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| The grave of Arizona Ranger William "Billy" Old, Pearce, Arizona. |
On a quiet patch of flat, dusty earth on the fringes of Pearce, Cochise County, Arizona, I stumbled across a small surprise today. While looking for other graves at the Pearce Cemetery, I noticed one more dignified, elegant tombstone than the rest. It was none other than the gravesite of one William A. "Billy" Old, Arizona Ranger and territorial lawman, whom I'd long forgotten was buried so close to my home.
Born in Titus County, Texas, on July 15, 1870, Billy cowboyed before joining his younger brother, Augie, as a Texas Ranger. When the Texas Rangers downsized, Billy moved to Arizona Territory hoping to join the newly-formed Arizona Rangers. Formed in 1901, the Arizona Rangers didn't hire Billy until August, 1904. Billy served honorably with the Rangers until they were disbanded in 1909. During his time on the force, Billy gained a reputation as being slow to pull the trigger but ever-ready to do so. He, along with his partner Clarence "Chapo" Beaty, were responsible for arresting the desperate rustler Antonio Nunez in December, 1904. In May, they again arrested a horse thief without needing to fire their guns. There was a rumor that after his best friend, fellow Ranger Jeff Kidder, was murdered in Mexico in April, 1908, that Billy Old avenged his death by killing all three of the Mexican nationals involved, but Billy never admitted to doing so.
Billy married a nineteen-year-old woman named Anna B. Beck in Kelvin, Arizona Territory, on November 6, 1906. Billy named the firstborn of his two sons William Kidder Old in honor of his best friend Jeff Kidder. After the Rangers were disbanded by the Territorial legislature, Billy took a job as a special agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad. As such, he was deputized in the counties he passed through on the job as well as becoming a New Mexico state officer. He thus became the only Arizona Ranger who'd served in all three Territorial law enforcement agencies: Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. When former Arizona Ranger Captain Harry Wheeler was elected Cochise County Sheriff, Billy took a job as Cochise County Deputy, stationed at the mining town at Pearce. For the most part, Pearce was a quiet camp; Billy Old also worked as the town constable. Anna and their two boys joined him there.
By then, Billy had a fine reputation as a fearless lawman: after his death, the May 10, 1914 Miami Silver Belt commemorated him as
"a fearless officer and a fast man with a gun. Weather-beaten in appearance and small in stature, he was big in action. Murderers, highwaymen, horse thieves and cattle thieves on both sides of the international line knew Billy Old. Many of them from Mexico he rounded up on the American side and passed back across the line into the hands of Mexican officers from whom they had escaped. Others whom he captured were sent to the Texas and Arizona state prisons. There was no 'bad man' too bad for Billy Old to go after. To his credit be it said that when he went after a man he brought him in alive. He was not of that brand of gunman whose reputations are gauged by the number of 'notches' on their guns. Quick to draw, he was loath to press the trigger. He would take an extra chance to land his man alive. Face to face with a lawbreaker, he would 'beat him to it' on the draw, but would withhold his fire for the brief time necessary to give a 'covered' opponent a second choice. When Billy Old had the drop, second choices always resulted in surrender on the part of the lawbreaker. And so, in all the years that he rode along the border as an Arizona Ranger - as private, as sergeant, and as lieutenant - though he brought in many notorious 'bad' men, he did his work in this state without putting any notches on his gun."
One story, told by Ranger Captain Tom Rynning, goes that Billy Old suffered the eternal lawman's complaint of judges releasing criminals as fast as they were brought in. Billy, determining a Justice of the Peace was "in cahoots" with cattle rustlers, allegedly had a "talk" with the judge in a quiet place with plenty of solitude and fresh air. After anchoring the judge to a mesquite scrub by means of a collar and trace chain, he convinced the judge to take the cases more seriously in the future.
Billy Old also participated when the Rangers famously responded to the Cananea Riot in 1906, as well as the Tiburon Expedition the year before.
On April 28, 1914, Billy's wife Anna told a friend she was leaving town and leaving Billy - but that she'd kill him first. She packed her things and at high noon, inside their home across from the Renaud Store at Pearce, Anna shot him in the back with a single-action frontier Colt .45. The bullet penetrated his left shoulder, passed through the lungs, and exited his right arm at the shoulder. Anna claimed the shooting was accidental; Billy died within 15 minutes. Although Anna had clearly stated her intent, had assaulted Billy in the past and sent him running for shelter at a neighbor's house, and Billy replied in the negative when asked if the shot had been accidental, Anna was acquitted of the murder during her trial two years later. The coroner's inquest reported that Anna told the men who responded to the incident she'd packed her bags and planned on leaving on the train that afternoon, and was checking to see if her revolver was loaded. She fired but a single shot, leaving five intact rounds in the weapon, and told them, "I didn't know the gun was loaded."
"Against a gun in the hands of a woman, Billy Old had no defense. We do not pretend to know what sense the woman may have had," wrote the Miami Silver Belt. Indeed, Anna had shown signs of insanity prior to the shooting. At one point she dressed as a man and, armed, was confronted by her own husband in his role as Pearce Constable. He narrowly missed shooting her. Those who knew Billy, though, gave her no benefit of doubt. Known for her jealousy as well as her violence, she was neither well-liked nor well-trusted by Billy's friends.
Anna went on to marry another unsuspecting soul within six months of her acquittal, producing another son. She lived on until 1981 when, at 94, she finally expired.
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| The gravestone of William D. Monmonier at the Pearce Cemetery, not far from Billy Old's grave. Monmonier served as the Justice of the Peace and coroner who presided over the inquest into Billy's death at the hands of Anna "Annie" Beck Old. |
Copyright (c) 2024 Marcy J. Miller * All rights reserved *
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