Bonita Store (1898), 1 mi. NW of jct. of AZ 266 & Arizona Industrial School Rd, Bonita, Arizona, USA
Bonita, AZ (unincorporated, pop. 1,872)
• one-story adobe structure on a cobblestone foundation [1898 photo] [1982 photo] • last vestige of the 19th c. town of Fort Grant, Arizona Territory (A.T.), site of Billy the Kid’s first kill • built by Danish immigrant Andrew M. "Andy" Johnson (1860-1917) & British-born Henry F. "Barney" Knowler (c. 1863-1906) • both had served together as soldiers at the nearby military post
Camp Grant
• Camp Grant, aka Fort Grant, was established at the foot of Mt. Graham in 1872 • it replaced the original "Old" (1860) Camp Grant, which once stood about 65 miles to the NW [photo], but was abandoned after the 1871 vigilante-led slaughter of Apache Indians known as the Camp Grant massacre • Apaches Tell Their Story • list of Indian Massacres
• the first troops arrived at "New" Camp Grant in 1873 [photo] • personnel included American Indian Scouts
"The bleakness of the natural environment was more than matched by the drudging monotony of the life and work at the fort and the bad relationships between the officers and enlisted men." —Pvt. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fort Grant, Arizona Territory, ERBzine
• quartered 35 mi. from the nearest town & provided with necessities only, Fort Grant troops lived a spartan life, with one exception: evidence suggests that alcoholic drinks were sold at the installation’s Norton & Stewart store after it took over the operation of the fort’s sutlers store • still, to satisfy demand for goods & experiences unavailable at the post, a civilian community unofficially known as Camp Grant (later Fort Grant) began to take root
Bonita
• c. 1876, enterprises such as Atkins’ cantina & "hog ranch" (bordello), & Cahill’s blacksmith shop were established beside or in some instances on the post, as was the Hotel de Luna [photo], basically a restaurant with bunks • nearby, McDowell’s general store, [map], occupied the site on which the Bonita Store now stands
• one of the town’s first entrepreneurs, saloonkeeper George Warren Atkins (1846-1888), was a Confederate veteran who moved to the area in 1876 • strapping Irish immigrant Francis P. (Frank) "Windy" Cahill (c. 1845-1877), an ex-infantryman who had served at the old Camp Grant, opened a smithy nearby
• Boston-born John H. Norton (1846-1911), owner of several Arizona businesses & founder of nearby Willcox, AZ, opened his first store at Camp Grant • another still stands in Willcox [photo]
• Canadian Miles Leslie Wood (1848-1930) owned the Hotel de Luna (1876) • he variously served as the town’s justice of the peace, constable & sheriff • having arrived at Tucson in 1869, he is considered Arizona Territory’s sixteenth settler • worked as a butcher at the old Camp Grant • moved to the new military post c. 1875 • a year later, "Adobe Tom" Varley (1854-1925) built his hotel
• the waiter at the Hotel de Luna restaurant was Caleb Baines Martin (1848-1926), a former slave from Natchez, MS • arrived at Camp Grant with the cavalry, 1870 • by 1887 he was a successful rancher • his Martin Wells Ranch grew to 640 acres with 300 head of cattle • the family produced 3 Generations of Black Cowboys • in 1991, grandson Caleb Banks Martin (1909-1992) was inducted into the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame • Jesse Martin Washington • The Caleb Banks Martin Family
• Ohio-born merchant Milton McDowell (1841- post-1883), arrived at the settlement & by 1874 was justice of the peace • that year he opened a mercantile & brewery at the site of the present Bonita Store [1876 newspaper ad] • another establishment patronized by the troops was Lou Elliott’s dancehall & a brothel run by George McKittrick, who doubled as deputy sheriff
• the settlement’s population grew to ~1,000 • c. 1879 it was officially designated "Fort Grant" & c. 1884 renamed "Bonita," perhaps after the nearby Sierra Bonita Ranch, the town’s social center
"Bonita was a gun-shooting, whisky-drinking, hell-raising town with a dozen saloons, gambling joints and a red light district." —Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), 14 Dec, 1966
• all enlisted men at the post were paid $13 once a month (in 1864 black soldiers had demanded and won equal pay from the Union Army) • each payday the town’s population spiked as soldiers packed its venues, joined by an influx of gamblers, hangers-on & prostitutes who rotated in from Tombstone and Tucson • locals who were usually just occasional patrons would save up to join the payday debauchery —Did you know what Fort Grant Dragged in with it, part one, by Danny Haralson, Eastern Arizona Courier
Henry Antrim arrives
