| WILLIAM
BREAKENRIDGE |
 William
Milton Breakenridge was born in Watertown, Wisconsin and ran away from
home to join the Union army. After the war, he moved to Denver and work
at numerous jobs in and around the city. Looking for fame and fortune,
he enlisted in the Third Colorado Cavalry under Colonel Chivington and
was at the infamous Sand Creek Massacre. After the cavalry, Breakenridge
became a train brakeman for the Southern Pacific Railroad and then a
storekeeper in Sidney, Nebraska. In 1878, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona
where he took the job as deputy Sheriff. He then moved to Tombstone and
became deputy sheriff under Sheriff John Behan.
On the night of May 25, 1881, Breakenridge was confronted by two gunmen,
William "Curly Bill" Brocius and Jim Wallace, who had spotted
the star on Breakenridge's chest as he walked into a local saloon.
Wallace challenged him to a duel, but deputy sheriff waved him offand
volunteered to buy everyone a drink. "Curly Bill" then tried
to pick a fight with the lawman, but Breakenridge wanted no part of it
and exited the saloon and mounted his horse. This just infuriated
"Curly Bill" who also jumped on his horse to continue the
verbal assault against the lawman. When Breakenridge had substained
enough of the insults and threats, he calmly pulled his pistol and fired
one shot into gunman. The bullet entered through the neck of "Curly
Bill" and emerged out his right cheek, knocking out two teeth in
the process.
In 1882, Breakenridge and three other lawmen were tracking down two
outlaws, Billy Grounds and Zwing Hunt, who had committed a robbery in
Charleston, Arizona. Breakenridge located the outlaws at a ranch about
ten miles from Tombstone. They hid their horses and quietly surrounded
the small cabin. Then one of the lawmen, a man named John Gillespie,
headed toward the front door of the cabin, demanding that Grounds and
Hunt surrender. The two outlaws opened the door and shot Gillespie to
death. A ranch hand, who was also in the cabin, ran out through the
front door saying that he had nothing to do with the two outlaws inside,
but he was shot and killed by Billy Grounds while trying to flee to
safety. Then an all out gunfight erupted between the outlaws and the
lawmen. During this fierce battle, the other two lawmen that accompanied
Breakenridge on this posse were wounded. After the gunfire subsided,
Breakenridge rushed toward the cabin with a loaded shotgun. He
positioned himself near the front door and waited for the two outlaws
inside to make a move. Through the cracks of the front door,
Breakenridge noticed some movements inside the cabin, so he leveled his
shotgun and fired both barrels through the front door. On the otherside
of the door, Billy Grounds was looking to see where the lawmen were, the
blast form the shotgun threw him across the cabin, he died a short time
later. The other outlaw, Zwing Hunt, seeing his friend mortally wounded,
ran out the back door with Breakenridge in chase. The lawman fired four
shots and hit Hunt in the back, knocking him down unconscious.
Breakenridge gave up his deputy sheriff's job in 1884 to pursue
ranching. After two years of losing money in the ranching business, he
returned to the law by becoming a U.S. marshal. He was involved in the
Wham case in 1889. Major Joseph Wham and group of soldiers, carrying a
military payroll of $29,000, were attacked by a dozen outlaws near Fort
Thomas. After wounding more then half the soldiers and driving off the
rest, the outlaws simply walked away with the entire payroll.
Breakenridge led a posse of lawmen and rounded up various suspects who
were later charged with the sensational robbery. Most of these suspects
were Mormons with political connections and the accused men were
defended by the famed lawyer Marcus Aurelius Smith. Major Wham and his
men were unable to identify any of the dozen defendants in court and
they were all acquitted. Breakenridge vocally claimed that political
pressure from the acting governor allowed the thieves to go free.
After this incident, Breakenridge quit as a U.S. Marshall and was hired
as a investigator for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Here, he performed
ordinary duties as a guard and conducted detective work, retiring in
1918 at age seventy-two. In 1928, Breakenridge published his famous book
of the Old West, "Helldorado". This book made him even more
famous then his days of being a lawman. He died of a heart attack on
January 31, 1931 at the age of eighty-five.
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