John Heath became a victim of vigilante justice. The event that led up to this was the Bisbee Massacre. John Heath had moved from Texas to Clifton, Arizona where he met James “Tex” Howard. Shortly thereafter, the two men moved on to the Cochise County town of Bisbee, Arizona, a boomtown built around the Copper Queen Mine and its riches produced from extracting an extraordinarily high grade of copper ore. While in Bisbee, James “Tex” Howard introduced John Heath to his associates: Dan “Big Dan” Dowd, Omer “Red” Sample, Daniel “York” Kelly, and William “Billy” Delaney, all of whom were members of the Cochise County Cowboys. The title of cowboy at the time was not an honor, as it was synonymous with the title of cattle rustler, a person who would steal cattle in one place to sell at another place, pocketing all of the profits without doing any of the work of raising the herd. This activity became so common that cattle ranchers began branding their cattle as a type of identifier to their ownership in the chance that they are stolen and attempted to be sold elsewhere. The Cochise County Cowboys are considered one of the earliest organized crime syndicates, who were notorious for stealing cattle in nearby Mexico, driving the herd north, and selling them in the Arizona Territory. The Mexican Government soon erected forts along the border, making this activity much more dangerous. At this point, the Cochise County Cowboys focused their attention on rustling cattle from ranches in the states as well as holding up stagecoaches. This activity became so common that stagecoach companies such as Wells Fargo would have a guard armed with a shotgun accompany the stagecoach driver, leading to the term of “riding shotgun”, which also made this activity become much more dangerous. The Cowboys then began to plan a robbery of the Copper Queen Mine payroll. The Copper Queen Mine company payday was on the 10th of each month, and the Cowboys learned that the payroll arrived two days in advance to the Goldwater & Castaneda Mercantile in downtown Bisbee, Arizona, since Bisbee did not have a bank at the time. On the morning December 8, 1883, John Heath opened a dance hall adjacent to the Goldwater & Castaneda Mercantile. That evening, the five other Cowboys, Tex Howard, Big Dan Dowd, Red Sample, York Kelly, and Billy Delaney rode from the nearby Buckles’ Ranch into town, posted two men at the entrance of the mercantile, and the three remaining men entered with guns drawn demanding the payroll from the mercantile safe. However, the payroll had not arrived yet, foiling their plan. Their suspicious activity caught the attention of several people in the area, each of whom they shot and killed including assayer J.C. Tappenier as he exited the Bon Ton Saloon and refused to go back in, Cochise County Deputy Sheriff D. Tom Smith as he saw the robbery in progress while dining with his wife across the street at the Bisbee House Restaurant and attempted to intervene, pregnant woman Annie Roberts simply because she peered out of a doorway from the same restaurant, and freighter John Nolly as he witnessed the events from a nearby wagon. These men were now wanted for multiple murders, and posses were formed that eventually captured all of them including John Heath, who was accused of helping to plot the robbery. The other five men were tried and convicted to death by hanging. John Heath was convicted to a life sentence to be served in the nearby town of Tombstone, Arizona. People of Bisbee were angry at his lighter sentence, formed a large mob of mostly miners that overran the prison guards at Tombstone, and dragged John Heath out of town where they hung him from a telegraph pole even after he professed his innocence. The five other Cowboys were all hung days later, and each of them also proclaimed the innocence of John Heath (as well as their own) before being hung. Here The Wild Images Team captured an image of the grave marker to John Heath in Boothill Graveyard of Tombstone. The Wild Images Team has captured many other photos in Arizona, such as the colorful storm buildup in the painted desert, the stark view of an incredibly tall monsoon cloud over desert, the sky covering massive anvil cloud over the mountains, the isolation in the curtains of rain over the Navajo Nation, the deep red lightning scene in the Mazatzals, the moment Zeus throws a bolt over Cave Creek, the network of colorful bolts over the Sedona ridges, the rainfall created colorful dry wash in bloom, the dangerous stripe-tailed scorpion climbing plants, the deep desert late night glowing bark scorpions, the dynamic image of a honeybee on an exotic wildflower, the view of a hummingbird among the thick wildflowers, a lucky shot of a great horned owl roosting in mesquite tree, the evening view of an organ pipe cactus, the serene scene of ocotillos and saguaro cacti, the view from Bell Rock of scrub brush and phenomenally colorful cliffs, this precarious Wupatki box canyon dwelling, a look up at the very majestic Wukoki Pueblo ruins, a chance encounter with a thunderstorm through a Wukoki Pueblo window, and the spiny sharp glass sculpture with cacti, each of which are available for sale in our store. Our blog posts from Arizona have documented the close up of a large stripe-tailed scorpion, the animated behavior of a great horned owl, the nearly daily encounters with the multitude of rattlesnakes, the mysterious darkness created by a very prominent Alexander’s Band between two brilliant rainbows, the crazy late sunset when red rain fell over the Mazatzal Mountains, monsoon season forming rain curtains hanging in front of the sunset, the sunset moment when delicate rain curtains fell in front of a darkening sky, spring rainfall creating a colorful desert bloom in a dry wash, the dynamic view of a honeybee equipped with dual pollen baskets among the blooms, the red sunlit clouds with a rainbow over the foothills of Black Mountain, the massive spectacle of a giant spiderweb of lightning over Black Mountain, near Sedona where red cliffs are framed by cane chollas, the reddish glow of sunset lighting an organ pipe cactus, the precarious location of the cliff edge Box Canyon ruins, the strategic location of the majestic Montezuma Castle Sinagua dwellings, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at a scenic Grand Canyon overlook, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina in front of the Wupatki Pueblo, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tombstone and the Original Bird Cage Theatre history, its interior eponymic Bird Cage balcony seats, its secretive hidden door beneath the stage, through which lies the underground hidden gambling room, next to a hidden room for a lady of the night, the OK Corral Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp and Wyatt Earp and their gun fight with Tom McClaury, Frank McClaury, and Billy Clanton, the Boothill Graveyard headstone of Lester Moore and the headstone of John Heath, the reflective multicolored boatload of glass, the mass of blue and white glass atop a wall, the lighted view of purple stem vegetation glass, the lighted view of red stem vegetation glass, the closer view of the textures and shapes of Chihuly glass, the overlook view of Comet Neowise with a saguaro, which was brightly shining over the town of Cave Creek, eventually with its bright green coma and tail, as it appears to drop down into a saguaro grove, the day when rare snow fell in the Sonoran Desert and covered Black Mountain in a white blanket, the weeks of a devastating large record setting Bush Fire that continuously raged through the Superstition Mountains, the day when the Aquila Fire burned through Desert Hills causing massive destruction to a few structures, the day that the East Desert Fire nearly burned into the Cave Creek area, and then two weeks later the day when the devastating Ocotillo Fire did burn down into and throughout the estates which were protected by spectacular firefighting around the town of Cave Creek leaving behind this iconic image.
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