• 17 year old Henry Antrim, alias "Kid," arrived at Camp Grant in 1876 having never killed a fellow man • by the time he moved on to New Mexico he was well on his way to becoming Billy the Kid, the storied gunslinger who rode with the Lincoln County Regulators [photo]
“…as fine looking a lad as ever I met. He was a lady’s man and the Mexican girls were all crazy about him. He spoke Spanish quite well." —Frank Coe (1851–1931) [photo], one of the Kid’s best friends & a fellow Regulator during the Lincoln County War… more…
"…he weighed about 125 pounds and was five feet seven inches tall, and as straight as an arrow. The Kid had beautiful hazel eyes. Those eyes so quick and piercing were what saved his life many a time." —Frank Coe
"He… had very small hands and feet. His two front teeth were large and protruded. He was a nice and polite chap. —Dr. M. G. Paden Lincoln County resident
"He was not handsome, but he had a certain sort of boyish good looks. He was always smiling and good-natured and very polite and danced remarkably well …." —Paulina Maxwell [photo], supposedly the Kid’s sweetheart —Arizona Highways, August 1991 • [photos] of Lincoln County War participants
A killing at Milton McDowell’s
• in 1874, Scottish-born John R. Mackie (or Macky) — a 24 year old 6th Cavalry private who would soon be Kid’s partner — shot T.R. Knox in the neck during a card game dispute at McDowell’s • Mackie & McDowell were charged with attempted murder, the latter as an accessory • both were released after the shooting was ruled self defense on the grounds that Knox was a "muscular man" who acted in a "violent and riotous manner" against a person who was "no match for him"
Henry Antrim, horse thief
• the Kid briefly worked as a cook & bussed tables at the Hotel de Luna, before turning to theft with his accomplice, John Mackie…
"Soldiers would come from Fort Grant to visit the saloons and dance halls here. Billy [he was still Henry] and his chum Macky would steal the saddles and saddle blankets from the horses…" —Miles L. Wood, Justice of the Peace
"Wood recalled one occasion when two officers attempted to secure their mounts by running long picket ropes from the hitching rail outside to the bar inside. ‘Macky talked to the officers,’ said Wood, ‘while Billy cut the ropes from the horses leaving the officers holding the pieces of rope.’" —Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Robert M. Utley
• a formal complaint accusing Antrim of horse theft was sent to Constable Wood by Camp Grant’s Major Charles Compton
• Antrim & Mackie awaited breakfast at Wood’s Hotel de Luna • as Wood approached their table with a serving tray, he suddenly pulled a gun from under it • arrested them for horse theft & delivered them to Fort Grant’s stockade in shackles applied by Cahill, the blacksmith • Henry promptly escaped through the building’s chimney —What Fort Grant dragged in with it, part two, Danny Haralson, Eastern Arizona Courier
Antrim’s first kill
• on the evening of 17 Aug, 1877, Frank Cahill accosted Antrim at Atkins’ cantina • eyewitness Augustus Montague "Gus" Gildea (1854-1935), an army scout, Texas Ranger and later an outlaw, recalled the encounter in a 1931 interview with a reporter for The Tucson Citizen:
"Billy the Kid… came to town, dressed like a country jake, with store pants on and clodhopper shoes instead of boots. He wore an old six-shooter in the waistband of his trousers…
"The blacksmith, Cahill, frequented George Atkins’ saloon. He was called ‘Windy’ because he was always blowin’ about first one thing and then another. Shortly after the Kid came to Fort Grant, Windy started abusing him.
"He would throw Billy to the floor, ruffle his hair, slap his face and humiliate him before the men in the saloon. The Kid was slender, no match for the blacksmith, a burly man with a gruff voice and a blustering manner.
"One day he threw the youth to the floor. He pinned his arms down with his knees and started slapping his face…
"People in the saloon were watching the two on the floor. Billy’s right arm was free from the elbow down. He started working his hand across and finally managed to get hold of his .45.
"All of a sudden it was absolutely silent in the saloon —not a sound. The blacksmith evidently felt the pistol muzzle rammed against his side for he straightened up. Then there was a hell of a noise and a lot of smoke. Windy fell over to one side as the Kid wiggled loose and ran to the door. He jumped into the saddle on John Murphy’s racing pony and rode out of fort Grant.
"When I came into town the next day from Colonel Hooker’s ranch where I was working, Murphy was storming around and cursing the Kid, calling him a horse thief, murderer and similar names. I told him he would get his horse back, that the Kid was no thief.
