PART II - The Shoot-out
 On May 12, 1877 Sheriff Edward F. Bowers of Yavapai County had the opportunity to witness a stagecoach robbery first hand as he was transporting Mary E. Sawyer, a demented woman, to the California asylum for the insane. Three masked men stopped the westbound stagecoach one mile west of Wickenburg and took $457 and a pistol from the sheriff, but failed to find several other packages of money he was transporting.  The Wells, Fargo and Co. treasure box was opened and examined. The mail bags were cut open, rifled and their contents mutilated. The mail was later returned to Prescott to be “fixed up for a new start.” The Sheriff reported that, from their physical characteristics, voices and gestures, he would be able to identify the robbers. Frank Luke was also a passenger on the stage and surrendered his wallet containing $65 in currency and an order on parties in San Francisco for $250 more. The robbers returned the order, it being useless to them. Satisfied that they had all Luke’s valuables, they failed to search him further and missed $340 in gold coin he had in his pockets.

 During the early evening hours of May 16, 1877 two men slipped quietly into the tiny border town of Ehrenberg, Arizona Territory, too late to board the ferry which crossed into California. They put up their horses in the corral at the east end of town and stowed their tack and gear. It would be dawn before the ferry ran again and their aim was to be as inconspicuous as possible. By daybreak they sensed they were being watched, so the men moved up the street toward their horses. An apprehensive Thomas Brophy stopped in front of Mill’s Saloon to watch the street while John Sutton went on to collect their gear and horses.

 Joseph Wiley Evans, line superintendent for the California & Arizona Stage Company, recognized the men as soon as they appeared. Bowers had forwarded a good description of the men who had robbed the stagecoach and Evans was sure “these two were the right birds.”  Evans and Colonel J. Bryan figured throughout the night on the best way to take the two robbers without a fight, and decided to make the arrest as they boarded the ferry, while their hands were filled with gear and reins.

 However, that plan was had gone afoul when the robbers had become cautious, so the two men approached Brophy and demanded his surrender. Bryan had armed himself with a shotgun while Evans sported a six-shooter on his right hip. Brophy had only his six-shooter, his rifle being among his gear at the corral. Evans and Bryan watched Brophy’s hands to see if they went up or down. They went down, and just a bit too fast for Evans. The first shot was fired by Brophy and glanced off Evans’ forehead just above his left eye. Bryan immediately cut loose with both barrels, but he had not checked the load of his borrowed shotgun and the small shot, which struck Brophy in the face and right arm, was not enough to knock him down.

 Evans, hardly able to see because of the blood gushing into both eyes, got off his first shot. The bullet struck Brophy in his wounded arm and he went down from the force. The three men “stood game,” firing at each other until Brophy’s pistol emptied. Brophy, unable to reload because of his wounded arm, then lay still as bullets whizzed over his prone body. John Sutton had returned as far as Salado’s Saloon and was firing at the lawmen with a Henry rifle. O. Mercer, a stage driver, tried to come to the aid of Evans but before he could get off a shot was hit in the shoulder with a rifle ball and went down in the street, where he remained during the ensuing gun battle. 

 Faced with rapid fire from a sixteen shot repeating rifle, Evans and Bryan retreated behind the Ehrenberg Hotel while Sutton backed into Salado’s Saloon. The exchange continued for several more minutes until Evans called for Sutton’s surrender and, seeing that there was no hope of escape, the robber stepped out and grounded his weapon. The entire battle had lasted fifteen minutes, more than sixty shots were exchanged and three men were wounded. Both robbers were then arrested and a search of their gear revealed several bars of gold bullion taken from the express box.

 This was the wild west and men, good or bad, who faced death bravely were much admired. Yuma’s Sentinel newspaper said of them, “Good pluck was shown by all parties and none showed any signs of flickering ... .”  The paper went on:

    ... Many thanks are due to Messrs. Evans, Bryan and Mercer for their noble conduct in this affair; few men are thus ready to risk life to arrest thieves.  Would that we had more men of such promptness in Arizona.  The wounded robber is dangerously shot, having nearly a pound of lead in his right arm and in his head.  Mr. Mercer, the driver, I understand, is doing well, his wound being only a flesh one.  Major Evans does not mind his, only on account of the girls not liking to have his handsome face marked.

 In the fight Evans, who would later become one of the most controversial lawmen of Arizona’s territorial period, favored a six-shooter because he could not manage another. Perhaps Sutton and Brophy had dismissed, or at least underestimated, the danger posed by this one-armed man; but Evans was already much admired by Arizonans for enduring an amputation under the most primitive conditions; and, he had been the first man in the Territory to arrest stagecoach robbers – Vance and Berry. 

 At first the two robbers identified themselves as the Johnson brothers but later John Sutton, who had come through the shoot-out unhurt, gave his true name. He was then mistakenly taken to Prescott but, when it was shown that the crime occurred in the 2nd Judicial District, was immediately brought back to Ehrenberg where he boarded a steamboat for Yuma.

 Thomas Brophy had remained at Ehrenberg where, on July 4th, he had his right arm amputated above the elbow by Dr. Loring.  The newspaper reported that, in three days, he was fast recovering his health and was “up, dressed and singing.”  The doctor had “staid with him five days and nights and is entitled to even more credit for his untiring fidelity to his patient, than for the consummate skill displayed to treatment.”

 John Sutton and Thomas Brophy were delivered to the Territorial Prison at Yuma on November 21st, each to serve a five year sentence. Both men were released on May 23, 1882 after having served their sentences. That third robber was John Mantel, who it was later determined was a postal or a stage line detective, so he was not prosecuted.

Joseph Wiley Evans Part 1
Joseph Wiley Evans Part 2
Joseph Wiley Evans Part 3