By Parker Anderson

Over the last couple of years this writer embarked on extensive research regarding the legendary Yavapai County outlaw James Parker for the purposes of writing a play and possibly a book. The play was subsequently performed by the Blue Rose Theater.

In doing this, I ran into a problem that bedevils most researchers at one time or another-separating truth from legend.  In nearly all cases where historical figures are well known, facts get stretched in various retellings about their lives. Hundreds of untrue or unverifiable legends exist about the Earps, for instance. In the case of Jim Parker, I encountered no less than four different, irreconcilable versions of his history. I shall examine them here. 

The first version is the one I consider to be closest to the truth. Jim Parker, a cowboy and lifelong lawbreaker, came to Arizona after serving two prison terms in California for various thefts. He worked ranches by day, but by night, he had joined up with the Abe Thompson Gang, a small-time group of cattle rustlers and thieves. In February of 1897, Parker and another gang member held up a train outside of Peach Springs, but the robbery was ill planned and an Express Messenger shot Parker's accomplice. After a manhunt, Parker was captured and lodged in the Yavapai County jail by Sheriff George C. Ruffner. 

Shortly afterwards, Parker and two other convicts broke out of jail, killing Deputy District Attorney Lee Norris in the process. After a chase of several weeks, Parker was recaptured and hanged in June of 1898. 

The second version of Parker's life takes a different approach. It contends that Jim Parker was a hardworking, industrious citizen. According to this story, a train ran over two of Parker's fine horses, and when the railroad refused to settle fairly with him, he robbed the train for revenge. Simple and romantic. 

This legend can be traced directly to Jim Parker himself. He told this story to a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner two days before he was hanged. While that might sound credible, the story still doesn't ring true. Parker's interview is very self-serving, and he fails to even mention his friend Abe Thompson, even though he had pleaded guilty to complicity in the robbery. Furthermore, there are many credible testimonials from various first-hand sources attesting to Parker's gang affiliations. 

If Parker was trying to craft a legacy for himself, he was very successful. Fully half of the after-the-fact accounts of Parker's life written over the years have utilized the "revenge against the railroad" story, even though in this version, his transformation from a young cowboy seeking simple justice to the mad dog killer of Lee Norris just doesn't make sense. In his interview, Parker was obviously trying to convey the message that he didn't deserve to be hanged. 

The third version of the story seems to be widespread in Coconino County and is usually ridiculous. It alleges that Jim Parker was a member of the Butch Cassidy gang and probably Butch Cassidy's brother. The story goes on to allege that the train robbery as a Wild Bunch operation and that a conveniently unnamed Williams cowboy was mysteriously murdered after recognizing Parker as Butch's brother. 

This story for which there isn't a drop of evidence, undoubtedly started because Butch Cassidy's real name was George Leroy Parker. Tall-tale spinners simply put two and two together and came up with five. The story has lived on though, because it was unwisely endorsed by Gladwell Richardson and Lowell Parker-- no relation to Jim-- both reputable writers of western lore who, in this instance, obviously had not done their homework. 

The last version of the story seems native to Mohave County and, while active in oral folklore as late as the 1970's, seems to have mercifully died out in recent times. The legend endorsed by writers such as Kingman's Wilfred Babcock contends that after the train robbery, Mohave County Deputy Asa Harris captured Parker single-handedly while George Ruffner and Conconino County Sheriff Ralph Cameron were running around in circles. 

The legend can be traced incredibly to Asa Harris himself. In the 1950's, he was the last surviving member of the posse on Parker's trail and he started telling this story to newspaper reporters. According to Harris the railroad phoned him personally, instead of Mohave County Sheriff John C. Potts, after the robbery and asked him to take the trail after Jim Parker. The railroad even sent a one-car special to pick him up and after miles of hard riding; Harris got the drop on Parker and brought him to the posse. 

I am certain that Asa Harris was a very good man and it is not my wish to denigrate his memory. However, it is obvious that he felt the need in the twilight of his life to reinvent the Parker story with himself as the star. But all of the primary newspaper accounts attribute Parker's capture to George Ruffner and the Mohave Miner specifically noted that no Mohave law enforcement personnel were around when the capture was effected. 

It was not easy sorting through all of this. So, what would I advise researchers to do when working on their stories? Gather every scrap of information you can first and try to sort through it next. Be skeptical of second-hand accounts and don't forget, as we have just seen, that even some first-hand accounts are not trustworthy. 

(Parker Anderson is an active member of the Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre. He wrote the play Until the Last Dog, an account of the Parker story) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (rr120p). Reuse only by permission.