Power's Cabin Shootout . Four men were killed during the engagement, including three lawmen and Jeff Power, the owner of the cabin. The Power brothers, Tom and John, then escaped to Mexico with a man named Tom Sisson, but they were eventually caught after what was then the largest manhunt in the history of Arizona. 587: The Great Train Robbery: Movie: 2000: Ostre sledovan The Wham Paymaster Robbery of 1889 : A Story. Major Wham escorted an army payroll horseback train that was robbed by locals. They were originally from Texas, but moved to Arizona Territory in 1. Rattlesnake Canyon, south of Klondyke. Two years later, Charles bought a nearby goat ranch, which is now known as Power's Garden, and the family moved there. After improving the ranch by adding more rooms to the cabin, the Powers began importing cattle. Life was not easy though; the Powers family lived . Power purchased Perry Tucker's one- quarter interest in the Abandoned Claims, an old gold mine in nearby Kleberg Canyon, which is now known as Power's Mine. Hard workers, the Power family and a friend named Tom Sisson built a twenty- five mile wagon road . The road ran from the Haby Ranch, several miles north of Klondyke on Aravaipa Creek, south for about twelve miles before dropping down Power's Hill into Rattlesnake Canyon, then up the canyon to the Abandoned Claims at Kleberg Canyon. Sisson and the Powers built a cabin to live in and, when they were in control of three- quarters of the property, they purchased a second- hand stamp mill. Soon after Ola's death, the Powers moved to a cabin located on a hill overlooking the entrance to their mine. By this time the United States had entered World War I and a draft had been instituted. All able bodied men were obliged to register, but, according the Power brothers, when they attempted to do so, the recruiter said that they were not needed. To the contrary, the United States Forest Service history of the area says that Mr. Scene 4: Planning the Robbery: Fearing exposure and not knowing how to replace the stolen money, he decides to hold. Search for 'The Pay Train Robbery' on Amazon.com. Connect with IMDb Getting Started Jesse James and 'party' rob their first known stagecoach holdup of. March 11, 1881 - $5200 taken from a paymaster as he left a bank in. September 7, 1881 - Their last train robbery at Blue Cut. The Eveleigh payroll robbery took place on 10 June 1914. Paymaster for the NSW Railways, Frederick Charles Miller, along with his. Ryan sent his share of the stolen payroll money by train to his friend, Sam. Power convinced his sons to dodge the draft. In mid- January 1. Graham County sheriff, Robert Frank Mc. Bride, sent a man named Jay Murdock to deliver a message to the Powers. In the message, Sheriff Mc. Bride explained the situation and requested that the boys surrender peaceably. Power must have assumed that the sheriff would not enforce the law so his sons remained at home with him. Marshal Haynes carried arrest warrants for John and Tom Power and Sheriff Mc. Bride had warrants for Mr. Power and Tom Sisson, who were wanted for questioning in connection with Ola May's death. On February 9, 1. ![]() Klondyke to the Upchurch Ranch, where they borrowed horses and saddles for the journey south to Power's Cabin. Instead they took up positions surrounding the cabin and waited until morning. Just before dawn, on February 1. Mr. Power woke up and built a fire in the fireplace. A few moments later, John made a fire in their wood- burning stove. Then the horses outside started making noise, which in turn made the dog start barking. Powers knew something wasn't right so he grabbed his rifle and went to the front door, which faced east. According to Haynes, who made a statement a few days after the shootout, as soon as Mr. Power stepped outside, Deputy Wooten shouted: ! Haynes then drew his weapon and fired two shots through the door and one through a window as he and Mc. Bride ran to take cover behind the northern wall of the cabin. Wooten and Kempton also started shooting, but the latter was shot dead shortly thereafter either by Mr. Powers or from somebody inside. Wooten mortally wounded Mr. Power with a bullet to the chest and immediately afterward he fired at Tom Power, who was looking out of a window. Pieces of glass struck Tom on the left side of his face, but he managed to take aim at Wooten, who was trying to get away, and kill him with a single shot to the back. At some point, Haynes suggested that he go check the back side of the cabin and when he returned he found Mc. Bride dead. According to Haynes, empty bullet casings indicated that Tom Sisson had . Sheriff Mc. Bride, Deputy Kempton, and Deputy Wooten were dead and both of the Power brothers were wounded; Tom was struck in the face by glass and John received splinters in the face after a bullet hit the doorjamb he was lying next to. Power died later that night. Power inside and made him comfortable. They then took their weapons and the horses that were left by the posse and started riding south towards the town of Redington. From there they headed east before crossing the international border with Mexico at a point south of Hachita, New Mexico. However, the United States Cavalry was soon on the trail and they managed to capture their prey