Frank Stilwell

Frank C. Stilwell
Frank Stilwell (uncertain)
Born	1856 Iowa city, Iowa, United States
Died	March 20, 1882(1882-03-20) (aged 25–26) Tucson, Arizona Territory, United States
Cause of death	Gunshot wounds
Occupation	Cochise County Deputy Sheriff; livery owner; miner; outlaw
Years active	1877 – 1882
Opponent(s)	Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday
Parent(s)	William “Henry” Stilwell and Charlotte B. "Sarah" Winfrey

Frank C. Stilwell (1856 – March 20, 1882) was an outlaw Cowboy who killed at least two men in Cochise County during 1877–82. Both killings were considered to have been self-defense. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan. Stilwell owned interests in several mines and various businesses, including a saloon, a wholesale liquor business, a stage line, and at his death livery stables in Charleston and Bisbee. He was also a partner in a Bisbee area saloon with ex Texas Ranger Pete Spence.

He was closely involved in the events leading up to and following the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, and was suspected in the murder of Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882. Two days after Morgan's death, Frank Stilwell was killed by Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp in a Tucson train yard. Arrest warrants were issued for Earp and four others in his gang suspected of murdering Stilwell. Murder indictments were issued at Pima County for Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Warren Earp, Sherman McMaster and John Johnson. Earp agreed to turn himself in but instead fled the Arizona Territory for Colorado. Wyatt Earp admitted late in his life to killing Stilwell at close range with a shotgun.

Frank was the son of William “Henry” Stilwell and Charlotte B. "Sarah" Winfrey. Frank was born in Iowa in 1856 (as estimated from his self-reported age of 24 in the 1880 census).

His family moved shortly afterward near Palmyra, Kansas Territory, on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1863 William and Charlotte divorced and William left with the three boys, Jack, Millard and Frank. Charlotte took the girls Elizabeth and Mary. Frank's father was a Private in the Union Army with Company B, 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, under General William Tecumseh Sherman and took part in Sherman's March to the Sea.