5/25/2006 4:00:00 AM Book reveals captivating history of Prescott cemetery residents
By JOANNA DODDER The Daily Courier
PRESCOTT - Apparently it is coincidence that Terry Stone goes by the name
T. Stone and he has an unending fascination with tombstones.
It is not necessarily the stones that interest him, per se. It is the stories behind those stones, ever since he wandered around in an old country graveyard in northern Georgia where his ancestors were buried.
"An old cemetery is just that last chance to reconnect with the past that still has relevance for us," Stone explains. "I have a partiality to people who might be forgotten. There really is a reason why we should try to remember these people. It's a way to respect the community."
Stone's new book goes a long way toward helping the Prescott community remember and respect those lost souls in its oldest resting place, Citizens' Cemetery.
His book "Grave History: A Guidebook to Citizens' Cemetery" offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of early Yavapai County settlers, through stories he pulled verbatim from its earliest newspaper accounts.
Take the strange tale of Gotlieb Urfer, a well-known saloonkeeper at the Keystone Saloon and boarding house (now the site of Lyzzard's Lounge) a half-block off the courthouse plaza on Cortez Street. A lodger said he saw a "colored man" standing near the bar and a revolver lying on the floor nearby, according to the Prescott Courier newspaper in 1885. Then he saw Urfer lying on the floor, dead as a doornail. When he turned to question the lodger, he was gone.
On the following page, Stone inserts the 1887 obituary of John McCarron from the Arizona Journal-Miner. People found him on the floor of the Keystone near a pistol "from which was sent the fatal missile which furnished John McCarron with a passport from the troubles and realities of this life to the great unknown beyond."
The newspaper got its hands on a copy of McCarron's alleged suicide note that stated, "I, John McCarron, am going to commit suicide; kill my wife and then kill myself. All cause from woman's abuse."
The two men now are buried side by side at Citizens' Cemetery.
Rumors circulated that the wife might have killed both husbands (Urfer and
McCarron) and left town, said Pat Atchison, president of the Yavapai Cemetery Association that cares for the county government graveyard.
Enough other suicides and murders took place at the Keystone to prompt the Journal-Miner to label it "ill-fated" in 1895.
"A lot of very weird things went on in this place, in 'Everybody's Hometown,'" Atchison observed.
The vignettes in Stone's book are truly captivating, enough so that one might want to visit the gravesites of those whom the obituaries feature. Numerous historic photos also whet the appetite.
Stone's book makes such a visit easy, by meticulously mapping out every gravesite with a headstone.
This Monday would make for a perfect visit, since the association will conduct a Memorial Day observance at 9 a.m.
The book will be a great resource for genealogists and historians, Atchison said.
"I hope it makes people reflect on life in general," Stone added.
"It kind of knits everybody together," Atchison said. "It's like Citizens' Cemetery."
At the front of the book, Stone includes his insightful essays about Prescott and the common maladies of its early days. He also includes a little-known essay by Sharlot Hall, who founded Prescott's museum to preserve its territorial past.
Stone hopes that the book will inspire others to help the 11-year-old Cemetery Association preserve and maintain the 142-year-old graveyard, which the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors tried to auction off in 1970 because it was "no longer needed."
Contact the reporter at jdodder@prescottaz.com
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, January 14, 2008
Article comment by:
Jerry
Looking for relative named oelke who was killed in gunfight in 1800's around prescott az. any help would be appreciated
