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{Boothill Graves - Tombstone's Boothill Graveyard}

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Welcome to Tombstone's Boothill.  The Boothill Graveyard visitor building houses the information desk, gift shop and entrance to the cemetery.  The front of this wooden structure faces south, the graveyard on its right, to the east.  When looking at grave markers, the visitor is facing west.

Cemetery rows are numbered from the bottom of the main hill, rising full-width to Row 7.  The remaining rows to the top (8 to 11) are about one-third width, behind the graveyard visitor structure and its patio area.  Graves are listed "left to right," south to north.  The Jewish Cemetery & Memorial  lies at the northwestern base of the hill.  Photos were taken by this page's editor in 2007, 2008 and 2016.  Hover the text links for enlargements and historical information beyond that of the booklet.

The following is a transcript of the booklet "Boothill Graveyard:  A Descriptive List of more than 250 Graves in Boothill" (n.p., 1952, Lela B. Nunnelly), available only at historic Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona, and is presented here as a resource for researchers.  Persons who visit the graveyard should purchase the booklet directly from the caretakers for their suggested donation ($3 as of this writing; greater amounts are appreciated).

I Others I

As far as can be seen from the records, the following are buried here.

 

Campbell

1883

Suicide

 

Dr. McLoon

1883

 

Stanifor

1883

Stage driver, suicide.

 

Contreras

1883

Murdered.

 

J. D. Dernitt

1881

Fell to his death in a mine shaft.

 

Gadelia

1881

I Unknown I

RESEARCH has shown the following to be buried in some of the many UNKNOWN graves.

 

Boothill Graveyard was laid out as a burial plot in 1878.  Called "The Tombstone Cemetery," it was the burial place for the town's first pioneers and was used as such until sometime around 1884, when the present plot was opened as a burial place.

 

For years after this, Boothill was spoken of as the "old cemetery."  It lay for years neglected and much of the old cemetery has gone back to nature.  Years of research and hard work by interested citizens of the town have helped to preserve the main part of the cemetery as you see it today.

 

Because of the many violent deaths of the early days, the cemetery became known as Boothill Graveyard.  It is possibly a true symbol of this roaring mining town of the early 1880s.  Buried here are outlaws with their victims, suicides, and hangings, legal and otherwise, along with the hardy citizens and refined element of Tombstone's first days.

 

So much of the good and so much of the bad of early Tombstone lies buried here, and over the graves of both is growing--the true crucifixion thorn.

 

In compiling this list, each history has been checked with all available sources of information, including relatives, old residents and the Arizona Historical Society records.

Mrs. Stewart

1880

This information given by her son and also by people who attended her funeral.

Said to be the first woman buried in the cemetery.

 

Sam Harris

1889

Age 1 year, 4 days.  Buried in the old Jewish plot.

 

John Holly

1880

Keeper of Rural Dining Hall.

 

Kettlewell

Child of Mrs. Lizzie Kettlewell.  (Information from Jean Nuttall, who as a child,

would go with the mother to put flowers on the grave.)

 

Wm. Bobier

1881

He and his partner disagreed over a cock fight with tragic results.

 

Mr. Huggins

1882

He was burned to death in Tombstone when a hotel burned in 1882.  (Information from his niece.)

 

John Talliday

1881

Shot by Harper, who hanged for the crime.

 

Thos. Harper

Hanged, 1881

Harper was hanged for shooting Talliday in a quarrel over money.  The evening before he was hanged,

Harper wrote a long letter to his friend Curly Bill, admonishing him never to be provoked into shooting a man.

"I shot a man," he wrote, "and after tomorrow I will be no more."  He was hanged in the old jail house yard.

 

Rose Campion

1882

Death was caused by stillborn birth.  (This information was given by her son.)

 

Robertson

Two infant sons of S. C. and Alice Robertson are buried in this cemetery.  (Information given by their oldest sister.)

 

John White

1882

 

Mitchell

1880

 

Agnes Kenney

1878

Age 1 year.  The baby was given calomel by the doctor.  After eating an orange, she became salivated and died.

IIIIIIIIIII Row 11 IIIIIIIIIII

Emmett Nunnelley

1946

With the help of the townspeople, he spent the last year of his life seeking to restore,

as much as could be restored, this old cemetery.

