By Victoria Wilcox

Prescott is famous for the Wild West exploits of some of its former citizens—including stories of dangerous dentist John Henry “Doc” Holliday, who paused here before moving on to the silver mining camp of Tombstone.  But one bit of Holliday’s Prescott lore didn’t actually happen here—if it ever happened at all.

In the opening scenes of the movie “Tombstone,” Wyatt Earp asks his brother Virgil if he happened to see anything of Doc Holliday while he was in Prescott.  Virgil replies, “Yeah. He had a streak when we left, him and Kate.” The scene cuts away to show Holliday playing cards in a saloon, with his elegantly dressed Hungarian mistress, Kate Elder, at his side.  On the green baize table in front of him are the scattered paraphernalia of poker: paperboards, poker chips and silver coins, a gold pocket watch.  And across the table, his anger seething, sits gambler Ed Bailey who is clearly losing this hand.

Whiskey Row looking south in the 1870s with the Diana Saloon in the foreground, a district that would become familiar ground for Doc Holliday during his stay at Prescott. (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum Call Number: BU-B-8166pa)

Words are exchanged, and the enraged Bailey lunges across the table at Doc, getting a knife slid into his side by the smiling doctor while Kate pulls a derringer to cover their retreat.  It’s one of the classic scenes from the legend of Doc Holliday: the knifing of Ed Bailey in a Fort Griffin, Texas, saloon, only this time set in the Arizona Territory capital of Prescott.  The change of venue was just a convenience for the sake of the film, letting the audience know two important things in this opening scene of Doc Holliday: he was a cold-blooded killer and he passed through Prescott on his way to Tombstone.  And as long as those two things are true, does it really matter where the knifing happened?

What matters is that the knifing of Ed Bailey likely didn’t happen anywhere, not in Fort Griffin, Texas, nor in Prescott, Arizona, or any of the other towns Holliday visited in his Western travels.  In fact, the story of the Ed Bailey knifing was never even told during Holliday’s lifetime.  The first appearance of that story comes nine years after Doc Holliday’s death, in an 1896 article in the San Francisco Enquirer.

Doc Holliday photograph taken while in Texas, 1873 (Photo Courtesy of Author).

The article claims to be an interview with Wyatt Earp, who was in San Francisco at the time, and tells a gory tale about Doc slicing up Ed Bailey and leaving him for dead.  Problem is the story as told is so flowery and wildly descriptive that it’s hard to believe it came from the famously laconic and spare-on-words Earp.  And it may have been this very article that Wyatt was referencing years later, when he said: “Of all the nonsensical guff which has been written around my life, there has been none more inaccurate or farfetched than that which has dealt with Doc Holliday.  After Holliday died, I gave a San Francisco newspaper reporter a short sketch of his life.  Apparently the reporter was not satisfied.  The sketch appeared in print with a lot of things added that never existed outside the reporter’s imagination…”

Was the Ed Bailey knifing one of those imaginary incidents?  As far as researchers can determine, poor Ed Bailey himself never existed, as his name appears nowhere in historical record.  And how did Doc Holliday manage to kill a man who didn’t exist?

The problem with legends is that if we believe they’re true, we stop looking for the truth.  And the truth of Doc Holliday’s life is even more intriguing than the legend—like his real connection to Prescott as housemate of the acting governor of the Territory and player in a covert plan to stop a threatened war with Mexico.  The real Doc Holliday is waiting to be found, but to do that we have to look beyond the legends and the ghost of Ed Bailey.

Autographed photo of Doc Holliday taken in Prescott sometime in 1879-1880 (Photo Courtesy of Author).

This article is a preview of a presentation that Victoria Wilcox will make at the Twelfth Annual Western History Symposium to be held at the Prescott Centennial Center on August 1st. The Symposium is co-sponsored by the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International and is open to the public free of charge.  For more details, call the museum at 445-3122 or visit the sponsors’ websites at www.sharlot.org and www.prescottcorral.org.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past. The public is encouraged to submit ideas for articles to dayspastprescott@gmail.com. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.

