Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce and the Killing at Charleston
A Tarnished West Lost Story
On January 14, 1881, a shooting at Charleston, Arizona Territory, left W. P. Schneider, chief engineer of the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company, dead and a young gambler known as Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce under arrest.
Charleston is also where, on January 14, 1881, W. P. Schneider of the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company was shot and killed by the gambler known as Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce—the beginning of a case that would soon involve a threatened lynching, Tombstone lawmen, and an escape from custody.
The first reports did not leave readers with a simple gunfight story. They preserved conflicting accounts of the killing, followed by an attempt to move the prisoner out of Charleston before angry residents could take matters into their own hands.
The Shooting
The Arizona Citizen reported the affair the following day under the headline “Another Murder.” It identified the prisoner as Mike Rourke and said he was also known as “Johnny behind the deuce.”
According to the Citizen, Schneider had recently lost several articles from his cabin. Suspicion had fallen on Johnny, but there was not enough evidence to arrest him. At about noon on January 14, Schneider and Johnny encountered one another at a Charleston restaurant.
The newspaper first related an account in which the two men quarreled, Johnny left, obtained a pistol, and later met Schneider again. Schneider was shot and killed.
But the Citizen also did something particularly valuable for the historical record: its reporter interviewed the accused man in the Tucson jail.
Johnny’s Account
Johnny admitted that he shot Schneider, but described the encounter as self-defense. He told the reporter that Schneider had been drinking and had repeatedly tried to provoke him. Johnny said he attempted to avoid a fight.
According to Johnny, Schneider eventually came toward him with a large knife. Johnny said he backed away, drew his pistol and fired when he believed Schneider intended to kill him.
The Citizen did not resolve the contradiction. Its report therefore leaves two materially different contemporary versions of the shooting: one suggesting that Johnny armed himself after the quarrel, and Johnny’s own statement that he fired while retreating from an armed Schneider.
Schneider was dead. Johnny was in custody. The courts would ordinarily have been expected to determine which account could be proved.
Out of Charleston
That process nearly ended before it began. The Citizen described Schneider as a respected man and reported that talk of lynching Johnny began in Charleston.
Constable George McKelvey arrested the prisoner and had difficulty getting him safely out of town. McKelvey placed Johnny in a buggy and started toward Tombstone. The Citizen reported that other buggies followed and that the pursuers nearly caught them at one point.
This marker identifies the former site of Vogan’s Saloon and Bowling Alley on Allen Street in Tombstone, where Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce was held under guard following the January 14, 1881 killing of W. P. Schneider at Charleston.
The marker, erected by the Tombstone Restoration Commission in 2008, describes the threatened lynching and gives Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday roles in protecting the prisoner. Contemporary newspaper accounts, however, credit Marshal Ben Sippy, Virgil Earp, Deputy Sheriff John Behan and other officers with protecting and removing the prisoner and do not name Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. Later recollections placed Wyatt more prominently in the confrontation.
The prisoner reached Tombstone, where a strong guard was placed over him. The Citizen names Marshal Ben Sippy and Deputy Sheriff Behan in the effort to move Johnny onward. It also identifies Virgil Earp among the officers involved in the affair.
This distinction matters because later retellings often give Wyatt Earp a dramatic role in confronting the lynch mob. The contemporary Citizen account supplied for this story does not mention Wyatt Earp. Later accounts may place him at the scene, but that later tradition is not used here as evidence of his participation.
Toward Tucson
The officers arranged to move Johnny away from Tombstone. According to the Citizen, another buggy was obtained and Sippy and Deputy Sheriff Behan rode with the prisoner. The newspaper reported that a mounted escort accompanied them for about twelve miles, after which the immediate danger was considered past.
Johnny was eventually confined in the Pima County jail at Tucson to await legal proceedings arising from Schneider’s death.
The surviving secondary summaries of the case report that O’Rourke was formally held for the killing. Because this chapter is limited to details that can be tied to contemporary reporting or identifiable court records, the exact wording and disposition of those proceedings should be drawn from the original court papers before a final print edition.
The Prisoner Escapes
Johnny never stood trial for Schneider’s death. Contemporary and later historical references agree that he escaped from the Tucson jail in April 1881. Published dates for the escape vary in later sources, which is reason enough not to build the narrative around an unsupported exact date until the contemporary jail or newspaper record is in hand.
A later May 1881 report in the Tombstone Epitaph placed Johnny in the Dragoon Mountains, reportedly mounted and preparing to leave Arizona for Texas. After that, his documented trail becomes uncertain.
Stories eventually attached Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce to other men and other deaths. Those claims belong to later legend unless supported by additional contemporary evidence. They are not necessary to the story Schneider’s death left behind.
What the Record Leaves Us
The known facts are compelling enough without embellishment. W. P. Schneider was shot and killed at Charleston. Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce admitted firing the shot but claimed that he had acted to save his own life. Charleston residents threatened the prisoner. Officers removed him first to Tombstone and then toward Tucson under guard.
The case should have ended before a jury.
It did not.
Johnny escaped custody, and the killing of W. P. Schneider was never tested at trial. The surviving newspaper account leaves the reader where the people of Arizona Territory were left in 1881: with a dead engineer, an escaped prisoner, and two different stories about what happened before the shot was fired.
Research Note
This article deliberately excludes colorful details found chiefly in later retellings when they cannot yet be verified against contemporary evidence. In particular, it does not state that Wyatt Earp faced down the Charleston mob, that Johnny Ringo or Curly Bill Brocius led the mob, or that Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce later killed Johnny Ringo.
The principal source for the opening narrative is the January 15, 1881 Arizona Citizen article supplied with this project. Additional research used to check the broader chronology included modern historical discussions that distinguish later Earp legend from the contemporary record. For publication, original newspaper and court records should take precedence wherever available.
Source Notes
• Arizona Citizen, January 15, 1881, “Another Murder.” Contemporary account supplied by the author; includes the Citizen reporter’s jail interview with the prisoner.
• Tombstone Epitaph, January 1881 and May 1881 reports concerning Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce. Original issues should be cited by exact date/page in the final book file after verification.
• True West, “Wyatt Earp vs. a Tombstone Mob” and related historical discussion. Used only as a guide to the dispute between later Wyatt Earp tradition and contemporary reporting, not as a substitute for the 1881 newspapers.
• Wyatt Earp Explorers, “Johnny Behind the Deuce.” Useful compilation containing transcribed/quoted period material and later recollections; claims are treated according to the age and nature of the underlying source.
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