It was his request to rest here.

Geo. Hand

Killed by Indians

 

Two Chinese

Died of Leprosy

 

John Swain Slaughter

1945

Old John was nearly 100 years old when he died.

He came here in 1879 with the John Slaughter family,

and spent his life in and around Tombstone.

IIIIIIIIII Row 10 IIIIIIIIII

Weiners Anton

1882

 

Raymond Verra

Stabbed, 1882

 

Chas. Gadela

1882

 

Mike Noonan

Killed by Indians

A lone rancher who was shot when he went out to chop wood.  (Information from relatives.)

 

Ed Bancroft

1882

 

Chink Smiley

Shot, 1884

 

Sing Wan

 

Tong Kee

 

Quong Kee

Quong, who ran the Can Can Restaurant in the 1880s, was first buried in a pauper's grave.

His friends had his body moved and laid to rest in Boothill beside the friends he knew in life.

 

Mrs. Ah Lum

Born in China and buried in Boothill in 1906.  She had great influence among the Chinese residents here.

Some believed she had Tong affiliation in China

 

Hop Lung

IIIIIIIII Row 9 IIIIIIIII

Steve Brammer

1882

 

Mrs. Pring

Suicide, 1881

While her husband was away trying to sell mining shares, Mrs. Pring, who lived on Toughnut Street,

took a large dose of hydrate chloral.

 

S. McFarland

1882

 

J. Gardiner

Shot, 1882

He was shot by Kellogg.  Two saloon men were also indicted for this killing.

 

Brady Bros.

1883

These boys were drowned while swimming in the San Pedro River.  One died in a vain attempt to save his brother.

Ages 11 and 12 years.

 

Geo. Russell

1882

An efficient foreman of the Epitaph, who died while being operated on for cancer of the stomach.

 

Foo Kee

He owned a grocery store here and died from ptomaine poisoning.

 

Archie McBride

1882

Proprietor of the Grand Hotel until he died in May of consumption.

 

Johnnie Blair

Died of Smallpox and a cowboy threw a rope over his feet and dragged him to his grave.

IIIIIIII Row 8 IIIIIIII

Wm. Whitehill

Shot, 1878

 

Jack King

Shot by Cherokee Hall

 

George Whitcer

1882

A miner, who was killed when a cable broke hurling the cage to the bottom of the shaft.

 

James McMartin

1881

"Rapid Consumption."

 

Guadalupe Robles

Robles, who gave shelter to some robbers (one of whom was his brother), was shot when the officers came to arrest them.

 

Broncho Charley

Shot by Ormsby

 

G. Renacco

Killed 1882

He fell head first from a cliff.

 

Pesquira

Killed, 1881

 

Geo. Atkins

1888

 

Hancock

Shot, 1879

Shot by John Ringo when he made a disparaging remark about some women.

 

Johnnie Wilson

Shot by King

Two gunmen's discussion of the fastest way to draw, ended here.

IIIIIII Row 7 IIIIIII

Indian Bill

 

Mrs. Clum

Jim Riley

Murdered, 1881

 

3-Fingered Jack Dunlap

Shot by Jeff Milton

Dunlap, one of a band of train robbers, attempted to rob an express car

which Milton guarded.  He was critically wounded and his friends left him to die.

He was found and brought to Tombstone, where he lived long enough to inform on his friends.

Dutch Annie

1883

Sometimes called Queen of the Red Light District.

 

Peter Crawley

Killed, 1881

 

Jos. Thomas

Shot, 1881

He was a teamster for Shearer's Lumber wagons and was found with four bullet wounds in his body.

Indian Joe, another teamster, was believed to have killed him, as both teams were found abandoned by the roadside.

 

James Tully

Killed, 1881

Tully was a miner employed by the Grand Central Mining Co.

To avoid being crushed as the cage shot upward toward the timbers overhead,

Tully jumped and fell 250 feet to the bottom of the shaft.

 

Killeen

Shot by Frank Leslie, 1880

Results of a disagreement over Killeen's wife.

Leslie married the widow.

McNemony

Shot, 1882

 

1871   Glenn Hill   1953

 

John Gibbon

1882

With Malvina Lopez "he climbed the golden stairs on the fumes from a pan of charcoal."

