by Drew Desmond

As soon as news reached Prescott of William “Buckey” O’Neill’s death in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, one of his closest friends, MJ Hickey, was inspired to want a memorial to the late sheriff and mayor in his hometown. Hickey organized “a meeting of Prescott citizens [who] decided to incorporate the Captain O’Neill Volunteer Monument Association,” the Weekly Journal-Miner reported. They immediately began taking donations and recording pledges.

Several novel methods of fundraising were employed. One farmer donated a gigantic pumpkin, which was auctioned off for the fund. A city councilman bought it for the price of nearly an average month’s wages and then put it back up for auction to continue funding the statue. According to Sharlot Hall, Joe Crane’s pumpkin “was sold again and again until it had brought many dollars into the fund.”

By Shannon Williams

(Originally published February 03, 2018)

The term Downwinder is well known in Yavapai County. Downwind radiation exposure is cited in cancer diagnoses and blamed for the deaths of long-term residents of the county. 

During the Cold War, the U.S. government built a huge nuclear arsenal. Above-ground testing began in 1951 at the Nevada Test Site where over 100 nuclear bombs were detonated. All nuclear testing stopped in 1958 by agreement among the United States, the United Kingdom and the USSR. In July 1962, the government detonated several above-ground nuclear devices  for the last time. Nuclear testing continued below ground at the Nevada Test Site. January 21, 1951 to October 31, 1958 and June 30, 1962 to July 31, 1962, when above-ground testing was conducted, were later designated as Downwind time periods.

By Kathy Lopez

Daniel O’Leary took a solemn oath when he registered to vote in Mojave County, Arizona in 1890. He swore: he was age 57, born in Ireland (1833), a resident in Fort Mojave, and a naturalized American Citizen “by virtue of his father.” Beyond those truths, there are volumes written about O’Leary, the scouting legend.

By Bradley G. Courtney

Last week’s readers learned that Robert “Bob” Brow left Deadwood, South Dakota, at the age of 24 and eventually wound up in Walnut Grove, Arizona. There the worst natural disaster in Arizona’s history occurred on February 22, 1890, when the Walnut Grove Dam broke.

The dam disaster soon led Bob to Prescott again where he would become a household name and historical figure still known by many in Prescott today. In 1892 he began his legendary stint with Prescott’s Palace Saloon when he purchased a 50 percent interest, co-owning it with L.F. Hale. Bob bought out Hale in 1895, becoming the sole proprietor of the Palace.

By Bradley G. Courtney
 

Robert “Bob” Brow, born circa 1857 in Missouri, was a true western pioneer. His name is the one most associated with the early days of Prescott’s iconic Palace Saloon, the oldest, if not most historic, saloon in Arizona—perhaps even the West, and the man himself led a fascinating Old West life. 

By Worcester P. Bong
 

The American Red Cross (ARC), a nationally-recognized humanitarian organization, was founded by Clara Barton and her close acquaintances in 1881. Ms. Barton was inspired by the International Committee of the Red Cross organization while traveling in Europe. She led the ARC for 23 years, during which time domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts were the primary focus of the organization.
 

By Marjory J. Sente

When asked where she bought her hats, a 19th century Boston Blueblood is supposed to have said, “I don’t buy my hats. I have my hats.” The same could have been said for the ladies of Prescott during its early years. From department stores such as the Bashford-Burmister Company (B-B), Goldwater Brothers and the New York Store to sole proprietorships owned by women, including Miss Emma Ray, Mrs. Nellie B. Akers, Mrs. Mollie Evans and Madam Hunter Hilbert, millinery was big business in Prescott.

By William D. Kalt III 

Prescott’s Knights of Pythias Hall whirred with action and anticipation in late June 1901. Local women kept three new sewing machines running each day and part of the night, helping to stitch a massive new cloth apparatus for parachute artist Miss Hazel Keyes. The daring aeronaut’s new balloon stood 80 feet in circumference, contained more than 800 yards of muslin and required “more than a few miles of sewing to complete.” Hazel, 40 years old, brought two enormous lizards to Prescott to parachute with her, but both disappeared. Instead, she planned to fasten Palace Saloon owner Bob Brow’s pet raccoon in a basket and release it attached to a small parachute. An Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner scribe declared, “The famous toyer of death” stood “highly spoken of as a lady and certainly one of the prettiest mid-air performers ever seen hanging to a balloon.” The Arizona Republic dubbed her “the most daring and plucky little woman seen by man or woman in a lifetime.” 

By Marjory J. Sente

The Ocotillo Post Office was established in 1916, and Pearl C. Orr was named its first and only postmistress, serving until it closed nine years later. In its first life, the post office was called Middleton or Middelton and served the mining town of Middleton located in the Bradshaw Mountains from 1903 to 1908. During World War I, the Consolidated Arizona Mining Company reopened the De Soto in 1915 and Middleton quickly boasted a population of 100. The post office was reestablished under the name Ocotillo because Post Office Department regulations prohibited reusing the name of a discontinued post office.

Pearl Childers was born in the Indian Territory in 1879 to Thomas N. and Melvina Childers. At the age of six, she moved with her family to Fleming, New Mexico Territory. In 1897 she married William R. Orr, a Nebraska native. Three years later, they were living in Silver City, New Mexico Territory, and already had Thelma, their first daughter. Three sons (Robert, Ernest and Floyd) and many moves later, they landed at McCabe, Arizona Territory, in 1906. They had traveled from New Mexico to Washington state (Pearl couldn’t stand the climate according to her grandson, Jack Orr Jr.) then to Arizona. Pearl’s parents moved to McCabe, too. Mrs. Childers died in 1907, but Thomas, whose primary occupation was a miner, lived until 1931. From 1909 through about 1912 he was Yavapai County’s Road Supervisor.  

By Drew Desmond

The Rough Riders were given several animal mascots, but it was the Arizona regiment’s first mascot that was by far the most popular. “The Arizona Volunteers’ mascot—the mountain lion [named Josephine]—is a great drawing card, and the boys down in San Antonio are thinking of charging a nickel a head to see [her] to swell the regimental fund,” The Journal-Miner reported.