"In about a week one of Murphy’s friends rode into town on Cashew, Murphey’s horse, saying that the Kid had asked him to return the animal to its owner."
• Arizona Weekly Star, 23 August, 1877: "Frank P. Cahill was shot by Henry Antrim alias Kid at Camp Grant on the 17th, and died on the 18th. The following are the dying words of the deceased:
"I, Frank P. Cahill, being convinced that I am about to die, do make the following as my final statement: My name is Frank P. Cahill. I was born in the county and town of Galway, Ireland: yesterday, Aug. 17th, 1877, I had some trouble with Henry Antrim, otherwise known as Kid, during which he shot me. I had called him a pimp, and he called me a S____ of a b____, we then took hold of each other: I did not hit him, I think: saw him go for his pistol, and tried to get ahold of it, but could not and he shot me in the belly…"
• with Henry Antrim already on the run, the coroner’s inquest declared him guilty of murder • Gus Guildea saw it differently: "He had no choice; he had to use his equalizer."
• on August 18 a "citizen," presumably Cahill, was buried in grave No. 12 at the Fort Grant Cemetery • the marker [photo] is absent legible identification —The Billy the Kid Reader, Fredrick Nolan
Roberts buys Bonita Store
• Milton McDowell sold his business & the original building on this site to British immigrant William Roberts (1845-1911), who years later (1889) relocated to accommodate not only his store & saloon, but also a hotel & a stage line
• Roberts’ new location proved unpropitious for business • next door was a shabby establishment known as "The Hook," a “hog ranch” & dance house where "colored women of the most notorious character… hold high carnival, quite frequently resulting in the killing of one or more of the nation’s defenders." — The St Johns Herald (St Johns, Arizona), 07 Aug, 1890
• a month before Roberts moved in, Camp Grant was abuzz over an incident at the "Hook" • in a dispute over a money game, Pvt. Horace Johnson, a Buffalo Soldier, slapped feisty courtesan Fannie Oliver & stormed off, then reappeared • Oliver, whose trail of arrests included assault & battery in New Orleans, vagrancy in Galveston & assault with a .45 in El Paso, pulled a pistol & shot Johnson dead • a few weeks later the saloon was set ablaze, allegedly by Johnson’s comrades • Buffalo Soldiers of the American West • [photos]
• in 1890 Roberts and "Hook" owner James W. Cress (1856-1890), having already established a contentious relationship, argued over a fence Cress had erected • the dispute ended with Roberts — Bonita’s Constable — chasing Cress & firing 3 shots into his back, although Roberts later claimed that Cress fled after his first shot & only the last two were back shots • this was just one of the six shootings in Bonita that day, three of them fatal • Roberts was found not guilty of murder —All about the ‘Hook’ by Danny Haralson, East Arizona Courier
• his business in a tailspin, Roberts sold off his holdings, made some investments & eventually became the honorable Judge William Roberts, Kirkland, A.T.
A race for $20,000,000
• a year after the Kid killed Windy Cahill in Atkins’ cantina, George Atkins shot & killed 28 year old William Wade in what was ruled a justifiable act • business, already slow, got worse • in July 1879, Pima County sued his Atkins’ Dance House at Fort Thomas for $37 in back taxes • by the end of the year, Atkins had closed down & moved on
• he settled in Tombstone Canyon at Bisbee, a young mining town founded in 1880 • built a home at Castle Rock [photos] beside the stone cabin of pioneer prospector George Warren (1835-1923) • invested in Tombstone & Bisbee mines • opened one of the four original saloons in the new town of Charleston
• on July 3, 1880 Warren, while drinking with Atkins in (presumably) his Charleston saloon, claimed he could outrun a man on a horse in a 100 yard race • he then proposed a wager: his stake in the rich Copper Queen Mine against Atkins’ saddle horse & mining claims • challenge accepted
• in front of a small crowd, Warren drove a stake into the ground at 50 yards (46 m), counting on gaining enough ground to win while rounding it, just as he’d witnessed as a 10 year old watching the man vs. horse races of his Apache captors
• at the sound of a gunshot they were off • Warren did gain the lead on the turn but Atkins, fiercely spurring his mount, blew past him • victorious, the former Camp Grant saloonkeeper sold his share of the Copper Queen for US $250K, estimated to be worth about US $20MM in 2016 dollars —A Footrace to Obscurity, Tom Rizzo
• the following year, Atkins signed an oath accusing Warren of insanity • after a hearing, Warren was declared insane & placed in confinement, but later discharged
• George W. Atkins died, age 43, at Tombstone & was buried in Boothill Graveyard