(From the files of Lester G. Baker, one-time editor of the Tombstone Epitaph.)

 

Ormsby

Shot

 

Cowboy Bill King

Shot by Burt Alvord

 

John Wickstrum

1882

A Swede who was killed when a well he was digging caved in.  (Information from an old resident.)

 

Six-Shooter Jim

Shot by Burt Alvord, 1885

 

Unknown

1887

IIIIII Row 6 IIIIII

Minnie Dowe

1881

 

M. McAllister

1882

"Happy Jack" had suffered a lung injury when he was shot in a fight over a piece of land.

He was sent to Tombstone to recover but died of the old injury.  (Information by grandson.)

 

Alfred Cantrell

Shot, 1881

"Old Man" Cantrell was murdered by a man named Brown, who later hanged for his crime.

 

Joseph Ziegler

Murdered, 1882

Ziegler, age 27, was shot one night through the left breast and lived only a few minutes.

He and Ed Williams, who shot him, were miners and had been quarrelling while working that day.

The murder took place behind the old ice house, near the corner of Toughnut and Fifth Streets.

 

Ben Olleney

Shot by Chacon

 

Wm. Carpenter

1881

This grave was located by his son who said his father had been the first Baptist minister in Tombstone.  Death caused by nephritis.

 

Simon Constantine

Killed, 1882

He and Thos. Kearney were blown up by a blast.

 

Charley Storms

Shot by Luke Short, 1880

Guns blazed again as these two gambling men met.

Storms was shot in front of the Oriental Saloon, where Short dealt cards.

Rosenthal

1881

 

Douglas Lilly

Killed, 1881

Lilly, a driver for the Sycamore Water Co., was thrown from the wagon,

trampled by the horses and died instantly when the wagon ran over his head.

 

Stinging Lizard

Shot by Cherokee Hall

 

Marshal White

Shot by Curly Bill, 1880

He was accidentally shot as he

started to take Curly Bill's gun.

This took place on the lot where

the Bird Cage Theatre now stands.

Helentina Kohler

1882

 

Latham Kohler

1884

 

Ralph Kohler

1882

 

M. McCarty

Shot, 1882

A miner who was shot by a man named Poplin.

 

Unknown

Murdered, 1884

 

Lester Moore

"Here lies Lester Moore,

Four slugs from a .44,

No Les, no more."

Moore was a Wells Fargo agent at Naco and had a dispute with a man over a package.

Both died.  (Information from an old resident.)

Harry Curry

Killed by Indians, 1882

He was killed with Seymour Dye while hauling hay.

 

Daniel Owyer

Drowned, 1881

 

Kansas Kid

A cowboy killed in a stampede.

 

Thos. Fitzhugh

1882

He was found dead one morning in the water closet back of Mrs. King's lodging house

on Toughnut Street, where he roomed.

 

M. Lopez

1880

A closed room and charcoal fumes.

IIII Row 4 IIII

Miles Sweeney

Murdered, 1880

 

John MacKenzie

1881

 

Thos. Cowan

Age 11 months, 1881

Diphtheria.  (From an old resident.)

 

May Doody

1881

Diphtheria.  (From an old resident.)

 

John Gibson

1881

Gibson, a driver for Nadeau's ore teams, fell from a wagon and his skull was crushed

when a wheel of the heavy wagon ran over his head.

 

W. C. Bennett

1882

Native of England.  He died of heart trouble and was buried by Knights of Pythias Lodge.

 

Thos. Kearney

Killed, 1882

Kearney and Simon Constantine were blown up by a blast.

 

Hilly Hickson

1882

It was said that death never took a holiday in Tombstone.

On this day, Hilly, a school boy, fell while walking on a pair of stilts and injured his back.

He seemed only slightly injured, but next morning he died suddenly with a spasm.

 

C. O. Ridgeway

1882

His team of horses and wagon were found on a road leading out of Tombstone.

Investigation showed "Old Man Ridgeway" to be lying dead in the wagon.

 

H. B. Cook

1882

 

Hayes

 

Pat Lynch

1883

 

Mrs. R. B. Campbell

1882

Wife of restaurant owner of that name.  She died very suddenly of severe stomach cramps and spasms.  Suspected poisoning.

