Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone, Az

Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone Az.

 Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone, Az.

There are Boothill Cemeteries all over the United States from Dodge City, Ks., to Montana, Tascosa, Tx., and Tombstone Az, just to name a few.

 Dragoon Mountains, Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone Az, Chochise Co

 Postcard of Boothill, OK Corral

These photos and postcards are from Boothill Cemetery in Chochise County, Tombstone Az. It lies on the outskirts of Tombstone and in the shadow of the Dragoon Mountains. Originally it was called Tombstone Cemetery when it first came into being in 1878. A new cemetery was started in 1884 so it was then referred to as the old cemetery or Boothill.

Picture of coffin, Postcards of Boothill

It lay neglected until around 1940 when a prominent resident of Tombstone, Harry Fulton Ohm, spearheaded a project to restore the original Boothill. He and several residents cleaned debris and replaced the wooden grave markers with steel ones from his plant in Indiana. Without the help of Mr. Ohm and various other Tombstone residents, Boothill would have been lost to history.

 Sunset at Boothill

For many years dedicated people of Tombstone have worked tirelessly studying and conducting investigative research to preserve the main section of the cemetery. This work continues today.

 Here Lies Lester Morre

 Four slugs from a .44

 No Les, No more

 Joseph Ziegler, Murdered 1882,

 Age 27, Shot one night through

 the left breast, by Ed Williams.

Tombstone was a violent mining town in the early 1880's, so Boothill is filled with outlaws, and their victims; prostitutes, Chinese workers, suicides, lynchings (legal and otherwise), upstanding citizens and many unnamed people.

Eva Waters

 3 month infant

Miles Sweeney murdered 1880 

 Holo Lucero 1882

 Killed by Indians

Dan Dowd, Red Sample, Tex Howard,

Bill Delaney,    Dan Kelley,

Legally Hanged March 8, 1884

These men were found guilty of

killing several people during the

robbery of a store in Bisbee.  They 

 were all hanged on one scaffold in

 the Court House yard.

 Frank Bowles, 1880

 died from blood poisoning

 from untreated bullet wound

 John Heath

 Taken from County Jail

 &

 Lynched

 by Bisbee Mob in

 Tombstone

 Feb 22, 1894

 Margarita, Stabbed by

 Gold Dollar

 Two dance hall girls at

 The Bird Cage quarrling

 over a man,

 and

 Gold Dollar won.

 Johnnie Blair

 Died of Smallpox

 A cowboy threw a rope

 over his feet and dragged

 him to his grave.

 Two Chinese,

 Died of Leprosy

 Here lies

 George Johnson,

 Hanged by mistake,

 1852

 He was right

 We was wrong

 But we strung him up

And now He's gone

It is also the burial place of the some of the unlucky participants of the famous gunfight at the Ok Corral. Billy Clanton,Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, which took place October 26, 1881.

 Some of the losers of

 the shootout at

 OK Corral

Boothill, this one and all the others throughout the country stand as a symbol for the sacrifice of many who helped make the old west what it was.