BIRTH OF A LAWMAN

CIVIL WAR VETERAN VIRGIL EARP WAS JUST SETTLING DOWN IN PRESCOTT WHEN HE JOINED A POSSE. HIS LIFE WAS NEVER THE SAME.

- BRADLEY G. COURTNEY

So great is the shadow cast by Tombstone’s legendary 1881 shootout at the OK Corral, it is not widely known that Virgil Earp’s law-enforcement career began in Prescott. Its launching point was a prominent saloon along Whiskey Row.

In 1877, the Jackson & Tompkins’ Saloon at 134 South Montezuma Street near the center of Whiskey Row was one of the top four saloons in Prescott. On October 17 of that year, Col. William McCall, a Pennsylvanian who had been brevetted general during the Civil War, was enjoying a game of billiards therein. That is when two men, George Wilson (calling himself “Mr. Vaughn”) and Robert Tullos (aka John Tallos), walked in and made a beeline for McCall. One jabbed a pistol in his back while the other whispered threats in the colonel’s ear, something like “Keep your mouth shut or else!”

Why convey such a warning? A few months prior, McCall had been living near the Texas/Oklahoma border. While there, he learned Wilson had murdered Robert Broddus (sometimes spelled Broaddus), deputy sheriff of Montague County, Texas. Very possibly, McCall played a part in chasing Wilson, who proved elusive. The murderer fled to Colorado before journeying to Prescott. So to Wilson’s surprise, and knowing McCall was aware of his crime, he spotted McCall and was concerned the colonel might cause him trouble.