Sheriff, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, member of Territorial Legislature, prison warden
Known for
Arizona Territory legislative representative, Cochise County Undersheriff, testified against Earps and Doc Holliday during the Spicer Hearing, member of "Ten Percent Ring"
Spouses
Victoria Zaff (divorced)
Josephine Marcus (common-law)
Children
2
Signature
O.K. Corral gunfight
Principal events
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
O.K. Corral hearing and aftermath
Earp Vendetta Ride
Lawmen
Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp
Wyatt Earp
Morgan Earp
Doc Holliday
Warren Earp
Outlaw Cowboys
Ike Clanton
Billy Clanton
Tom McLaury
Frank McLaury
Billy Claiborne
Curly Bill Brocius
Frank Stilwell
Pony Diehl
Pete Spence
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John Harris Behan (October 24, 1844 – June 7, 1912) was an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as Sheriff of Cochise County in the Arizona Territory, during the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and was known for his opposition to the Earps. Behan was sheriff of Yavapai County from 1871 to 1873. He was married and had two children, but his wife divorced him, accusing him of consorting with prostitutes. He was elected to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly, representing Yavapai County. In 1881, Wyatt Earp served for about five months as undersheriff of the eastern half of Pima County. When Wyatt resigned, Behan was appointed to fill his place, which included the mining boomtown Tombstone. When Cochise County was formed in February 1881, Behan was appointed as its first sheriff. Tombstone became the new county seat and the location of Behan's office. Sadie Marcus was his mistress, possibly as early as 1875 in Tip Top, Arizona, and certainly from 1880 until she found him in bed with another woman and kicked him out in mid-1881.
After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Behan testified at length against the Earps. He supported the Cowboys' statements that they had raised their hands and offered no resistance, and that the Earps and Doc Holliday had murdered three cowboys. After the Earps were exonerated, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush on December 28, 1881, and assistant deputy Morgan Earp was killed by assassins on March 18, 1882. The outlaw Cowboys named as suspects in both shootings were either let go on a technicality or were provided alibis by fellow Cowboys. Wyatt Earp killed one of the suspects, Frank Stilwell, in Tucson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt and his federal posse set out after other suspects, pursued by Behan and his county posse composed mostly of Cowboys.
Behan's posse never caught up with the much smaller federal posse. The Earps left Tombstone under a cloud of suspicion. Sadie left Tombstone for San Francisco in early 1882, and Wyatt Earp followed her to San Francisco, where they began a lifelong relationship that lasted 46 years. Behan was arrested for graft and later failed to win re-election as sheriff. He later was appointed as the warden of the Yuma Territorial Prison and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912.
Henrietta. Victoria and Johnny later had a son, Albert Price Behan, born in Prescott on July 7, 1871 or 1872 (d. January 27, 1949). Behan succeeded his father-in-law...
and charged with murder. He was affiliated with Cochise County Sheriff JohnnyBehan, Ike Clanton, and Frank Stilwell during 1881–1882. He got into a confrontation...
boom town of Tombstone in Arizona Territory, when she was living with JohnnyBehan, sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. Josephine was born in New York to...
1880, and Shibell immediately appointed JohnnyBehan as the new deputy sheriff for eastern Pima County. Behan had considerably more political experience...
Behan Joe Behan (born 1959), Irish politician John Behan (sculptor) (born 1938) John Clifford Valentine Behan (1881–1957), Australian academic Johnny...
extra-judicial murder. When the men returned to Tombstone, Cochise County Sheriff JohnnyBehan had received a telegram notifying him of the Tucson warrants, and attempted...
Sheriff JohnnyBehan later testified that the incident had angered Ike Clanton. It also angered Earp. After he was passed over by JohnnyBehan for the...
Cochise County Sheriff JohnnyBehan, who favored the Cowboys and rural ranchers. He grew to intensely dislike the Earps. Behan tended to ignore the Earps'...
title given by the newspaper editors of The Tombstone Epitaph in 1881 to JohnnyBehan and his friends for stealing about ten percent of the local Tombstone...
educationalist and lawyer John Behan (sculptor) (born 1938), Irish sculptor JohnnyBehan (1844–1912), Cochise County sheriff involved in the Gunfight at the O...
deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff JohnnyBehan. Stilwell owned interests in several mines and various businesses, including...
particularly nasty, drunken argument, Holliday kicked her out. County Sheriff JohnnyBehan and Milt Joyce, both members of the Ten Percent Ring, saw an opportunity...
Stilwell. Stilwell had until the prior month been a deputy for Sheriff JohnnyBehan but had been fired for "accounting irregularities". Deputy U.S. Marshal...
Guilty by Suspicion Shopper Husband 1993 Watch It Michael 1993 Tombstone JohnnyBehan 1994 Beverly Hills Cop III Levine 1994 Lassie Steve Turner 1995 Free...
Hafford, and JohnnyBehan, each of whom has a different take on the events. Adam Newberry as Wyatt Earp Jesse Lee Pacheco as JohnnyBehan Christine Doidge...
(1848-1896) was a writer for the Weekly Nugget and an under-sheriff of JohnnyBehan, leader of the Ten Percent Ring. Nugget, a variety of hops Chicken nugget...
Sam Gilman – Doc Holliday Charles Seel – Ed (bartender) Bill Zuckert – JohnnyBehan Ed McCready – Barber Abraham Sofaer – Melkotian Voice Episode chronology...
LaRue and Steve Brodie shared the role (from 1959–1961) of Sheriff JohnnyBehan in Cochise County, Arizona, on ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp...
Cochise County Sheriff JohnnyBehan, who favored the Cowboys and rural ranchers and who grew to intensely dislike the Earps. Behan tended to ignore the...
Sheriff JohnnyBehan, a friend to the Cowboys, had heard of the trouble and he immediately went looking for the Cowboys. In Hafford's Saloon, Behan found...
Josephine "Sadie" Marcus, who had during 1880-81 been in a relationship with JohnnyBehan in Tombstone. Blaylock left Colton and returned to Pinal City, but the...
Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp and Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff JohnnyBehan. When an outlaw committed a crime, the local sheriff or marshal would...