A Hundred Men Take to the Trail

Camp Verde, Arizona Territory — July 1899

By the morning of July 3, 1899, R. M. “Mack” Rodgers and Clinton DeWitt Wingfield were dead, Captain John Boyd was wounded, and armed men were already taking to the country around Camp Verde in search of the killers.

The first surviving newspaper account gives the beginning of the pursuit in unusually plain terms. Published July 4, it reported that Rodgers and Wingfield had been killed the previous Sunday evening while closing their store. Three men, described only as supposed robbers, had opened fire without warning. Boyd, who was with the merchants, was shot through the leg.

Couriers left Camp Verde for Jerome the next morning. They went for coffins and to send a telegraph message to Yavapai County Sheriff John Lee Munds at Prescott.

Before much was known about the attackers, a posse was already on their trail.

A Search With Few Clues

The men riding out from Camp Verde did not begin with much of a description. The July 4 newspaper report stated that no description of the murderers could be obtained from the limited information then available.

The same report nevertheless recorded an early suspicion. Two unnamed men who had recently been acquitted at Jerome of stealing horses from Indians were thought possibly responsible. The newspaper offered no evidence linking them to the shootings, and their names were not given.

That distinction matters. The first published account did not identify a famous outlaw, nor did it report that authorities knew who the killers were. It described a violent crime, three reported attackers, an injured witness, and a posse trying to find them.

The mood was considerably clearer than the evidence. The newspaper said the surrounding country was aroused and that excitement and indignation were widespread. It went so far as to predict that the desperadoes were unlikely to be brought back alive.

A Hundred-Man Posse

The pursuit quickly became much larger than the first report suggested.

The University of Arizona’s Arizona Historical Index records an article titled “Bloody Verde tragedy raised 100-man posse.” The article appeared in Arizona Sheriff in 1975, but the index specifically identifies it as a reprint from the Sun of July 8, 1899 and describes it as the story of the Wingfield Store holdup and murders.

That citation provides contemporary support for one of the central facts of the manhunt: within six days of the killings, the search was being described as involving a hundred-man posse.

For a sparsely settled part of Arizona Territory, that was a substantial response. The surviving evidence shows that the murders had become more than a local crime. Men were being called into the search while the county sheriff became involved in the pursuit.

Sheriff John Lee Munds

John Lee Munds had been elected sheriff of Yavapai County in November 1898 after previously serving as a deputy. The Camp Verde murders occurred during his first year in office.

Later biographical material on Munds identifies the Rodgers-Wingfield case as one of the largest manhunts associated with his tenure and says the search continued for weeks. A historical sign at Camp Verde likewise states that “half the neighborhood” joined the search and that the chase ranged as far as New Mexico and lasted more than a month.

Those details come from later historical accounts rather than the July 1899 newspaper report and should be treated accordingly. They are consistent with the documented scale of the early posse, but they do not establish the exact route taken by individual search parties.

Where the Record Becomes Uncertain

Later versions of the Camp Verde murders contain considerably more detail than the first newspaper reports. Some describe a lone gunman rather than three attackers. Others describe particular horses, tracks, escape routes, or methods supposedly used to confuse the posse.

Those details present a problem.

The July 4 account is explicit that three men opened fire. It also says that no description of the murderers was then available. Until contemporary evidence is found showing how investigators moved from that account to a different reconstruction of the crime, the later lone-gunman version cannot safely be presented as established fact.

The same caution applies to stories about the amount of money supposedly taken from the store. The first report called the attackers “supposed robbers,” but did not state how much money, if any, was stolen. Later claims of substantial stolen cash or hidden loot should not be treated as fact without period documentation.

The Search Fails to Produce a Killer

What can be documented is that the pursuit expanded rapidly and did not immediately produce an arrest. The July 8 reference to a hundred-man posse demonstrates the size of the response; later Camp Verde historical material remembers the search as continuing for more than a month.

As the weeks passed, the murders remained unresolved.

Then, in August, a new name entered the newspaper record.

On August 26, 1899, a dispatch from Jerome reported that Yavapai County officers believed a captured outlaw known as “Black Jack” was responsible for the July 2 murders of Rodgers and Wingfield and that a requisition had been made for his return to Arizona.

The dispatch itself illustrates the confusion surrounding the developing story. It identified the prisoner as “Sam Ketchum, or ‘Black Jack.’” Tom Ketchum, not his brother Sam, is the outlaw generally known as Black Jack Ketchum. The error is a reminder that even contemporary newspaper reports must be compared with other evidence.

For the purposes of the Camp Verde manhunt, the important point is narrower: by late August, Yavapai County officers were publicly connecting a Ketchum with the murders.

That was a significant change from the first reports in July, when suspicion had fallen on two unnamed men recently acquitted in Jerome.

Whether the new suspicion was supported by enough evidence to identify the murderer is a separate question.

The hundred-man posse had searched the country. The killers had not been brought back to Camp Verde. And nearly two months after the shootings, investigators were still trying to determine who had murdered Mack Rodgers and Clinton Wingfield.

Documented Discrepancies

Number of attackers: The July 4, 1899 report states that three men opened fire. Later accounts sometimes describe a single gunman. No contemporary source located for this post explains that change.

Robbery motive and stolen money: The July 4 report calls the attackers “supposed robbers,” but does not document an amount stolen. Later claims about large sums or hidden loot are therefore omitted.

Identity of the suspects: The first report points to two unnamed men recently acquitted in Jerome. By August 26, county officers were publicly associating a Ketchum with the crime.

Ketchum identification: The August 26 dispatch calls the suspect “Sam Ketchum, or ‘Black Jack,’” although Tom Ketchum is the outlaw historically known as Black Jack. This post does not attempt to resolve the murder accusation; that question belongs in the next part of the story.

Length and route of the pursuit: The 100-man posse is supported by the Arizona Historical Index’s identification of a July 8, 1899 Sun article. Claims that the chase lasted more than a month and ranged to New Mexico survive in later Camp Verde historical material and are identified as later accounts.

Sources and Research Notes

• Arizona newspaper clipping, July 4, 1899, “A Verde Massacre — Two Merchants, Rodgers and Wingfield Murdered.” Contemporary report supplied for this research.

• Arizona Historical Indexes, University of Arizona: “Bloody Verde tragedy raised 100-man posse,” Arizona Sheriff, May–June 1975, p. 34+, identified as a reprint from the Sun, July 8, 1899.

• Denton Evening News, August 26, 1899, p. 1: Jerome dispatch reporting Yavapai County officers’ belief that a captured Ketchum was responsible for the Camp Verde murders and that a requisition had been made.

• Camp Verde historical signage, as photographed and transcribed in 2013, stating that the search ranged as far as New Mexico and lasted more than a month. Used only as later local historical evidence.

• Biographical material on Sheriff John Lee Munds confirming his election as Yavapai County sheriff in November 1898 and associating him with the Camp Verde manhunt. Used as secondary evidence.