Wild West Figure. He was the deputy sheriff for four months in Cochise County, Arizona Territory; a suspected stage robber; and the alleged assassin of Morgan S. Earp. Frank Stilwell was an underling of Sheriff John Behan and a friend to the outlaw gang known as the "Cowboys." In the summer of 1881, Stilwell was a suspect in a fatal stagecoach robbery. He was the owner of several mines and saloons in the area. On March 18, 1882, Morgan, Deputy United States Marshall Wyatt Earp's younger brother, received a fatal gunshot wound while playing billiards. Stilwell was one of the suspected assassins. Prior to this incident, he had killed two men in two different incidents in what he claimed as self-defense. Three days later, on the night of March 21st, he was allegedly found by Wyatt Earp and his posse including Doc Holliday at the Tucson railyards. Shortly after sunrise the next morning, workers found Stilwell's bullet-riddled body near the tracks, one hundred yards north of the station. Wyatt left for Colorado and was never arrested for this crime. Originally, Stilwell was buried with only a single mourner in the old Tucson City cemetery, but as the city grew, this cemetery was closed and abandoned. Most of the bodies buried in the city cemetery were re-interred at Evergreen Cemetery, in an unmarked mass grave, thought to be at the back of the cemetery, although, the office at the cemetery has no record of a mass grave. At the site where Stilwell was murdered stands life-sized statues of both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, and in the 21st century is part of the part of the Amtrak Train Station.
Wild West Figure. He was the deputy sheriff for four months in Cochise County, Arizona Territory; a suspected stage robber; and the alleged assassin of Morgan S. Earp. Frank Stilwell was an underling of Sheriff John Behan and a friend to the outlaw gang known as the "Cowboys." In the summer of 1881, Stilwell was a suspect in a fatal stagecoach robbery. He was the owner of several mines and saloons in the area. On March 18, 1882, Morgan, Deputy United States Marshall Wyatt Earp's younger brother, received a fatal gunshot wound while playing billiards. Stilwell was one of the suspected assassins. Prior to this incident, he had killed two men in two different incidents in what he claimed as self-defense. Three days later, on the night of March 21st, he was allegedly found by Wyatt Earp and his posse including Doc Holliday at the Tucson railyards. Shortly after sunrise the next morning, workers found Stilwell's bullet-riddled body near the tracks, one hundred yards north of the station. Wyatt left for Colorado and was never arrested for this crime. Originally, Stilwell was buried with only a single mourner in the old Tucson City cemetery, but as the city grew, this cemetery was closed and abandoned. Most of the bodies buried in the city cemetery were re-interred at Evergreen Cemetery, in an unmarked mass grave, thought to be at the back of the cemetery, although, the office at the cemetery has no record of a mass grave. At the site where Stilwell was murdered stands life-sized statues of both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, and in the 21st century is part of the part of the Amtrak Train Station.
Bio by: Linda Davis
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