Wicked Bisbee

Nicknamed the “Queen of Copper Camps” for having the richest copper mining operations in the world, Bisbee also was the scene of dastardly crimes. From drunken shootouts in saloons to strikers clashing with mining executives, the town’s past is filled with stories of vengeance and street justice. The aftermath of an 1885 lynching led directly to the establishment of the Copper Queen Library, too late to deter the infamous Bisbee Massacre of 1883. In Lowell, an argument about an alleged affair ended in murder, while the Fly-Swatting Contest of 1912 encouraged a different kind of killing. Author, journalist and historian Francine Powers uncovers the real-life dramas of Wild West Bisbee.