Written by H.C. Hodge as told by Michael DeHay

(Edited by Parker Anderson)

(On January 14, 1876 Michael DeHay was legally hanged for the murder of his wife in Cerbat, Mohave County, Arizona. Shortly before, the Miner newspaper in Prescott sent reporter H.C. Hodge to Cerbat to interview DeHay and extract a statement from him. DeHay’s confession was printed in the Miner on January 21, 1876. It is reprinted, in full, here. – ed)

By Stan Brown

(Today is the 98th anniversary of Arizona Statehood. The first Governor of the new State of Arizona was George W. P. Hunt, who was a very controversial, polarizing figure in his lifetime, but is remembered today as one of Arizona’s great pioneers.)

By Judy Stoycheff

By 1933, the Eagle Drug Store had been relocated to the northwest corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets where it would remain until 1981. A collection of old medicine bottles, tins and tubes were saved and recently resurfaced when donated to the Sharlot Hall Museum. The majority of the donated bottles are well labeled, either by paper label or the glass bottle was embossed or both. The contents were "patent" medicines and not prescription medications. The manufacturers basically kept their ingredients secret and actually patented them.

By Judy Stoycheff

Recently, two boxes of what appeared to be old medicine bottles, tins, and tubes were donated to the Sharlot Hall Museum. They were collected several years ago from the building that the Eagle Drug Store occupied at 102 West Gurley Street, on the northwest corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets from 1933 to 1981. As it turns out, most of the original contents of the bottles were not prescription medicines, but "patent" medicines issued before and near the time of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Basically, this Act required ingredients, particularly dangerous and addictive ones, to be listed on the labels for tonics and other "medicinal" concoctions.

By Guy Coates

The Hassayampa Country Club had its beginning in 1919 and quickly became a favorite social establishment despite its primitive conditions. Late in 1939, the Club and 160 acres of surrounding area were purchased by Harvey Cory, who immediately began many improvements. The old clubhouse was torn down and a new one constructed. A pool was added, as well as, tennis courts. The sand and oil greens were replaced with cotton seed and were rolled three times a day.

By Guy Coates

During its heyday, the Hassayampa Country Club was considered by many to be the crown jewel of Prescott’s social life. From 1919 until 1969, it was a favorite destination for people from Phoenix to escape their scorching summer heat.

By Parker Anderson

In 19th-century Territorial Arizona, county lines had been drawn, but not with the boundaries they have today. Coconino County did not exist until 1891, and that area, including Flagstaff itself, was part of Yavapai County. Yavapai officials, already stationed in the county seat of Prescott, had their jurisdiction extending almost as far as the Utah border.

By Carol Powell

(Edited and enhanced by Kathy Krause)

In Santa Fe, NM, there is a place called Siringo Road. It was named for Charles A. "Charlie" Siringo who had a ranch in the area in the early 1900s. Charlie was born in Texas in 1855 and by age 15 was working on surrounding ranches as a cowboy, eventually becoming a trail driver and working the Chisolm Trail. In 1884, he quit the cowboy life, settled down and got married, becoming a merchant in Caldwell, Kansas. It was there he began writing his first book, "A Texas Cowboy; or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony." A year later, it was published to much popular acclaim – one of the first real looks at the cowboy life by someone who actually lived it.

By Tom Collins

Ludwig Thomas, an extraordinary German pianist who immigrated to America in 1879 and made Prescott his new home in late 1885, attracted a goodly number of pupils and reigned as the town's musical maestro for eight years. After enlivening the 1886 Firemen's Ball with his quartet, he entered enthusiastically into the town's cultural and political scene.

By Tom Collins

The year 1886 marked a significant turning point in Territorial Prescott’s cultural life. Hon. Levi Bashford built an addition to Howey’s Hall and installed upholstered chairs to make a first-class opera house of the existing theatre on the second floor. And a talented young German immigrant, Prof. Ludwig Thomas, arrived in Prescott in time to make the remodeled theatre ring with the sound of music. Under Thomas’s baton, local singers and musicians flourished as never before, making Prescott the cultural capitol of Arizona.