Musings of a historical researcher
by Parker AndersonI am unable to deny it; I am fascinated by Yavapai County history and Arizona history in general. It was not always the case for me - as a child and young adult. I had naturally heard a lot of the traditional stories and legends about Prescott and our area, but I never really got into it until I was about thirty years old.
At that time, I had joined Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theater to write and produce plays about local history. Theater director, Jody Drake, stressed to me that our plays had to be as historically accurate as possible, which meant extensive research in the museum archives and other locations as needs might warrant.
To my everlasting embarrassment, I got off to a shaky start in that area. I made the same mistake that many researchers make when they first start out. I assumed that researchers that came before me had gotten all the facts correctly, so I looked largely at "after-the-fact" accounts of the stories I wanted to write plays about, most of them from magazine articles and books. Now, I am not generalizing that this is a bad practice - I am not dumping on "after-the-fact" historical articles, for I have written quite a few myself. But I did learn in short order to, at the very least, research the original first-hand documentation as well, if for no other reason than to fact check. There are a lot of fanciful and romantic legends about Arizona history that are just not true despite how widespread they are and despite how much they have been printed.
There is an old saying among some researchers that if you find the same story in three different places, it is probably true. I am skeptical of that, particularly when dealing with "after-the-fact" accounts in western magazines and the like. When I speak of first-hand, primary sources, I refer to court papers (much of which has survived), old newspapers and the like. There can be errors here as well, but perhaps not so major as the errors fostered by over a century of folklore and spin. At the risk of sounding like I am boasting, I feel that I eventually developed an instinct for separating fact from fiction. I have put my skills to use in writing my Blue Rose Theater plays and my contributions to Days Past articles.
As an example of widespread folklore, a few years ago I chose to write a Days Past article on Manuel Abiles who was Yavapai County's first legal hanging victim in 1875. A version of his story has been repeated countless times - a version in which Abiles allegedly was walking down a road when he found a corpse. Suddenly, a group of white men rode up, accused him of the murder and took him to Prescott where he was quickly hanged! This story ends with a cryptic denouement in which another man confesses to the crime from his deathbed 60 years later, proving Abiles was innocent.
Having heard this story so often, I had no reason to disbelieve it but, true to my researching nature, I wanted to verify the story from original sources in the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives before writing about it. Imagine my shock to discover the facts bear no resemblance whatsoever to the fable that has been spun for so many years! In reality, Abiles and two other men (who are not characters in the folklore version) got raucous at a Mexican wedding party, a fight broke out and the three killed one of the other guests. All three were arrested for the murder, but one was acquitted, the other got off due to a hung jury, leaving Abiles to face the hangman alone. And no, there was no deathbed confession from anyone else 60 years later. Contrary to folklore, Manuel Abiles was indeed guilty of at least being an accessory to murder and possibly the murder itself. Very detailed court papers and news accounts back this up; too detailed to be a fabrication.
(Note: There are three spellings in various documents and accounts of the first Prescott hanging for the last name of Manuel in the account above. The oldest documents at the time of the hanging spell his last name Abiles. Later written accounts use Aviles. There is even one newspaper article that spells his name Abelis. To maintain consistency, we will use the name as given in the oldest documents.)
For a number of years, there has been strong interest in legal prostitution in Prescott; the red light district was on Granite Street back then. But no one seemed to know exactly when prostitution became illegal. I was told it was an enduring mystery. One day, while scanning old newspapers, I unexpectedly solved the mystery. I found some newspaper articles from 1918 relaying how the U.S.War Department had asked all states to outlaw prostitution on the grounds that the ready availability of women was leading soldiers down the wrong path! The articles further detailed how Yavapai County authorities then raided Granite Street and forcibly shut down all of the houses and cribs. Legal prostitution ended that day. I showed my find to then-museum archivist, Michael Wurtz, who was very excited about it. These articles are now readily available in a vertical file folder in the archives on prostitution.
Around the year 2000, I began my proudest work as a local historical researcher. Having loved the Elks Opera House since I was a child, I embarked on a project to document every booking the grand old theater has ever had in 100 years! It took me 4½ years to complete and untold hours of researching. I found out many fascinating stories about the theater while doing this and I was able to trace when some of the architectural changes were made in the early days.
