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THE WELL WEST OF TOWN
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SHAKESPEARE has had several names through the years and only acquired its present one in 1879 at the
beginning of its second mining boom. It is located here because there was a small but reliable spring located in
the arroyo west of the town. This reliable water source attracted many people. Indians who ground mesquite beans
left their metates scattered about, probably a few Spaniards stopped by, and then some of the Forty-niners who
were taking the southern route to the gold fields of California, watered their stock at this little spring. About
1856 a building was built here by the Army, evidently to serve as a relay station on the Army Mail line between
Fort Thorn
on the Rio Grande and Fort Buchanan, south of Tucson. This spring served as an alternate stopping place for the San Antonio and San Diego mail line but was bypassed by the first Butterfield coaches. However before the Butterfield quit running in 1861, they
had moved the road back up in the hills and had built a square adobe stage station here. During this time the spring
was sometimes called Mexican Spring according to old timers. |
The outbreak of the Civil War completely disrupted
the stage line, what with fighting around the eastern terminals and Union soldiers being moved back East, leaving
the Southwest to the mercy of the Apaches. But the Civil War brought more people to Mexican Spring-- soldiers of
both sides. First a small detachment of hard-riding Texans led by Captain Sherod Hunter traveled through this area on their way to Tucson, and
from there, they hoped, to the gold fields of California. Their hopes were futile because California was overwhelmingly
Union in its sentiments. Carelton and the California Volunteers rode east across Arizona and met the tattered Texans
at Picacho Pass, west of Tucson. The Texans were defeated and trailed back to Texas, their dreams of California
gold crushed under overwhelming numbers. During this time one or two more buildings were built at Mexican Spring
by the Soldiers. The largest one was later referred to as the "old stone fort."
With the close of the Civil War a new stage line was started by Kerens and Mitchell. They hired men in San Diego to reopen some of the Butterfield's stations. A man named John Eversen was hired to reopen this station.
Evensen came here in 1865 and lived on here until his death in 1887. He said that when he came here the little
settlement was called Grant. |
In 1870, some of the prospectors hanging
around this little station discovered samples of very rich silver ore in the surrounding hills and they went hunting
for financing to develop their new mines. Some of them must have had San Francisco
connections because they interested the group of financiers connected with William Ralston, President of the Bank of California. A company was formed and the town was named in Ralston's
honor. The town grew rapidly and newspapers as far away as San Diego carried stories about the promising new camp.
The population boomed to 3000 people with independent miners flocking in to try to get a piece of the action. The
company had some hired fighting men on their payroll to keep these independent miners off. The rich silver mined
out very rapidly but then the rumor began to circulate that diamonds had been discovered on Lee's Peak west of
town. The Hired Fighting men stayed on the payroll, the stages kept running, and the town boomed until sometime
in 1872 when the diamond swindle was revealed as a hoax all over the country. Most people left town for fear of
being implicated in the crooked work and the town almost emptied of people. |
OLD TIME COOKING
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In 1879 Colonel William G. Boyle got hold of most
of the good claims and renamed the town Shakespeare to eliminate memories of the earlier swindles. With financing
coming from St. Louis this time he started the Shakespeare Gold and Silver Mining and Milling Company and the town
enjoyed a second boom. More men brought their families and the place settled down to some extent but it never got
a church , a school, a newspaper, or any real law. Occasionally there would be a serious fight and some of the
losers might be hanged to the timbers of the Grant House dining room.
The railroad missed Shakespeare by about 3 miles and the beginning of the new railroad town of Lordsburg was the
death knell for Shakespeare. Businesses gradually moved down to the new town to be closer to the source of supplies.
The depression of 1893 caused the mines to close and most people moved away to find jobs elsewhere. People often
took the roofs and other salvageable material off of their houses and left the walls to crumble in the weather.
In 1907 a new copper mine about a mile south of Shakespeare started to work and some of those miners rented remaining
buildings in the old town. Many ghost stories date from this era when the older residents seemed to come back to
haunt the newer ones. In 1935 the town and buildings were purchased by Frank and Rita Hill for a ranch. They maintained the buildings as well as they could with limited resources.
Shakespeare was declared a National Historic Site
in 1970. Frank Hill passed away in 1970, Rita in
1985, and Janaloo in 2005. They are buried at the top of the hill overlooking
the town. Janaloo's husband, Manny Hough,
continues to work toward preserving the town as a monument to the Real Old West.
