Sign In
Free Newsletter
Recent Articles from Jane Eppinga
The Getaway Train
It all started when Thomas Hart, a drifter with a penchant for alcohol, stole a case of whiskey from Paul Moretti’s saloon. Moretti reported the theft to Yuma County Sheriff Gus Livingston. Not long after, Moretti spotted Hart on Main Street and pointed him out to a young deputy, Matt DeVanem, who confronted Hart and tried to arrest him. Hart shot the deputy at point blank range with a gun hidde[...]
Tombstone’s deadliest gunfighter
John Peters Ringo — famously known as Johnny Ringo and dubbed Tombstone’s deadliest gunfighter — first turned up in Arizona at a bar in Safford in 1878, where he offered a whiskey to a man seated next to him. The unarmed man declined and said he preferred beer. Ringo then drew his pistol and fired, nicking the man’s ear. When the case came before a grand jury, Ringo did not appear.
Tucson Mayor William Armine Julian
William Armine (W. A.) Julian arrived in Tucson in 1899 at age 34 from San Diego with his wife Margaret. He promptly opened the W. A. Julian Company in a two-story building featuring a handsome facade of granite and pressed brick and several large show windows at 122 E. Congress. The business would eventually control 85 percent of Tucson’s plumbing, heating and roofing business. He also sold Cha[...]
Nathaniel Plumer and Tucson’s Speedway Boulevard
Nathaniel E. Plumer, along with two business associates, was instrumental in getting the road built that would eventually be known as Speedway Boulevard.
Hi Jolly: The Camel Man
When the U.S. Army sent the first survey crews to northern Arizona in 1857 to survey a wagon road along the 35th parallel, it included in the contingent a herd of approximately 30 camels.
A Territorial Christmas
Christmas time in the 1860s in the Arizona Territory was similar to Christmas in the state of Arizona in 2010. People had feasts, decorated large Christmas trees, children ate candy and townspeople spread cheer by caroling.
The questionable Battle of Carrizal
In 1916, Capt. Charles T. Boyd, Lt. Henry Adair and Capt. Lewis S. Morey, on direct orders from Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing himself, led their regiments across large swaths of desert to check on a possible buildup of Mexican troops around the small northern Mexican town of Villa Ahumada.
Tombstone’s Boothill Cemetery
The Boothill Cemetery, which was laid out in 1878 on a rocky hillside facing the Dragoon Mountains, earned the name for a reason. If a body was buried not wearing boots, it meant the person died of natural causes. If the body was buried wearing boots, it meant the person was killed.
Alexander J. Chandler
Shortly after arriving in Arizona Territory from Detroit in 1887, Alexander J. Chandler was appointed territory veterinary surgeon as a part of the newly created Territorial Livestock Sanitary Commission by Gov. C. Meyer Zulick.
Tombstone’s Sad Clown Legacy
For the Kelly family, clowning around was the only way to live. Three successive generations of Emmett Kellys would try to play the lucrative character of “Weary Willie,” a sad-faced hobo who would eventually become one of world’s most famous clowns.
Charleston: Tougher than Tombstone?
“If a corpse had a gun on him and the fatal shot came from the front, you didn’t look for the killer.”
Such was one resident’s memory of Charleston.
The Battle of Ambos Nogales
On the afternoon of Aug. 27, 1918, a Mexican civilian sparked a small gun battle after crossing from the United States back into Mexico at Nogales, without stopping at the U.S. Customs house. Customs Inspector Arthur G. Barber drew his pistol and chased the man, who was suspected of gun smuggling, followed by two enlisted men. A Mexican officer saw Barber coming across and fired at the customs ins[...]