For this work, the venerable Elks Opera House Foundation honored me with the title of Official Elks Opera House Historian, for which I am deeply humbled and grateful. I know much about this esteemed edifice and I am available for lectures if your group is interested.
You have to be careful when researching original first-hand sources. You may not always like what you find. I have, on occasion and quite by accident, stumbled across unflattering fact about pioneers I admired. Still, the good they did outweighed the bad and they were only human; something one tends to forget when you put them on a pedestal.
I have found other surprises as well :once while scanning through old newspapers, I discovered an article relating an accident that happened to my grandfather, Alpha Hangartner, in 1970, in which he was taken to the hospital. I was a child then and my family and I were obviously out of town at the time this happened. He had never told us about it. We never knew until just a couple of years ago when I accidentally stumbled across this Courier article. By this time he was long dead so we couldn't ask him about it. But talk about surprises!
Then, you have cases of folklore stories that may well be true but the solid documentation just isn't there. One example that comes to mind is the story of miner and businessman, Charles P. Stanton. Yavapai County historians have long regarded him as one of the area's great villains, reportedly having masterminded numerous murders and disappearances. My instincts tell me this is probably or mostly true, but the solid evidence is strictly circumstantial. Many people in Mr. Stanton's circle did meet with questionable fates but he was never arrested nor convicted of any involvement with any of the cases. He was arrested for a handful of petty crimes but managed to beat the rap each time. Mr. Stanton is a historical enigma.
Going further south to Pinal County, the same could be said of the legendary Pearl Hart, the female stagecoach robber. Generations of legends and folklore have painted her as the leader of a gang of cutthroats and robbers, but in truth there is no documentation for any of this. The only crime she is known to have committed was the botched stagecoach robbery that put her in prison. First-hand accounts from 1899 are pretty convincing that she was little more than a poor wretch who needed money and was undeserving of the legendary status that folklorists have given her. Likewise, I have yet to see any documentation to the story that Pearl faked a pregnancy to obtain her parole from prison - this story has a lot of holes. If Pearl claimed to be pregnant, wouldn't prison officials have had her examined by a doctor to confirm or deny it?
There are also stories that have no documented endings; no known data on whatever happened to the protagonists. Such stories can be frustrating because one wants to know so badly! I have a case in particular that left me frustrated beyond belief. I have been unsuccessful in ascertaining the fate of Mohave County outlaw leader Abe Thompson. His data trail ends with his parole from Yuma Territorial Prison in 1900. I have not found anything about him after that, and it hasn't been for lack of trying. Abe had a son named Charles Samuel Thompson; if any of you genealogists wants to take a stab at this case and find anything, please contact me!
My most recent historical intrigue has come with researching the life of Arizona pioneer, Ralph H. Cameron, who was one of the first settlers on the rim of the Grand Canyon and who also played a role in obtaining statehood for Arizona. Yet, historians of the Grand Canyon seldom speak of him and statehood historians NEVER mention his name. I became puzzled over how a man like Ralph Cameron, whose name was on the front pages of Arizona newspapers throughout his life, could be so completely left out of the history books. Is it a deliberate effort? You will find some of our conclusions in the latest Blue Rose Theater play, "The Man Who Owned The Grand Canyon", which will show on May 23-24, 30-31 at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on May 24 and 31 at 2:00 p.m. An early performance will be on May 29th at 6:30 p.m. You may obtain tickets by calling 445-3122.
I have developed a passion for our history and, as long as I am able, I will continue to research and write articles and plays for the Blue Rose Theater. I am deeply grateful to the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives for granting me access to their holdings all these years as well as to other organizations around the state. I am also deeply grateful to my friend, Jody Drake, for having gotten me started; I would never have done any of it without her help and encouragement.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (Poet, author and philosopher George Santayana, "Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense", Scribner's, 1905, p.284.)
We must always remember where we came from.
(Parker Anderson is an active member of Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theater. He can be reached at parkerr86302@yahoo.com)
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Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po990p) Reuse only by permission.
Manuel Abiles, the first person hung in Yavapai County, August 1875.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po1686p) Reuse only by permission.
Beginning 4th from left is Senator Ralph H. Cameron, President Calvin Coolidge and Miss Sharlot Hall, in the mid-1920s at a highway dedication.