RETRIBUTION ON THE FRONTIER

BY: J.F. Weadock

Life is cheap on the frontier.

So goes the tale. But it is also on the frontier that men hold to the rule of "an eye for an eye." It is on the stern application of this rule that the story of the Ainsworths and the Haldermans is based. It happened in an earlier Arizona, but there are still those who recall it as if it happened yesterday. It is a tale of frontier justice and retribution.

The Ainsworths were three in number, sons of Michigan who had turned their faces west to seek a newer, stronger land. It was in the hills and valleys of Arizona Territory that they made their home, Chauncey F., the horseman, Charles F., the lawyer, and Chet, the officer. And it was in these three roles that they made their mark in the land of their adoption.

The Haldermans, Tom and Will, were of the Texas country. The first with his flaming red thatch of hair and fiery temper and the second, dark of hair and of brow, soon became known among the cattlemen of the Huachuca and Chiricahua ranges. Tombstone was their stomping ground when they were "in town" and the broad valleys and grass-filled canyons of the mountains their home and place of employment.

The members of the two clans make up the full cast of characters for the drama that was played years later in the courtroom of Cochise County with its climax in the adjoining jail yard.

The four did not hear the officers arrive, and their first knowledge of the proximity of the law was when Ainsworth rapped on the door and called the Haldermans outside.

Charles F. Ainsworth, who in later years became one of Arizona's noted judges, had at the time of the story worked up the rugged stairs of his profession to the office of attorney general of the Territory. Chauncey F. Ainsworth, cunning reinsman, served his fellow Westerners with driving and saddle stock, at the time the sole means of transportation in the Arizona country, while Chet Ainsworth, held the combined office of deputy sheriff and constable in the cattle and mining town of Pearce, a sturdy camp in the valley of the San Pedro, in Cochise County.

Each had prospered in his own way, and all were known far and wide as good men in their jobs.

It was Chet Ainsworth, in his role of officer, who walked first onto the stage of the desert drama. Cattle had been stolen from several of the ranches near Pearce. The deputy had spent some time tracing elusive signs along the trails and finally his search bore fruit. Evidence piled up to point to the guilt of the two Halderman brothers, the fieryhaired Tom and the blackbrowed Will. Ainsworth, his warrant for their arrest in his pocket, mounted his horse and started for the mountain home of the Haldermans in the Huachuca hills.

The reputation of the Texans for honesty was under an official cloud, but their reputation for courage was gilt edged. No one thought of cowardice when speaking of the Haldermans. They were known throughout the county as daring riders and hard fighters. Texas, even in her "bad 'uns," bred them that way.

Deputy Ainsworth was wise about men and their ways. He was brave, but also cautious. So he rode to the home of Ted Horne, a rancher. He deputized Horne and despite his reluctance, talked him into going along to round up the Halderman twain. Horne, after at first objecting to the role imposed upon him, agreed and added his weight on the side of the law to even the odds.

The Haldermans were at home. In fact they were entertaining guests. Two women, inhabitants of the "line" from near Fort Huachuca, were also occupants of the cabin. The four did not hear the officers arrive, and their first knowledge of the proximity of the law was when Ainsworth rapped on the door and called the Haldermans outside. When they appeared, the officer read the warrants to them and told the brothers they were under arrest and would have to accompany him back to Pearce.

Unarmed and facing the two officers, the Haldermans agreed and then, as they were ready to go for their horses, Tom Halderman asked permission to reenter the house to get their coats. The mountain air was chill so the deputy granted the request. It was then that he made the one error that is all that is permitted an officer in the border desert.

Within the cabin the two women, nursing instinctive hatred of the law, scoffed at their escorts for permitting the arrest.

"You sure ain't going to let Ainsworth take you back to Pearce, are ya?" asked one.

"You're fools if you let them jail you," said the other.

The scorn of the women and the tequila the brothers had been drinking had their effect. The red-haired Halderman cursed softly and reached to a wall where a rifle hung. His black-haired brother slipped his heavy pistols from their holsters hanging by the belt on a nail. They tiptoed to the doorway and then stepped out, together and "a-shooting."

Chet Ainsworth, who had taken the word of the Texans that they would return unarmed to accompany him to the valley and to jail, paid for his mistake at the first volley. The rifle in the hand of Tom Halderman spoke and the deputy fell, shot under the eye, dying as he struck the hard ground. Will Halderman fired and missed and Ted Horne, the rancherdeputy, returned the fire as he swung atop his horse and turned to seek a safer place than the bare yard in front of the door. His fire caused the Haldermans to draw back, and he rode out of the scene of the short battle bearing a bullet wound in his arm.