on March 8, 1. Sisson died in custody at the age of eighty- six, but the Power brothers endured and were released in 1. Nine years later, Governor Jack Richard Williams pardoned them. The Power family never got a chance to ship any ore from their mine and it was eventually purchased by the Consolidated Galiuro Gold Mines Inc. Unfortunately for them, the Galiuros proved to be a poor area for gold mining; historically, the district yielded only 1. Power's grave says that he was. Wham Paymaster robbery - Wikipedia. The Wham Paymaster robbery (WHAHM) was an armed robbery on a United States Armypaymaster transporting over US$2. Wham was transporting a payroll from Fort Grant, Arizona Territory to Fort Thomas when he and his escort of eleven Buffalo Soldiers were ambushed. During the attack, the bandits wounded eight of the soldiers, forced them to retreat to cover, and stole the payroll. As a result of their actions under fire, Sergeant Benjamin Brown and Corporal Isaiah Mays were awarded the Medal of Honor while eight other soldiers received a Certificate of Merit. Eleven men, most from the nearby Mormon community of Pima, were arrested with eight tried on charges of robbery. At trial, all the accused were found not guilty, and the stolen money has never been recovered. Background. Major Joseph Washington Wham, a U. S. Army paymaster, was assigned Fort Bowie, Fort Grant, Fort Thomas, Fort Apache and Camp San Carlos. Wham and his clerk, William T. Gibbon, met a train carrying the payroll in Willcox on May 8. The paymaster performed his duties at Fort Bowie on May 9 and at Fort Grant on May 1. The remaining payroll consisted of US$2. The commander of Fort Grant had assigned eleven enlisted Buffalo Soldiers from the 2. Infantry and 1. 0th Cavalry to serve as an escort between his fort and Fort Thomas. In addition to the military personnel, there was a civilian contractor who drove the open wagon. The two non- commissioned officers leading the escort were armed with revolvers while the privates carried single shot rifles and carbines. Wham and the civilian members of the convoy were unarmed. Accompanying Wham on the journey was a black woman, Frankie Campbell (also known as Frankie Stratton). Campbell was the wife of a soldier stationed at Fort Grant and was going to collect gambling debts owed to her and her husband by soldiers stationed at Fort Thomas. There had never been an attack by highwaymen upon a paymaster within Arizona Territory prior to May 1. The territory was remote and had only a small scattered population. Many residents of Arizona Territory held the U. S. Federal government in low regard, feeling it ruled the territory from Washington with little interest in the territorial residents' well being. Compounding this was the fact that most white residents of Arizona had been either Confederates or Confederate sympathizers. Decades of hostilities between Washington and the Church of Latter- day Saints left hard feelings among the territory's Mormon population. Recent efforts to enforce the Edmunds Act, which made polygamy a felony, had increased anger among this group. Finally, strong racial biases were held by the white population against the black soldiers were exacerbated by Mormon teachings that placed blacks on a lower rung of society. This led to a situation where some area residents could have easily rationalized that the payroll would have been better spent supporting the local communities instead of in the hands of black soldiers who were seen as likely to spend it on immoral pursuits. The road to Fort Thomas went southwest to the town of Bonita before turning north and following the western side of Mount Graham. About 2. 5 miles (4. Fort Grant the road entered a pass leading to the Gila River valley. Wham's convoy reached Cedar Springs, in the pass, around noon and swapped his mules for fresh set that were waiting at the NN ranch. Campbell, whose horse was faster than Wham's wagons, had waited at a stagecoach half- way station a short distance further down the road. The station was operated by Mormon polygamist Wiley Holladay. Holladay was away that day, leaving his wives, Harriet and Eliza, to run the place. Wham and his escort reached the station around 1. Campbell rejoined the group. Robbery. Campbell, who was in the lead, was attempting to guide her horse around a boulder that was blocking the road as the rest of the party crested a hill. After the convoy halted, Sergeant Benjamin Brown led his men forward to try to move the obstacle out of the road while Corporal Isaiah Mays took a position at the rear of the convoy. As they approached the rock, the group saw evidence that the rock had been deliberately placed in the road. As they then looked up to see where the rock had come from, the soldiers saw two men stand up from a breastwork situated above them. Neither of the two men wore masks and the soldiers later identified their attackers as Wilfred T. Local folklore suggests some bandits may have donned disguises, with one attacker dressed to resemble a local figure name William Ellison . Webb brandished a pair of revolvers and yelled, . The bandits apparently held a condescending opinion of the Buffalo soldiers' fighting ability and thought they could be easily defeated. This likely played a