By David R. Berman

Arizona has had its share of colorful politicians but none more so than Democrat George W. P. Hunt, our state’s first governor, who voters elected to that office seven times.  He was deeply involved in most of the important Arizona political battles for over forty years—from the 1890s to the 1930s.

Governor George W. P. Hunt, the state of Arizona’s first governor (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number PO-743pd).

Hunt was a plainspoken, battling crusader who focused on a variety of targets—the corporate interests, the Arizona legislature, the courts, Republicans, members of his own political party, politicians from other states (especially California), and the federal government among them.  He did not take defeat lightly: declared the loser in his bid for re-election as governor in 1916, he barricaded himself in the governor’s suite and refused to vacate the premises.

Hunt was not a gifted speaker but he was able to communicate effectively with people on an individual basis.  He made a political career by developing friendships.  He made ordinary people feel important because they felt he, the governor, was their good friend, someone they knew and someone who knew them.  He cheated a little by keeping notes on whomever he talked to when he visited a particular town and consulted the notes just before he returned to the town so that he could call people by their first name and renew the conversation.  While a crusader, he was also a practical politician.  He headed a “political machine” through which he gave his supporters state jobs, especially in the highway department.

Arizona Constitutional Convention participants with Convention President Hunt centered in the front row, Phoenix, Arizona, December 9, 1910 (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number PB-058, F-001, I-004P).

Hunt was born in 1859 in Huntsville, Missouri, a small community named after his grandfather.  At the age of 18, he ran away from home seeking his fortune in the West.  He wound up in Globe Arizona in 1881where he worked his way up from a variety of low-paying jobs to become a successful merchant and banker.  Entering politics, he became a leader in the territorial legislature and president of the 1910 convention that created the state constitution.  He died unexpectedly at his home on Christmas Eve, 1934.

With Hunt at the helm from 1910 to 1916, Arizona was in the mainstream of the Progressive reform movement that was sweeping the nation.  As he saw it, he stood for the people in their grand struggle with the “corporate beasts” best represented by the large mining and railroad enterprises owned by absentee capitalists.  Thus he sought to stem the power of large corporations.  Along with this, he sought to democratize the political system, defend the rights of working people, reform prisons to make them more humane, and to abolish the death penalty.

Hunt with Grace Sparks (left) and Sharlot Hall at Quartzite, circa 1931 (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number: MS-15, B-19, F-1, I-1928.001.130).

Hunt engaged in putting together what he saw as model state government based on Progressive principles.  He felt that Arizona, a pioneer state and one less bound by tradition than many others, was an ideal place to experiment with the latest ideas in government.  He wanted Progressivism, in the sense of “modern” or “enlightened” ideas, to undergird every state institution.  He saw progressive reform ideas such as direct primaries, the initiative, referendum, and recall, and legislation that put controls on campaign spending as essential to safeguarding the political system from the corporate interests.

Hunt wanted to give people greater control over their jobs as well as their government and valued labor unions as a way of achieving this end.  He also saw unions as a way to build a middle class and establish an economic and political force to countervail the influence of large corporations.  He wanted the large railroads and mining corporations and the wealthy to pay a greater share of the tax load and lessen the burden borne by small businesses, ranchers, farmers, and the less wealthy.

Hunt did not accomplish all that he sought and later generations of Arizona politicians have carried the state in a different direction.  Yet his concern with the political and economic power of the wealthy and large business enterprises, democratic values, the rights of workers, income inequality, and fair treatment in the criminal justice system continue to find expression in contemporary political debate.

This article is a preview of a presentation David Berman will make at the Twelfth Annual Western History Symposium to be held at the Prescott Centennial Center on August 1st. The Symposium is co-sponsored by the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International and is open to the public free of charge.  For more details, call the museum at 445-3122 or visit the sponsors’ websites at www.sharlot.org and www.prescottcorral.org.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past. The public is encouraged to submit ideas for articles to dayspastprescott@gmail.com. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.

