The “Hanging Tree” stood in
the middle of Broad Street in
Globe, Arizona Territory, until
a cowboy cut it down in 1896.VIRGIL EARP20GUNFIGHTERS & LAWMENPH
OTOCOUR
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MWILD WEST JUNE 2019I
n the 1880s Globe was a booming mining town in Gila
County, Arizona Territory, though it remained dependent
for supplies brought in by stagecoach and pack train. Cargo
delivered by train to Casa Grande on the Southern Pacific
Railroad was put on an eastbound stage for Pioneer Pass in
the rugged Pinal Mountains. From there it was transferred to
a mule train manned by a packer and a mounted Wells, Fargo
& Co. shotgun messenger for the final 12-mile stretch to Globe.
On Aug. 20, 1882, the packer was Frank Porter, the messenger
Andy Hall. This time, along with supplies, they were packing
a strongbox loaded with $5,000 in gold coins—payroll for the
McMorris silver mine. Globe-based photographer Cicero Grime,
his diminutive miner-millhand brother, Lafayette, and associate
Curtis B. Hawley, a wood and charcoal supplier, learned of the
payroll shipment and plotted to grab it. Their plan called for
the trio to ambush the mule train and create an “Indian scare,”
blasting away with rifles until Porter and Hall hightailed it with-
out the gold. Hawley had a 16-shot Henry rifle. Lafayette served
with the Globe Rangers, a group formed to defend against raid-
ing Apaches, and on some pretense “borrowed” a .50-caliber
Springfield rifle from his captain, Dan Lacy.
At the Pioneer Pass stage station that Sunday morning Cicero
Grime watched Porter and Hall transfer their cargo to the mule
train and saddle the lead roan with the strongbox. He noted thatHall carried a handgun, but Porter was unarmed. Riding north
ahead of the train, Cicero relayed the information to brother
Lafayette and Hawley, who had slipped out of Globe afoot to
set up their ambush about 4 miles from town. Cicero then re-
turned to Globe, leaving the duo to carry out the robbery.
Due to the steepness of the trail, Hall and Porter had split the
mule train in two sections. When the first section reached the
ambush site, Grime and Hawley shot and killed the lead roan
and grazed Hall in the hip with a bullet. Hollering war whoops,
the outlaws kept firing until Hall and Porter retreated to seek
cover in the underbrush. The panicked mules bolted in all direc-
tions. Hall told Porter to ride to Globe for help while he sought
to recapture the spooked animals. Amid the melee, Grime slunk
down to the dead roan, cut the pack ropes, broke open the strong-
box and emptied the gold coins into saddlebags. The plan had
worked to perfection. Grime and Hawley made off on foot with
the loot, headed west.
Mine owner Dr. William F. Vail of Globe was out riding that
morning when he heard shots and prudently went in another
direction. He chose the wrong direction. A half-mile farther he
ran across Grime and Hawley. Dismounting to speak with them,
Vail inquired about the shooting. Their responses made him sus-
picious, so he mounted his horse to leave. The outlaws shot him,
dropping the doctor to the ground. Leaving him for dead, the pairTHE HANGING TREE IN GLOBE
A PAIR OF OUTLAWS WHO ROBBED A MULE TRAIN AND MURDERED
AN ARMED GUARD AND A DOCTOR SOON SWUNG FROM THE SYCAMORE
BY JAY L. WARNER