part in the opening moments of the battle with the attackers firing mostly over the heads of the Buffalo Soldiers in an effort designed to scare them away. It was not until the military escort began to provide a determined resistance that the attackers began to shoot directly at the soldiers. Campbell's horse spooked at the sound of the weapons and threw her before it ran back toward the stagecoach station. The bandits called Campbell's name and fired a couple shots in her direction before turning their attention elsewhere. Campbell then crawled behind a bush and some rocks located about 5. She observed the rest of the fight from this position. The soldiers, who had set their rifles down while preparing to move the boulder, quickly grabbed their weapons and ran for cover. Brown and two privates were separated from the rest of the group and forced down the road. After finding cover, Brown, even though wounded in his arm, fired his revolver at the bandits that had stood up. After emptying his revolver, he took a rifle from one of the privates and continued the fight. It was not until one of the two privates was wounded, and the sergeant shot a second time, that the three men retreated to a dry creek bed about 3. Major Wham initially took shelter behind the ambulance. The remaining draft animals panicked at the sound of the gunfire and dragged both wagons off the west side of the road, damaging their harnesses in the process. This forced Wham to retreat behind a small rocky ledge on the west side of the road. He was joined behind the outcropping by his clerk and most of the soldiers. Wham directed the soldiers' fire while his clerk rendered aid to the wounded. Both men, initially unarmed, later took rifles from wounded soldiers and joined in the fight. Mays initially returned fire with his revolver from behind the escort wagon. This position soon proved to be untenable and he joined Wham behind the rocky ledge. While Wham and his men were pinned down there, the bandits maneuvered along the top of the ridge to get them into a crossfire. Wham initially objected to this choice but later admitted that Mays had made the correct military decision. From the rocky ledge, Wham and Mays withdrew to the nearby dry creek bed. There Wham attempted to rally the soldiers to retake the lock box holding the payroll, but after seeing that eight of the eleven soldiers were wounded realized that was not a viable option. With the soldiers located about 3. With the soldiers pinned down, several of the bandits descended the hill and opened the strongbox holding the payroll with an axe. About 2: 3. 0 pm the bandits stopped firing and left in two groups. The first group led a mule carrying what appeared to be a man slumped over it and the second group providing cover to the first. It was not until around 3: 0. Campbell left her hiding place. They discovered the nine surviving mules had run off during the attack and their harnesses had been cut to pieces. She had heard the gunfire and decided to investigate when Campbell's riderless horse arrived at the station house. Upon her arrival she joined with Campbell to provide first aid to the wounded soldiers. Four of the mules were located by the nearby creek bed and the soldiers were able to splice together enough of the harnesses to hitch them to the ambulance. Sergeant Brown and one other man were deemed too severely injured to move and were tended by Campbell until the surgeon from Fort Thomas could be dispatched to retrieve them. As the convoy was preparing to leave, rancher Barney Norton, who had also heard the sounds of the battle, arrived with a group of his ranch hands. Wham arrived at Fort Thomas about 5: 3. Investigation. A valise containing the major's personal items, which had been stored in the strongbox, had been cut open but the robbers had left the contents undamaged. A second valise, containing payroll receipts from his previous stops, had been taken along with the money. An examination of the breastworks on top of the ridge found one of the fortifications contained over 2. Wham also arrested Campbell at the site of the attack, believing she had been somehow involved. She was released a short time later and became an important witness for investigators. After Wham arrived at Fort Thomas, a contingent of soldiers were sent to guard the scene of the attack until a complete sketch of the site could be completed. Troops stationed throughout southern Arizona Territory were also deployed in an effort to prevent the robbers from escaping into Mexico. Local folklore claims the robbers fled southward until they passed through a herd of horses several miles from the attack site. There they divided the loot and went in separate directions. The sheriff eventually found a trail leading toward the Gila River that led to the Follet Ranch. The portion of the trail leading to the river appeared to have been made by horses that had had their horseshoes attached backwards. The shoes were then removed at the river in further effort to confuse the trail. Additional trails leading to other ranches were discovered on May 1. The Sheriff asked the residents of these ranches about their whereabouts on May 1. But the nigger soldiers identified them.
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