PART III - Murder of Johnny Collins and the lynching at Florence
 On August 10, 1883 a stagecoach was ascending the hill leading out of the Gila Valley about one and a half miles above Riverside when it was stopped by two masked road agents. The robbers stationed themselves behind bushes on either side of the road and when the stage passed between them they opened fire on the messenger and driver without a word of warning. The messenger, Johnny Collins, was killed by a charge of buckshot entering his chin and neck, but the robbers continued shooting until the driver called out, “For God’s sake stop shooting; you have killed one man, what more do you want?” The road agents then shot one leader and one wheeler, and then proceeded to examine the stage. Felix Le Blanc was inside the coach and he was ordered out. As soon as he had obeyed they ordered him climb up and throw down the express box. The box was very heavy and the dead messenger was lying on top of it so the robbers ordered Humphrey, the driver, to assist him. Humphrey asked to remove the body of the murdered man but one robber replied, “Let him lie where he is and get that box out at once or we’ll put holes through you s–s of b–h.”
 The two men dragged the box from the boot and threw it onto the ground. The robbers then handed Le Blanc a new hatchet and had him break open the box. As soon he accomplished the task they ordered Le Blanc and Humphrey to march up the road in the direction of Cane Springs, and threatened to kill them if they returned. The robbers took from the box $2,000 in silver and $500 in gold and packed it on one of the stage horses. They left in the box $620 in currency, having overlooked it in their haste. They also dropped, where their horses were hitched, a pair of leather saddle bags, a belt full of Winchester cartridges, a package of tea, loaf of bread, and an old-fashioned dirk knife evidently made by some blacksmith, and this would be strong evidence against them later.
 Le Blanc and Humphrey continued up the road till they met the down-stage, McKenny driving, three miles from the robbery scene. McKenny and his passengers concluded to camp at Cane Springs till daylight and, to make sure that they would be safe abandoned the coach and climbed up the side of the mountain some distance above the road. At daylight they hitched up and drove to the scene of the murder. The dead messenger was still lying on the boot face down and his gun lay in the road a few steps in the rear of the stage, where it had dropped from his lap when the fatal charge of buck-shot struck him.
 After accomplishing their work the robbers had taken a trail circling to the right from the place of the robbery and leading over the hills to the San Pedro road at a point about two miles above Riverside. When they came to the San Pedro road they stopped and the tracks would indicate that they did so for the purpose of dividing the treasure into two packs and strapping it on to the stage horse which they had taken with them for that purpose. At this point they dropped a nickel-plated shot-gun shell – number 12 Winchester. From here they followed the San Pedro road and passed Dudleyville at a full gallop, one leading the pack horse and the other riding behind and whipping up the exhausted animal. Each man held a revolver in his right hand and both men were as silent as a tomb. They could not be traced above Redfield’s ranch so the two posses in close pursuit headed for that location, one after the two robbers and the other after “Red Jack” Almer, who had been the lookout in Florence watching for a heavy treasure box to be loaded.
 The Governor posted a reward of $1,000. In addition to the rewards offered by the Territory, Pinal County offered $200 and Wells, Fargo & Co. had a standing reward of $300 for each robber. This brought the total reward for each robber to $1,500. It was not long before Joe Tuttle was arrested for robbery and Redfield and Frank Carpenter as accessories. Joe Tuttle provided two confessions and each implicated the principals, including “Red Jack” Almer and Charles Hensley, and the accessories – Redfield and Carpenter. He insisted that Hensley had fired seven times, including the fatal shot. At their preliminary examination the defendants were held to answer. The following Monday morning U. S. deputy Marshal Joseph Wiley Evans arrived at Florence with a writ of habeas corpus for Len G. Redfield. As soon as Evans arrived he served the writ on Undersheriff Scanland and placed guards around the jail. Evans planned to smuggle the prisoner out of town before dawn, but Scanland asked that Redfield be kept there until seven o’clock to give him an opportunity to telegraph Sheriff Doran for instructions. District Attorney Jesse Hardesty discovered Evans’ guards at the jail and immediately protested against the procedure. Scanland then informed Evans that his guards must be withdrawn, as a U. S. Marshal had no authority to guard a county jail. Evans assented and withdrew his guards. This proved to be a fatal mistake.
 Once Evans’ purpose became known the alarm was sounded and the citizens assembled. They marched to the jail, took control and, right under the nose of U. S. Marshal Evans, lynched Redfield and Tuttle, returning Carpenter to his cell with a warning. Evans was blamed for the lynching, and he was criticized for his failure to prevent it. The Gazette blamed Evans with instigating the lynching. The editor said, “He threatened to place Pinal County under martial law, suspend every officer in it, and arrest Deputy Scanland. ... this is a specimen of the bulldozing game attempted to effect the release of Len Redfield. Further I have ascertained that it was one of the marshal’s party who made the threat that forty cowboys could be found to take Len out of jail.”
 The pursuit of “Red Jack” Almer and Charles Hensley continued and in early October both men were killed in a thrilling shoot-out. Frank Carpenter, last living member of the gang, apparently took the advice of the vigilantes too seriously. On November 22, 1883 the Gazette reported on Carpenter”s death: “Frank Carpenter, who was recently admitted to bail in Florence on the charge of being an accessory to the Riverside stage robbery, and has been living on his ranch some twenty miles from Benson, died on Tuesday last from nervousness and fear.
 Evans retired four years later and opened a successful real estate business in Phoenix. One may wonder if he would have continued as a lawmen but for the Florence affair.

Part 1       Part 2