By Edd Kellerman 

This year marks the 100th birth anniversary of local artist, and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America, George Phippen.  In celebration of the event, the Phippen Museum is presenting a special exhibition of his work.  This comprehensive exhibition of George’s artwork offers never before seen sketches that provide insight into his artistic process and techniques, and it also includes some of his best-known bronzes.  These pieces not only dramatically illustrate George’s talent, but they also speak to the impact he had on reviving the lost wax casting process for the creation of bronzes in America.

George Phippen shown putting finishing touches on a demonstration casting (Photo Courtesy of Phippen Museum).

George’s natural talents enabled him to quickly master most any art medium that crossed his path, whether two or three-dimensional.  His lifelike pieces were done in many media, including woodcarving.  But he especially enjoyed clay modeling.  Initially, he was only able to produce sculptures by doing plaster molds and plaster casts that would then be painted in realistic colors.   Although they looked great, they were brittle and prone to breaking.  And because casting in bronze was only available on the east or west coasts, the logistics were simply too great for George’s resources early in his career.  Out of necessity, he even did some early experiments in metal casting using lead because of the relatively low melting temperature.

Although most galleries were less than enthusiastic about carrying bronze sculptures, George was convinced there would be a market for these pieces.  And in 1955 he found local Prescott investors who were willing to fund the casting of his artwork at the only foundry available in California.  In the end, George was right and the series was sold within six weeks of delivery.

The Rockhopper bronze demonstrates the realistic action that was a hallmark of George Phippen’s work (Photo Courtesy of Phippen Museum).

The California casting experience was successful but some aspects were not worth repeating.  With nowhere else to go in the west, George was encouraged to get something going closer to home.  By teaming with local entrepreneurs, Joe Noggle and Joe Vest, and with the Hazeltine family providing financial backing, he was able to pursue casting in Prescott.  Then George’s friend, Bruce Fee, helped him gain a commission from the US Forest Service for a small bronze relief of Teddy Roosevelt commemorating Roosevelt’s 100^th birthday.  This provided the team with just the incentive they needed to take a piece through the entire lost wax process.  Combined with a commemorative plaque, the completed work is still mounted on a granite monument at Jacob’s Lake, the entrance to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

For more complex pieces, the learning curve for the lost wax process proved wearisome because the only available bronze alloy caused few pieces to pour successfully.  In addition, the only reference books available proved to have incorrect information for many of the required steps.  Simple ‘open core’ castings were the only ones that were successful in the beginning, so George produced sculptures to stay within the constraints of the local foundry’s abilities.  Progress was made but the trial and error process sapped energy and finances.  However, after a few years, George opened his family-run Bear Paw Bronze Works at home in Skull Valley where he continued production.  Throughout his brief career, George was still able to cast copies of 35 sculptures in plaster, bronze or silver.

To the disappointment of many, George Phippen’s entry in the competition to create a statue of Father Kino to be placed in the National Statuary Hall was not selected (Photo Courtesy of Phippen Museum).

During those years, George would still often work as an extra hand at the Yolo Ranch, 50 miles north of Prescott.  As a result, he was inspired to depict the history of the Yolo and stories of wild cattle through his artwork.  Cattle were said to run down the rocky hillside so fast and hard they were known to have shucked off their hooves, and trying to keep up with such wild flight was a dangerous experience for horse and rider.  But the task of representing these scenes in bronze was also harrowing in its own right.  However, George never lost his passion for representing the ranching life he loved so much in an honest and realistic manner—and almost always with a keen sense of humor.

Be sure to visit the Phippen Museum before July 19th to see the current exhibition, Happy Birthday George! 100 Years of Inspiration, covering two full galleries.  For more information, please contact the Museum at (928)778-1385, or visit their website at www.phippenartmuseum.org.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past. The public is encouraged to submit ideas for articles to dayspastprescott@gmail.com. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.

By Sandra Lynch 

Once the Indian wars of the 19^th century were over and the remaining tribes were contained on reservations, our country suddenly became nostalgic about the loss of the “noble savage.”  As one result, American Indian-art markets entered the arena of U.S. business in the early 1900s.  Today, that industry produces over a billion dollars in income for artists who produce goods bearing a genuine “Indian-made” label.