• George Warren died penniless & was buried in a pauper’s grave • his body was later moved to a prominent place in the cemetery where a monument was erected honoring him as a Bisbee pioneer • his image appears on the Arizona State seal [photos]
McDowell moves on
• his Camp Grant store sold, by July, 1879 Milton McDowell opened a mercantile in the new town of Charleston • partnered with with A.T. Gattrell (1844-1925), a man who would soon parlay his "meanest saloonkeeper in Charleston" reputation into a judgeship • McDowell was also a principal in the Smith-McDowell Brewery, a partner in Brook’s Saloon & Charleston’s deputy sheriff • he married in 1882
Massachusetts-born Amos Wells Stowe (1828-1883) had claimed the 160 acres used to develop Charleston in 1878 & laid out a twenty-six block grid w/sixteen lots per block • He offered free 3 yr land leases that required the purchaser to invest at least $100 in improvements • at the end of the lease, the purchaser was to pay Stowe the price of the lot with the improvements —Wikipedia
• by May 1879, approximately 40 buildings, most adobe, had been erected • many residents worked at Millville, on the opposite bank of the San Pedro River • population peaked at ~425 —photos, Wyatt Earp Explorers
"They didn’t begin their day down there till dark, and then they whooped it up. Election days were the richest of all. The townspeople never pretended to come out of their holes to vote. The Cowboys, hundreds of them, would come in on their Sunday horses, tank up and then proceed to capture the ballot box and stuff it as they please." — John Dunbar, editor of the Phoenix Gazette, Arizona’s Rustler King, Wagons West Chronicles, Oct. 2016
• McDowell’s mercantile had plenty of competition that included at least 4 Jewish store owners: Herman Wellisch, Harris Aaron, Sam Katzenstein, who was also Charleston’s postmaster, & Tucson’s Louis Zeckendorf • Aaron also partnered with Jack Schwartz in a saloon [photo] until Schwartz, aka Jacob "J.W." Swart, killed the asst. foreman of a mill & fled Charleston • Schwartz had purchased the saloon in 1881 from Frank Stilwell (1856-1882), who was killed the following year by Tombstone deputy marshal Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) • Blood on the Tracks… Wyatt Earp vs. Frank Stilwell, True West
• as deputy sheriff, Milton McDowell served papers that resulted in the garnisheeing of fellow Charlstonian George Ellis’s wages • Ellis, an asst. foreman at a smelter, later responded by ambushing The deputy with a Winchester rifle: "…the ball striking McDowell just to the left of the backbone and angling to the right, passed out in front below the right shoulder." —Weekly Republican (Phoenix, Arizona), 7 Jun, 1883
• Ellis fled & McDowell survived, only to be arrested on a charge of insanity 2 months after he was shot • he was declared insane due to "hallucinations," i.e., falsely believing he was the owner of the Copper Queen Mine • he was then sent to the California State Insane Asylum at Stockton
• having suffered crippling financial losses, Stowe’s Charleston townsite was sold for $1,000 a day before it was to be auctioned off on the Tucson Courthouse steps • after the 1887 Sonora Earthquake rendered all of its buildings uninhabitable, Charleston became a ghost town
Epilogue
"Today, apart from the Bonita store… a huge barn of a place with fifteen-foot-high ceilings, everyone of those buildings is gone…" —Frederick Nolan, The Billy the Kid Reader
• Bonita prospered for nearly three decades until Fort Grant was abandoned in 1905 • in 1910 the census confirmed that the prostitutes, dance houses & all save one of the mercantiles were gone, leaving the Bonita Store and the memory of Billy the Kid as the sole survivors of the town’s heyday in the Old West
• Miles L. Wood purchased the Bonita Store, which was operated by his DuBois descendants for decades before it closed down
• Fort Grant is now an Arizona state prison • Facebook
• though a quiet town with a fraction of its former population, Bonita attracted national attention one last time in 1901 when local cattle rancher D.R. Thomas and his Black Movement to Central Africa petitioned the U.S. Congress to purchase land in Africa & populate it with black Americans, enabling them to build a free and independent government of their own
• in 2011, the Upham tintype of Billy the Kid — the only available image of him with sufficient provenance to be universally accepted as authentic — was purchased for $2.3MM by libertarian billionaire William Koch
National Register # 98000172, 1998
Posted by lumierefl on 2017-04-08 22:01:57
Tagged: , Bonita , Graham County , Arizona , AZ , United , States , USA , North , America , old west , billy the kid , architecture , building , adobe , store , shop , mercantile , 1890s , 20th century