Many of Shakespeare's more "colorful" residents, prospectors, and regular citizens of Shakespeare have
their final resting place at Shakespeare Cemetary, You'll see the cemetary on the left side of the road on your
way to Shakespeare.
Read about the early days in the Southwest from a first person account by J.C. Brock. |
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OLD MINES IN THE PYRAMID MNTS
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OUTLAWS AND LAWMEN
The annals of Shakespeare's history have no
tales of fearless lawmen stalking the streets in search of wrongdoers. According to old timers, there was no law
here at all-just the agreed upon rule that "if you killed someone you had to dig the grave." This kept
down indiscriminate shootings. During the days of the Silver Strike and the Diamond Swindle, the silver mining
company from San Francisco had on their payroll some Texas boys whose job it was to keep order and to guard the
company interests mainly by preventing independent miners from staking claims. Though the Company sometimes called
these fellows "Vigilantes," others just called them "Hired Fighting Men."
Quite a few of these men are now referred to
as outlaws by modern writers although the word "outlaw" should designate a man who is "outside the
law," or wanted by the law. Many of the prominent so-called "outlaws" had no warrants out for their
arrests and so cannot be technically considered outlaws at all though they may have been pretty hard characters.
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A prime example of this type was Curly
Bill Brocius. No one seems to know
where Bill came from but it seems pretty certain that his roots were in Texas. Old timers said that he ran the
"hired fighting men" at Ralston. With the end of the silver strike and diamond swindle and no mining
company to pay his salary, Bill Brocius drifted south and west. Large herds of wild cattle roamed the Animas and
San Simon valley and these Texas boys had a ready market for beef because the Army had to feed the Apaches on the
reservations. When the cowboys depleted the wild cattle north of the Mexican border, they gathered herds south
of the border. Soon retaliatory raids were made by Mexican ranchers and there was almost a state of war along the
border between Texans and Mexicans. With Curly rode other men and according to old-timers some of these were Sandy
King, the Clantons, Jack McKenzie, Milt Hicks, George Turner and later Zwing Hunt, Billy Grounds, John Ringo, Jim Hughes and Joe Hill. These men all considered Ralston-Shakespeare
their home town, the place they came to for their supplies and to get their mail.
The new town of Tombstone started in 1879 and Curly Bill with some of his friends, drifted that way to look over
the new town, to check out chances of making money, or of having a good time. On October 28, 1880, Curly Bill killed
Marshall White of Tombstone, a shooting which was declared an accident. Curly stayed out of Tombstone after that
but he freely rode the trails between Charleston, Galleyville, Shakespeare and the Mexican Border, dealing in cattle.
Many accusations were thrown his way but no warrants were issued.
In 1881 Curly Billy disappeared from the southwestern scene. Wyatt Earp, claimed that he killed Curly Bill. There
were no confirming witnesses except for a few of Wyatt's close friends and no body. Curly Bill's friends stoutly
denied this ever happened. Neither side could produce Curly, either dead or alive. Some say that Curly Bill Brocius
simply rode out of the country and became a respectable rancher in Mexico or Montana or somewhere else. Old timers
here told another story. They said that Curly died from a case of measles combined with the effects of an old gunshot
wound and that he was buried in the basement of the General Merchandise to keep his enemies from being able to
gloat over his death. |
Clanton is another name which is often numbered
among the "outlaw" faction. While Newman Hays Clanton or some of his older boys may have been among the "hired fighting men" at Shakespeare
and may have engaged in some shady cattle dealing with Curly Bill, they were much more settled citizens. Records
show that N.H. Clanton was a farmer, a freighter and latter had a dairy at Charleston. His youngest son, Billy
was killed in the famous OK Corral fight in Tombstone in 1881 and N.H. Clanton was killed with a group of respectable
cattlemen who were moving a herd of cattle from the Animas to the San Simon Valley. People at Shakespeare were
saddened by these killings because the Clantons had been well respected here.
John
Ringo was a frequent visitor to
Shakespeare because his friends, the Hughes family moved here when they left their ranch on the San Simon. The
oldest Hughes Boy, Jim, was another member of the so-called outlaws and he and John often rode together. John Ringo
bought his last pair of boots in the General Merchandise, the boots that he tied to his saddle horn before shooting
himself in Turkey Creek Canyon in 1881. |
OUR DISPLAY OF PERIOD TOOLS
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Sandy King, one of the long-time members of the
San
Simon Cowboys and Russian
Bill, (1880 Census) a romantic looking foreigner, were hanged to the timbers
of the Grant
House Dining Room on November 9, 1881.
