William Brocius

William Brocius
An unauthenticated photo of Curly Bill Brocius from the Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone.
Born	c. 1841 Possibly Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States
Died	March 24, 1882 Iron Springs, Arizona Territory, United States
Cause of death	Gunshot
Nationality	American
Occupation	Cowboy, outlaw, rustler
Years active	1865–1882
Opponent(s)	Earp family
Allegiance	The Cowboys

William Brocius (c. 1841 – March 24, 1882), better known as Curly Bill Brocius, was a gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of the Arizona Territory during the early 1880s. His name is likely an alias or nickname, and there is evidence linking him to another outlaw named William "Curly Bill" Bresnaham who was convicted of an 1878 attempted robbery and murder in El Paso, Texas.

Brocius had a number of conflicts with the lawmen of the Earp family, and he was named as one of the individuals who participated in Morgan Earp's assassination. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp and a group of deputies including his brother Warren Earp pursued those they believed responsible for Morgan's death. The Earp posse unexpectedly encountered Curly Bill and other Cowboys on March 24, 1882, at Iron Springs (present day Mescal Springs). Wyatt killed Curly Bill during the shootout. In his journal written in October 1881, George Parsons referred to Brocius as "Arizona's most famous outlaw".

Brocius arrived in Arizona Territory from either Texas or Missouri about 1878 and went briefly to the San Carlos Reservation with a herd of cattle, before arriving in the Arizona Territory.

Brocius was an Outlaw Cowboy and a rustler, and was for a time also a tax collector for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, making other rustlers pay taxes on their stolen cattle (the money went into the sheriff's coffers and added to his salary).