By Parker Anderson

It was June 6, 1898. The dust had not yet settled from the hanging three days earlier of legendary Yavapai County outlaw James Parker, when the still of everyday Prescott life was shattered by the sound of gunfire on North Cortez Street. Soon, Dr. John Bryan McNally, one of Prescott's most prominent physicians, and remembered yet today as a great Prescott pioneer, staggered out into the street with a gunshot wound. It was nothing short of a miracle that McNally was alive, as reported by the Arizona Journal-Miner: "The bullet struck a watch in Dr. McNally's pocket, glancing off and then passed through the fleshy part of the left arm between the elbow and wrist."

Dr. McNally said that he had been shot by a deranged prospector named Frank Stewart in a dispute over a bill of $5.00. Stewart, who would later be properly identified as A. A. Stewart, had escaped toward the Verde Valley, but would later double back toward the Hassayampa River. Yavapai County Sheriff, George C. Ruffner, quickly formed a posse and struck the trail after A. A. Stewart. 

As a fleeing outlaw, Stewart proved to be as resourceful and vicious as previous outlaw Parker had been. At one point, Ruffner sent an Indian ahead of him to trail Stewart. The Indian later returned on foot, having been bushwhacked and his horse stolen by Stewart. The insane prospector also shot and wounded a country settler named William Deering and stole his horse. Then, when that horse also tired out, Stewart stole one from a country slaughterhouse, all the while staying ahead of Sheriff Ruffner's posse. 

Along the trail, the Ruffner posse discovered that Stewart had broken into a number of vacant cabins apparently looking for food. His trail was fairly easy to follow, as the shooter wore a pair of uncommon hobnailed shoes. At one point, the sheriff went on ahead of the posse and came across Stewart, who proceeded again to escape in a hail of gunfire, with one bullet actually passing through Ruffner's hat, according to the Journal-Miner. 

After several days without food or sleep, A. A. Stewart had enough. He stopped a country settler and told him to go and inform the Ruffner posse that he was ready to surrender; he couldn't go on any further. On the way back to Prescott, Stewart told Deputy Jeff Davis that one night he had Davis in point-blank range but didn't shoot when he realized the deputy was not alone. 

If this story sounds familiar to some readers, it is because a slightly different version of it exists in local oral and written folklore. In this version, the shooter's name has been inexplicably changed to "Bugger Bennett," with other things in the story changed as well. The folklore version seems to have originated in an inaccurate biography of George C. Ruffner, written by pulp writers Robert and Toni McInnes for a long-defunct periodical, Sheriff Magazine. It has since been widely repeated in that form, but a thorough check of criminal records of the period reveals that no one named Bennett was ever indicted for shooting a doctor during George Ruffner's tenure as sheriff. The "Bugger Bennett" legend is unquestionably derived from the story of A. A. Stewart. 

A. A. Stewart was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to fifteen years in Yuma Territorial Prison. There, he was a troublesome prisoner. He was repeatedly put in solitary confinement for assaulting and threatening prison guards, and once for digging a hole in his cell. At one point, he was judged insane and sent to an insane asylum, but was later returned to the Yuma prison. 

On November 10, 1900, A. A. Stewart escaped from Yuma Territorial Prison by means of a rope ladder he had somehow acquired or made. He was never seen again, despite extensive manhunts. Two prison guards were fired for negligence over the incident. 

As for Dr. John Bryan McNally, he continued his successful medical practice in Prescott until his death in 1928. One has to wonder how many nights of sleep he lost over the years, wondering if the psychotic prospector was coming back for him. 

The watch that saved his life in 1898 still exists. It is in the possession of Gerald McNally, the doctor's grandson. See photo below. 

(Parker Anderson is an active member of Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre.) 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(A. A. Frank Stewart) Reuse only by permission.
Photo of convict A. A. Stewart, courtesy of Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, taken in 1898, after he was convicted of attempting to kill Prescott's Dr. John B. McNally. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(2008-6-21-15-37-45) Reuse only by permission.
Current photo of the gunshot damaged pocket watch that saved the life of Dr. McNally, now in the possession of his grandson, Gerald McNally of Prescott. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po0120p)
Reuse only by permission.
Dr. John Bryan McNally, c1890s.