The next morning the Stage Keeper told the stage passengers that Russian Bill had stolen a horse and Sandy King was a damned nuisance. (thanks to Woody Campbell for
the news article and census)
In the middle 1870's a skinny blond kid with a tendency to buck teeth, drifted into town looking for a job. He
was too young and small for heavy work but he got employment washing dishes in the Stratford Hotel. After he left
Shakespeare he headed for Arizona. From there he drifted to Lincoln County where he became known as the famous,
"Billy the Kid."
During the 1890's some members of the Wild Bunch or Black Jack Ketchum's gang hung out in the hills south of town, camping in an old mine tunnel and probably
buying supplies here.
Shakespeare was almost as lawless during the days of the third mining boom when the buildings were being rented
by people working in the Eighty-Five Mine. There was a Deputy Sheriff at the Mine a mile south and a Deputy in
Lordsburg, three miles north, but neither lawman spent much time enforcing law here at Shakespeare. Strange people
came and went for this was the time of the revolutions in Mexico and this place is only a day's ride from the border.
Some say Pancho Villa was here at least once on a horse buying trip. |
WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT SHAKESPEARE?
Visit our Books
in Print Section
SHAKESPEARE NEWS
On April 10, 1997
there was a terrible fire. About 1:30 P.M. Janaloo and Manny were resting in their basement apartment after lunch
when they heard a loud roar. They ran outside to find the Blacksmith Shop in flames. Manny grabbed fire extinguishers
and started to fight the blaze while Janaloo called 911, getting through just before the phone system went out.
The Lordsburg Volunteer Fire Department responded
as fast as it could -- perhaps 10 minutes -- but the 50 mile-an-hour winds whipped the blaze up into the eaves
of the General
Merchandise Building. Janaloo rushed
to try to save some of her precious research material and manuscripts but managed to get only three drawers out
of about 30. It was some of the most irreplaceable that she saved. Several unpublished books were lost. No personal
possessions were saved except for a few heirlooms. Janaloo and Manny got out with the clothes on their backs. All
photos and items on display in the General Merchandise went up in smoke.
It is difficult to express the devastating grief
we feel at losing one of our most beautiful buildings. There is, of course, no insurance. They do not write policies
on isolated ghost towns and money cannot replace something that is priceless. However, we want everyone to know:
WE ARE CARRYING ON! Shakespeare is not deserted.
It is fortunate that we obtained our formal
non-profit status before this disaster because now all contributions are tax deductible. Not only are cash donations
deductible, but we find that a businessman or contractor can do work for the town and deduct the normal price he
or she would charge for the services. If you would like to help the town out, send tax deductible contributions
to: SHAKESPEARE GHOST TOWN, P.O. BOX 253, LORDSBURG, NM
88045
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Shakespeare Photos 1965-1980's
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SHAKESPEARE GHOST TOWN ON MOST
ENDANGERED
LIST
Shakespeare Ghost town has been
selected to the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance's list of most Endangered Places. It is one of eleven
significant historic resources in New Mexico to be so recognized and one of only three in the southern part of
the State.
The New Mexico Heritage Preservation
Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, promotion and stewardship of New Mexico's unique
heritage. Their list of endangered places provides a forum for New Mexicans to discuss what is culturally and historically
significant about their heritage. The Alliance has no financial assistance to give but they are committed to making
the places on the list the focus of upcoming activities in 1999 and are sometimes able to channel available resources
toward sites needing preservation and repair.
Shakespeare Ghost Town has been
recognized as a National Historic site since 1970 but gets no help from the Federal Government. All repair and
restoration work has been done by the owners, using proceeds from tours, book sales and donations. Shakespeare
Ghost Town Inc. is now organized as a nonprofit corporation and donations are tax deductible.
The historic buildings at Shakespeare
are showing more deterioration from age and weather damage. The disastrous fire in April of 1997 caused the loss
of three buildings. Two of these have already been rebuilt but reconstruction of the General Merchandise will require
major funding from some source. This recognition by the New Mexico Preservation Alliance may help to bring this
funding to the old town.
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SHAKESPEARE GHOST TOWN
P.O. BOX 253
LORDSBURG, NM 88045
505. 542.9034
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