Bisbee Massacre: robbery of a Bisbee general store leaves five dead

Background. Bisbee was founded in 1880 as a copper, gold, and silver mining town named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, a financial backer of the adjacent Copper Queen Mine. In November 1883, John Heath moved to Bisbee with James "Tex" Howard. According to the source's account of the robbery day, Heath and Waite opened their dance hall behind the Goldwater & Castaneda Mercantile general store on December 8, 1883 — the same date as the robbery — which was the day the Copper Queen Mine payroll usually arrived, though the passage does not state that the payroll actually arrived that day.

The Robbery. On the evening of December 8, 1883, five outlaws rode into Bisbee. They believed the general store's safe held a $7,000 mining payroll. However, they timed the robbery incorrectly and stole only between $800 and $3,000, along with a gold watch and jewelry. During the incident, the gang killed five people, including a lawman and a pregnant woman.

Immediate Response. Riders from Bisbee immediately left for the county seat in Tombstone to notify Cochise County Sheriff Jerome L. Ward. Deputy Daniels formed two posses; the first posse left in pursuit of the murderers and included John Heath, who rode with Nathan Waite and Henry Frost, a local gambler and acquaintance of Heath. Waite and Heath were deputized by Daniels. The Copper Queen Mine offered a reward of $2,000 for the arrest and conviction of the Cowboys; since four of the robbers wore masks, it was at first difficult to trace them.