Shootout in Benson

Shootout in Benson

A Sanborn Map of Benson in 1901. The Virginia Hotel and the railroad station are located at the bottom left.
Date	February 27, 1907
Location	Benson, Arizona Territory, USA
Participants	Harry C. Wheeler
Deaths	1

The Shootout in Benson was one of the last great gunfights in the Old West. On February 27, 1907, the Arizona Ranger Harry C. Wheeler attempted to detain a man named J. A. Tracy in the town of Benson, Arizona. Tracy resisted arrest and opened fire on Wheeler, but the latter armed himself and a gunfight ensued. When the shooting was over, both Tracy and Wheeler were badly wounded, however, the former died of his wounds and Wheeler fully recovered.

J. A. Tracy was a wealthy businessman who lived in Vail Station, where he was employed as an agent for the Helvetia Copper Company. According to author Pleasant DeSpain, Tracy came to Arizona from Nevada to pursue a young lady, with whom he had relations in the past. The lady was not interested in Tracy though and she left Nevada for Phoenix between 1905 and 1906. There she joined a Mr. D. W. Silverton, Jr., who was the son of the Kentucky Colonel D. W. Silverton, and the two went to Tucson to settle down. Mr. Silverton claimed that he married the young lady, whose name remains unknown, because she refused to tell the newspapers in the aftermath of the Benson shooting. She was the daughter in a wealthy family from Colorado and, because of her relationship with Tracy, she wanted to protect her family name from embarrassment. The ceremeony was, allegedly, carried out by a traveling evangelist minister in Phoenix, but a later investigation suggested that the marriage may have been fabricated. Tracy was not giving up on Mrs. Silverton. He began sending her threatening letters and, sometime later, he purchased a diamond ring with the intention of proposing to her, unaware that she had already been married.

In February 1907, when they discovered that Tracy was coming to Tucson "to set things right," the Silvertons decided it would be best to be somewhere else. Accordingly, they boarded a train for Bisbee on the afternoon of February 26. Along the way they stopped at Vail Station and it was at this time that they saw Tracy standing outside on the platform. Mr. Silverton stepped off the train to confront Tracy, but it is unknown what exactly was said in the following argument. When the train began moving again, Silverton boarded it and saw Tracy attempt to jump on the caboose. The journey continued on towards Bisbee, however, the train had to stop overnight in the small town of Benson and the Silvertons were forced to book a room at the Virginia Hotel, located across the street from the station. Fearing that Tracy was following behind, Mr. Silverton hired a local man to watch the train station and warn him if the former arrived.