The Haldermans, now fully aware of their plight, left the slain deputy in the dooryard and likewise fled, permitting the two women to care for themselves.

Horne, riding hard, soon brought aid and the chase was on, too quickly for the Haldermans to get the start they needed. It was only a short time until they were rounded up and in jail in Tombstone.

The law of the mining camp in its early days had given way to the law of the courts, and in the time of this case, 1899, legal mesh and counter mesh already had their place in the administering of justice. Then, too, Texas rallied to Texans and a defense fund brought good legal talent from the Lone Star State to defend its own.

It was at this point that Charles F. Ainsworth, attorney general, stepped into the picture. As head of the state's legal staff, he sat with counsel and directed the prosecution of his brother's slayers. The courtroom at Tombstone was jammed to the doorways day after day as the jury, coldfaced men of the range and mining camp, listened to the tale of the killing as it was unfolded by the witnesses. The two women had been found and brought to court. There, unaided by the inflaming tequila that had caused them to counsel resistance at the mountain home of the Haldermans, they related a fairly accurate story of what had happened. Horne, the companion of Chet Ainsworth when he rode to his death, also told his story. The Haldermans said nothing.

Finally, every device known to clever legal minds had been tried, each defeated in turn by the stern-faced attorney gener-al and his aides, and the case was given to the jury. To this day, none except that jury knows what happened in that jury room, but when the fore-man stood in the box to read the report of the verdict, it was his voice that sealed the doom of the Haldermans. The verdict was guilty, the penalty death.

Texas fought hard for her own. The plea for the Haldermans was carried clear to Washington, and it was the hand of President William McKinley that signed a 60-day reprieve for the condemned men. In the meantime, they awaited the result of their attorney's efforts in the Cochise County jail at Tombstone.

While they were in jail, fate played a queer trick on the Haldermans. Freedom was within their grasp, but they failed to accept it. Burt Alvord, notorious companion of Billy Stiles, was in an adjoining cell. Stiles, after shooting George Bravin, the jailer, freed him and In the courthouse yard the dull thump and ring of hammers announced that the gallows on which the brothers were to be hung was being completed.

left the cell doors open. Instead of joining the fleeing Stiles and Alvord, as they could have done, the Haldermans went to the aid of the wounded jailer and it was Tom, the red-headed brother who bandaged his wounds, stanching the flow of blood while Will brought aid..

Twelve other prisoners besides the Haldermans also remained in the jail, but none of them faced the noose that awaited the Texans.

The 60-day wait was over. Outside in the courthouse yard the thump and ring of hammers announced that the gallows upon which the brothers were to hang was being completed. From several towns and camps around the southern portion of the Territory, the cattlemen and miners rode in. And among these men, gathering for the final act of the drama, rode Chauncey F. Ainsworth, the horseman brother of the trio. He arrived in a Concord coach on the stage line from Tucson. With him were several other men, friends of the Ainsworths.

Into the office of Sheriff Scott White, who was later to be secretary of state of the then unborn state of Arizona, walked this third brother.

"Hello, Ainsworth," said the sheriff, "do you want to see those boys before they go?"

"I do," said Ainsworth, and accompanied by several oth-ers, he was led by the sheriff to the tank in the jail where the Haldermans awaited the summons that was to send them to the courtyard below.

The guilty men watched the visitors approach.

"This is Chet Ainsworth's brother," said White. The two Texans looked on the set face of the man before them, then Tentatively held forth their hands in greeting. Ainswoth said no word, but turned coldly away.

A member of the group asked if he might give the prisoners a drink, and the sheriff said yes. A quart of whiskey was passed into the cell, and the two brothers divided it evenly while the silent group watched. The fiery liquor made little change in the expression of the Texans and, as they tossed the emptied bottle to one side, Sheriff White said: "Well boys, this affair must go on. There is no sign of further reprieve. Are you ready?"

Dumbly the brothers nodded. One making some joking remark, then stepping forward to join his brother as the deputies and the sheriff started them toward the court-yard. One of the deputies was George Bravin, the jailer whose wounds they had cared for when Stiles shot him to free Alvord. Chauncey F. Ainsworth climbed the stairs to the court-room above where he could see the crowded courtyard with the gallows in its center.

The scene moved quickly to its close. The black hoods were adjusted, then the noose to the throat of each brother. Sheriff White waved his handkerchief, the trap was sprung and Chet Ainsworth was legally avenged.

It was the sheriff and the horseman brother that cut the ropes, freeing the bodies of the Texans for burial. The two surviving members of the clan Ainsworth returned to their homes. Their brother's score was evened, the case was ended. Frontier retribution, even though it was enacted on a legal battlefield.

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