the Gun
Hour of the Gun
Hour of the Gun is 1967 Western film starring James Garner and depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona.The film is based on the non fiction...
, a character obviously inspired by Behan is portrayed as a corrupt county sheriff named "Jimmy Bryan".
Behan appears as a saloon owner in Tip Top, Arizona
Tip Top, Arizona
Tip Top is a ghost town in Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1876 in what was then the Arizona Territory.-History:Primarily a silver-mining town, it had a post office from August 12, 1880, until February 14, 1895...
in The Nightjar Women in the weird western anthology Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter by Edward M. Erdelac.