 

Malcolm Campbell

1882

A kindly, devout Christian man who died of pneumonia.

 

Bobby Jackson   1882   Frank Hart

 

Frank Serroux

Shot over his mining claim.

 

Mrs. Stump

1884

She died in childbirth, from an overdose of chloroform, given her by the doctor.

(This information given by her family.)

IIIII Row 5 IIIII

Wm. Summers

1882

He was a teamster for James Carr and was found dead from a blow on the back, which broke two ribs and ruptured the liver.

 

Mead

Sudden death, 1881

Mead was a blacksmith for Sandy Bob's stables, and was found dead early one morning in the rear seat of one of the coaches.

 

M. E. Kellogg

1882

Died a natural death

 

Seymour Dye

1882, Killed by Indians

Dye, aged 35, and Harry Curry were wood cutters.  This day they were bringing in a load of hay, when they were shot by Indians,

who after their victims had fallen from the wagon, dragged them for 150 feet.

 

Geo. Johnson

Hanged by Mistake

Johnson innocently bought a stolen horse and suffered the consequences.

 

"Here lies George Johnson, Hanged by mistake, 1882.

He was right, we was wrong, but we strung him up and now he's gone."

 

John Gillespie

1882

He was one of the officers sent to arrest Billy Grounds and Zwing Hunt, suspected killers of M. R. Peel.

He died instantly when Hunt shot him in the head.

 

M. R. Peel

1882

A young mining engineer, who was shot one night in his office as he worked late.

Suspicion fell on Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds

Billy Kinsman

1883

He was shot by a woman much older than he, who was jealously in love with him.  (Information given by his niece.)

 

George Fryer

1881

 

Wm. Alexander

1880

An old prospector who was fatally injured when a blast went off prematurely.

 

Red River Tom

Shot by Ormsby

 

Alfred Packrel

1882

English.  He was a young miner, aged 24, who died from inflammation of the bowels.

 

Deron

Shot by Slaughter

Deron was shot when Slaughter sought to arrest him for his part in a train robbery.

 

Ben Scott   1883   Al Bennett

Teamsters.  Ambushed by Indians.

 

Wm. Grounds

1882, Died of Wounds

He was shot in the face with a shotgun, by one of the officers sent

to question him in connection with the murder of M. R. Peel.

 

Hans Christianson

1891

 

Christina B. Christianson

1892

 

Delia William

1881, Suicide

Colored proprietress of a lodging house on Toughnut Street.  Suicide by taking arsenic.

III Row 3 III

John Beather

1881, Hanged

 

Two Cowboys

Drowned

 

John King

1881, Suicide

By strychnine.

 

Ernest Brodines

Murdered in 1882

A miner, native of Germany, was found dead in his cabin with four bullet wounds in his body.

Suspected of the killing was his partner, with whom he had been quarrelling and who had now disappeared.

 

Teamster

1881, Killed by Apaches

 

J. D. McDermott

Killed, 1882

His spinal column was fractured when his horse fell with him while crossing the San Pedro River.

 

Judge C. Lindley

1882

Chas. Lindley, in his younger years, was one of the ablest members of the bar in California.

His health was impaired by overwork and he dies in Tombstone in September, 1882.

 

John Martin

Killed, 1882

He was killed while working on the Huachuca water line.
A tested pipe was unplugged and a blast of water hurled a jack against his chest.

He was a native of England.

 

Rook

Shot by a Chinaman

This occurred in front of Yaple's store on Fremont Street, now Wagon Wheel Inn.

 

Jos. Manada

1882

 

Freddie Fuss

1882

A small boy who died from drinking stagnant or poison mine water.

 

Mrs. R. L. Brown

1882

Proprietress of a hotel, and dies a natural death.  (Information from friends of family.)

 

Eliz. Billings

1886

 

Francis Southy

1881

 

John Heath

Taken from county jail and lynched by Bisbee mob, Feb. 22, 1884.

He was called the leader of the five men who were legally hanged and was said to have planned the robbery.

He was hanged from a telegraph pole a short distance west of the Court House.

II Row 2 II

Old Man Clanton

He, with several other men, was ambushed on a cattle drive by Mexicans.

All but one man was killed.

