Archive:William Brocius

William B. "Curly Bill" Brocious (1857-1882) was a western outlaw and member of the Clanton Gang.

Following the death of "Old Man" Newton Clanton after the Guadeloupe Canyon Massacre in July 1881, Brocious became leader of the Clanton Gang. He was later arrested for the death of Tombstone Marshal Fred White following an incident where Brocious's gun discharged, whether purposely or accidentally, while surrendering it to White and deputy Virgil Earp. Although charged for murder by Earp, Brocious was later acquitted by a jury with a verdict of accidental death.

In July, 1881 Brocious and Johnny Ringo rode into Hauchita, New Mexico and killed William and Isaac Haslett in revenge for the deaths of Clanton members Bill Leonard and Harry Head who had attempted to rob the Haslett brothers general store weeks earlier. Later that month Brocious led an ambush attacking a Mexican trail herd in the San Luis Pass killing six vaqueros and torturing the remaining eight men.

Returning to Tombstone following the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Brocious attempted to kill Virgil Earp and later killed Morgan Earp. After several stagecoach robberies, Brocious was issued a warrant for Wyatt Earp by Sheriff Johnny Behan and sent to bring back Earp who was hiding in the Whetstone Mountains outside town. Earp, who was also looking for Brocious in revenge for the death of his brothers, encountered Brocious at Iron Springs. Wyatt killed Brocious with a double shotgun blast.

There were rumors that after Brocious' death, his friends took his body and secretly buried him on the Patterson farm on the Babocomari River, possibly near the barn. The gravesite has since been lost. Some claimed that Curley Bill escaped and went to Texas, but he was never seen again after March 23, 1882, even dispite a $2,000 reward later put up by the Tombstone Epitaph for an authentic sighting of the man alive.

As Ben Traywick has pointed out, this was too much money for a man like Brocious to turn down for a chance to tweek the Earps and their supporters in the bargain. But the money was never claimed.

Resources

• Sifakis, Carl. Encyclopedia of American Crime, New York, Facts on File Inc., 1982

External Link

http://www.westernoutlaw.com/stories/files/Showdown.pdf . This includes some good quotes from historical documents assembled by Ben Traywick.