Boothill Graveyard

July 22, 2024 Kristin Lopes

The Old Cemetery

Tombstone, Arizona, United States

BootHill Graveyard Tombstone, Arizona

American's have a reputation for wearing cowboy hats, riding horses, and drinking beer. Westerns were a Hollywood staple for many years, and many grew up watching stories on The Alamo or the O.K Coral gunfights. Yet the question of what after is not really thought of or considered. Where are the men who died tragic deaths in gunfights or not laid to rest. The west was known for being lawless, full of opportune and a vast undeveloped land. Many perished in the pursuit of a better life in the gold rush or hoping to find some sort of hidden gem out west. Tombstone was just one of those towns, but infamous from it partake in history. It first was settled as many western towns were from one lucky find of gold or silver. In 1877 a man named Ed Schieffelin part of a scouting party for Chiricahua (chir-i-cow-uh) Apache found himself in a place originally called Goose Flats. Ed going against advice of the other soldiers in his party decided to go looking for stones and found something even more precious, silver. Ed named his first mine The Tombstone, after his fellow scouting party soldiers advised him that he would only be finding his tombstone in the wilderness and thought the name would be fitting. Even with the slower place of life in the late 1870's news quickly spread of Schieffelin's find. Tombstone grew quicky becoming the fasted growing city between St. Louis and San Francisco. Along with fast growing cities though you always end up with the need for a cemetery or graveyard. Boothill Graveyard was Tombstone's first and filled with some of its most notorious residents we know of today. The Graveyard was founded in 1879 and used till 1884 when the New Tombstone City Cemetery was opened. Boothill was aptly called "The Old Cemetery" by locals.

Unknown Grave Marker in Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, AZ

The graveyard's original name some stories say was due to its residents having died unexpectedly or violently and buried with their boots on. This was refuted after discovering it was named in the 1920's to draw tourists after Dodge's City Pioneer Cemetery had a lot of tourist luck with their name. Hollywood's westerns and dime novels idealizing the cowboy and lawless life were started to rise to fame as well. The name rumored to also come from western writer Frederick Bechdolt’s after he visited Tombstone in 1919. Plus, if you have residents from a notorious western shootout in 1881 you need a good name, right? There are around 250 graves within and thought to be over 300 plus residents, visitors looking to find certain graves or pay visits can purchases a booklet of Boothill Graveyard with the names and locations of graves. Many or the original residents were disinterred to the new cemetery in town. The reasoning of this was concluded from the graveyard having many thieves, murderers, rustlers, and prostitutes within its grounds and family is not exactly taken with loved ones spending forever in the same burial ground. The disinterment along with being forgotten years later makes its officially number of residents complicated at best to be known. The graveyard has an entirely other complicated issue though unlike most. Many believe it is not real. Which upon entering Tombstone it is not hard to see why most do question is authenticity. The town has an impressive on the set of a western feel and has many recreated buildings built from modern times to look as they would've back then. So many of those visiting ask is this even real and that leads to another issue of the graveyard. It has also been recreated after a long stint of being forgotten and used as a garbage dump. The town in the 1920's saw many of its population decline from moving away effectively ending its boom years and with it the care of its oldest graveyard. It is rumored the care began again when former mayor and editor of the Tombstone Epitaph John Clum in 1929 went to pay his respects to his late wife's grave. Grimly Clum could not find his beloveds grave becoming distraught from the effects of becoming a dumping ground and years passing by. Crosses made from wood had disintegrated, grave robbers also stole souvenirs or grave had been trampled by free-range cattle. Boothill Graveyard was no longer a burial ground but a dilapidated piece of land. Tombstones remaining residents along with Clum then decided things needed to change. The town with the help of the Boy Scouts cleared the graveyard of brush and debris then with the help of its older residents attempted to relocated individual's graves. Somewhere able to be re-established but many others were sadly not. This is why when within the grounds many unknown grave markers are seen by visitors. The ones that are known are some of its most notorious residents due to many public witnesses to their deaths or demises. Starting with the Boothill Graveyards famous residents we will go with Mary China. As the saying goes "Well-behaved women seldom make history" in Mary's case this was a tale of half-truths. Immigrating from China in 1839 from Guangdong Province, Mary's real Americanized name is widely debated but thought to be Mary Joy Sing. Sadly due to racism and not very welcome to the influx of Chinese immigrants and language barriers many were given generic "American" names like Mary. So many Mary China's in the 1800's American West existed. She arrived in tombstone in with man Ah Lum with many assuming they were husband and wife running the Can Can restaurant. This is also believed to be why Mary's death certificate has her name listed as Ah Lum and not Mary Joy Sing. Mary assisted Tombstone's wealthy will finding Chinese domestic servants acting as a labor contractor. She used this business to collect privileged information on residents in town for black mail or commercial reasons. Thriving in Tombstone Mary became a known and respectable businessperson with legitimate businesses such as a grocery store and laundries becoming known as the "Godfather" of the city. The darker side of her rumored tale is Mary was a Madam in Tombstone running opium dens, gambling, and prostitution in the Chinatown district. This is however legend as many records contradict each other and could be more than one woman. She also was rumored to be a money lender who used her own judgment to determine borrower's credibility. A Chinese article about Mary says American's utilizing history created a fictional character into a heroine for tourist reasons and no great business-woman actual exists. Mary died in 1906 of heart failure in Tombstone with many residents attending her funeral. She is believed to haunt Boothill wandering around the graveyard dressed in red. Our next famous woman resident lives in the darker stories of history madam Dutch Annie, “Queen of the Red-Light District". Annie's real name is unknown like many prostitutes of the time. Many in town held her in high regard as she helped many men down on their luck or miners lending money. Her generosity led many in town regardless of social stature to respect her actions. Upon her passing in 1883 over 1000 residents of Tombstone are to have said to attend her funeral and formed a procession behind her hearse. Now if you've be living under a rock or many just plain do not know we have been skirting around Tombstone's most famous event and 3 of its graveyards most famous residents, members of The Cowboys. Only lasting 30 seconds but going down in infamy was the gunfight of the O.K. Corral. Ironically, the gunfight did not even happen in the coral but on small lot on Fremont Street in Tombstone. The pinnacle of a heated situation between law enforcement officers Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday and a group of outlaws called the Cowboys; who were Billy Claiborne, brothers Ike and Billy Clanton, and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury. Although the shootout was not the exact end of the issue it is the most famously known gunfight within the long running conflict. Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury all died in the gunfight and are buried in Boothill Graveyard. The group were loosely connected but had an issue with the marshals because of the interference of their illegal activities. The gunfight took place because of a city ordinance instated on April 19, 1881, that prohibited carrying a deadly weapon in town. It required everyone to deposit weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town with City's Marshal, Virgil Earp was charged with enforcing the ordinance. The Cowboys had refused to comply leading to Earp gathering his brothers and Holliday to disarm the outlaws but lead instead to the gunfight. This a more of a higher overview of the history leading up to and what happened next, but I highly recommend if you are interested to read up more on the matter. Each of the gravestones for the Cowboys are located next to each other in Boothill Graveyard in row 2. Clanton is claimed to haunt Boothill and the scene of the gunfight where he died on Fremont St. Lurking in both locations with an apparition. John Heath mastermind of the Bisbee Massacre a result of a robbery gone wrong is also within. Heath learned of a rumored payroll for the Copper Queen mine amounting to $7,000 and devised a plan steal the payroll. The only problem being on the day of the robbery the payroll was not there. Instead, 5 outlaws sans Heath held up the bank robbing the employees and customers worth of $3,000. 5 people were shot with 4 fatalities, including an expectant mother. Leading to public outrage in Brisbee and Tombstone. Heath was discovered as the mastermind of the operation and was thrown into the Tombstone County jail.