Billy Clanton   Frank McLaury

Tom McLaury

Murdered on the streets of Tombstone, 1881

Tragic results of the O.K. Corral battle, which took place between the Earp Brothers with "Doc" Holliday and the cowboys.

Three men were killed and

three were wounded.

James Hickey

1881, Shot by Wm. Clayborne

He was shot in the left temple by Clayborne for his over-insistence that they drink together.

 

Dennis Cassidine

Killed, 1879

 

John Hicks

1879

Hicks was shot by Jeremiah McCormick, superintendent of the Lucky Cuss Mine.  A saloon brawl.

 

Frank Bowles

1880

His horse became frightened and threw him off.

This caused a rifle to discharge and badly injure his knee.

He lay in camp for several weeks without medical attention and when friends took him to a doctor for amputation it was too late.   (This information was given by his daughter.)

 

"In memory of Frank Bowles,
born Aug. 5, 1828,

died Aug. 26, 1880.

As you pass by, remember that
as you are, so once was I, and
as I am, you soon will be.

Remember me."

Thos. Morgan

1882

 

Jos. Wetsell

Killed, 1882

He was stoned to death by Apaches.  His friends were not far away, and it was thought the Indians

wanted to avoid attracting their attention by shooting him.

 

A. Deloach

1882

 

Margarita

Stabbed by Gold Dollar

Two dance hall girls quarrelling over a man, and Gold Dollar won.

 

Wm. Clayborne

1882, Shot by Frank Leslie

Clayborne while drinking, sought to settle a real or fancied wrong with Leslie.

This took place in front of the Oriental Saloon, where Leslie tended bar.

Dick Toby

Shot by Sheriff Behan

 

Verone Gray

Suicide

 

Jerry Sullivan

1881

 

Dan Dowd   Red Sample   Tex Howard   Bill Delaney   Dan Kelley

Legally hanged, March 8, 1884

These men were found guilty of killing several people during the robbery of a store in Bisbee.

They were all hanged on one scaffold in the Court House yard.

Van Houten

Murdered, 1879

He was beaten in the face with a stone until he died.  Trouble was over his mining claim, which he had not recorded.

 

Tom Waters

Shot, 1880

He was the father of Eva Waters and likely the T. J. Waters shot over the color of his shirt.

 

Chas. Helm

Shot, 1882

Shot by Wm. McCauley.  Two hot-tempered ranchers, who disagreed over the best way to drive cattle, fast or slow.

 

Jonathon Barton

1881

 

Louis Daves

1882

 

Halderman Bros.

Hanged Nov. 16, 1900

 

Thos. Gregory

1882

 

Gregory

1882

Small son of Thos. Gregory, who died of meningitis.

 

Holo Lucero

1882

Killed by Indians.

 

Peter Smith

Killed, 1882

Smith, age 23, a native of Germany, was struck on the back of his head with a poker and

killed by Thos. Donald (or Doland) during a fight.

 

Mrs. H. C. Smith

1882

 

Jasper Von

Shot, 1882

Florentino

Murdered, 1882

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

Sometimes called Indian Charlie.

Eva Waters

Age 3 Months

Scarlet fever.

I Row 1 I

Rodriguez Petron

Stabbed

 

Unknown

Found in abandoned mine, 1882

He was found at the bottom of a 60-foot shaft of the Minute Mine.

He was well-dressed, indicating he was not a miner.  No identification of any kind.

 

Pat Byrne

1882, Pneumonia

Editor's Notes

I do not live in Tombstone but I am active within the historian community.  We hold annual gatherings in the Old West town and I attend as often as I can, visiting Boothill Graveyard each time to see how much it has changed from my previous trip.  Yes, the old graveyard changes that often, sometimes by humans, replacing weather-worn grave markers and performing other such maintenance, but mostly by Mother Nature herself, sprouting foliage so thick at times from the rock covered plots that it is almost impossible to read the markers:  Case in point.  In 2016 I was surprised to see newly identified graves.  The controversy continues over the authenticity of names and locations of many inhabitants, but when it comes to American folklore of the Wild West, Boothill Graveyard is as real as it gets.  I urge you to visit.
(Oh, and don't be put off by my photo -- underneath all that beard, I'm smiling!)  -John K.