Social scientists and many statesmen grew anxious to gather and preserve what was left of Indian culture before it vanished and, around 1900, museum anthropologists became the West’s new Mountain Men.  Instead of trapping beaver pelts, they scattered across the American Southwest collecting Indian-art.  They hauled their loot back to eastern museums, and where they left their trails – collectors, trains, hotels, and tourists followed.

Yavapai Indian baskets at Smoki Museum, C. 1940. (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number: IN-Y-2110pd).

From these anthropological expeditions, natural history museums created exotic dioramas of Indian villages complete with expansive scenic murals surrounding ancient peoples and the objects of their tribal identities.  Tens of thousands of visitors poured past these exhibits to enjoy a romantic view of the almost vanished past.  The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe soon made the tourist dream of a first-hand view of the American west a reality.  Two primary images pulled tourists down their tracks – the Grand Canyon and Indians.  Along the rails, travelers could disembark for side trips the Harvey Company sold as “Indian Detours,” and encounters with America’s most remote inhabitants.

The Southwest offered awe-inspiring landscapes and limitless horizons to eastern Bohemians longing to escape the industrial revolution.  The allure instigated a Southwest design invasion that mingled New England colonial furnishings with Southwest pottery, weavings, and silverwork in what was named “Santa Fe Style.”  Many easterners migrated towards Taos and Santa Fe seeking what they expressed as “a humble authenticity.”  Their interests could not have come at a better time as the country emerged from the First World War only to sink into a crippling depression.

As early as 1863, U.S. Indian commissioners investigated ways reservations could support themselves. Native art was one direction.  Their focus centered on turning native crafts into manufacturing industries. They envisioned a hive of busy industries in locations such as Yuma, Arizona, where a forest of smoking furnace stacks could produce Indian pottery.  Other thoughts included installing mechanized looms and knitting machines into Navajo homes.

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe basket weavers, Smoki Pueblo, C. 1940. Weaver at far right is Viola Jimulla (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number: IN-Y-2110pe).

Sympathizers closer to the “Indian problem” objected to commercializing native art and argued this was one more road towards assimilation and cultural extinction.   They believed Indian-produced art and craft at the grassroots level would create more wealth and cultural preservation than governmental sweatshops.  The idea, “Save the art – Save the Indians,” spurred the formation of a number of organizations during the 1920s.  In 1927, a private organization financed a survey of conditions across Indian country.  The findings read like a lamentation.

Certain art traditions were too late to save and salvaging what still existed of native art and culture depended in part upon Indian communities to actively take responsibility to keep and perpetuate their skills and arts.  To be successful though, there still had to be a sustained demand for Indian produced art and craft.  The survey noted standards for genuine Indian-art had to be created and called on the federal government to create a stamp guaranteeing products to be genuinely Indian-made thus to forestall non-Indians from creating imitations of native work.

In the 1920s, the first Indian-art market was held when Indian dances and art-sale booths were added to the annual Santa Fe Fiesta.  From these beginnings came the Santa Fe Indian Market, now considered the ultimate Indian-art Market with a show engulfing eleven city blocks and a human flood of more than 100,000 visitors.

Yavapai-Prescott Indian weavers among a collection of their baskets (Photo Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Call Number: IN-Y-2129p.

Museums also have become good places for Indian-art markets.   By nature, museums are about preservation and genuineness.  There are five museums in Arizona committed to the American Indian-art market including Sharlot Hall Museum.  The only difference between the Santa Fe Indian Market and Prescott’s Indian Art Market is scale.  Both markets feature juried artists, and both institutions enforce the Indian Arts & Crafts Board standards and regulations.  Most importantly, both institutions believe in the reason for Indian-art markets – preservation of Indian-arts and their creators.  Sharlot Hall Museum’s 2015 Prescott Indian Art Market will be held July 11 and 12.  Gates open at 9:00 a.m.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past. The public is encouraged to submit ideas for articles to dayspastprescott@gmail.com. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.