The Cowboy’s graves from the O.K. Corral Gunfight

The public the following morning took it upon themselves to exact justice taking over the jail and hanging Heath on nearby telephone poll. The rest of the outlooks were trialed by the law, found guilty and hung. Many buried within have sorted tales with shot by on their grave markers like Red River Tom shot by two police officers, 3 fingered Jack Dunlap shot by Jeff Milton while robbing an express train, Cowboy Bill King shot by Burt Alvod and the Kansas Kid a Cowboy killed in a stampede. The graveyard has a staggering statistic of 40% buried within dying of causes other than old age. Some more interesting than others with childbirth, suicide, hanging, accidents like drowning, infant fatality, gunshot wounds, knife, blunt instrument, Apache's, legal executions, or lynch mob hangings. I guess if it is a graveyard in Americans Wild West it is going to have a wide range of causes, right? Boothill's hauntings are in the form of photographs. When attempting to photograph the historic site unexpected guests are captured on film during the day. Many are not said to occur at night. One of the most famous catches was a man wielding a knife behind two women visiting the graveyard. Both say no man was present with them though upon their visit. An unmarked grave gave a journalist a serious chilling experience when visiting. A whisper saying "it was nice of you to do that" was heard by a journalist visiting the grounds in a childlike voice. Thinking he must have been mistaken he gathered himself together only to another whisper "You came back. You must like to play with me a lot". Then leading to a laugh, the visitor causes a shadow shaped like a person in the corner of his eye but quickly disappeared. The visitor's center or shop of Boothill Graveyard is said to experience merchandise misplaced, moved, racks rotating on their own and apparitions too. Maybe Clanton's stroll from the grave to the O.K Coral sees a nightly detour to scare tourists? The Graveyard also saw the "Broadway of America" route 70 from North Carolina to Arizona cut right through its grounds. Leading to more movement of its permeant residents to the newer cemetery and many to wonder if this also contributes to the unknown haunted happenings. Souls restless for their original resting places in Tombstone. The notorious resident's souls in Boothill Graveyards lived lives beyond the bounds of the law during life and seem to in the afterlife. Blurring the veil between the living and dead. The question is would you be buried with your boots on?