The Pleasant Valley War (2021) - full transcript

[guns firing]

I'm here in Young Arizona

or what used to be called Pleasant Valley.

What you're about to see is a movie

about the Pleasant Valley War.

It'll be told in two forms,

documentary interviews and
traditional narrative filmmaking.

We filmed many of these scenes

in the places where this
war actually happened,

where these people were really killed.

This is the story of the
Grahams and the Tewksburys.



Two families who turned
against each other.

[subtle music]

[Narrator] The Pleasant valley War,

the bloodiest feud in American history.

It cost far more lives
than the battle between

the Hatfields and McCoys or

the gunfight at the O.K Corral combined.

Yet somehow this tale
like many of its kind

is fading away into the pages
of our country's history.

Let us not forget.

[somber music]

Here they come now.

John, I'm glad you made it.

Yeah. It's beautiful here.
Just like in Holbrooks.



Jim Roberts, this the
man I told you about.

My good friend John Graham.

Well, welcome to
Pleasant Valley Mr. Graham.

Thank you.

Ed says you're from Ohio?

Yes.

[somber music]

[Narrator] In the year 1881,
John Graham and his brother,

Tom Graham met the
Tewksburys for the first time

in a bar in Globe, Arizona.

They wouldn't have come to Pleasant Valley

if it hadn't been for that meeting.

Now you have to remember

the Grahams and the
Tewksburys were friends.

In fact, the Grahams
moved to Pleasant Valley

at the recommendation of the Tewksburys.

So what happened that
turned such close friends

into the fiercest of enemies.

[somber music]

Now this man James
Stinson comes to the Valley

and he brings with him
near 1200 head of cows.

So he'd been a judge.

So he knows the law and
a man that knows the law

knows how to manipulate the law.

So think about this,

Stinson wants to be the
cattle king in this region,

but his brand is just a simple T symbol.

Now, anyone that knows a
thing about cattle brands

or cattle rustling,
will you that that brand

is way too easy to manipulate
and therefore steal.

So why would he do this?

He's a smart man.

Why would he set himself up to be wrong?

Unless that's what he wanted to happen.

Maybe he thought that was a good way

to get rid of the competition.

I don't know how we're gonna
make it in cattle out here.

Seems like every time we
gather three out of five head

got that Stinson brand on them.

Yeah, he does swing a
money-wise loop for a newcomer.

He thinks he's some
kind of cattle Baron.

He does have an awful lot of cows.

Maybe more than he needs.

Now, Stinson, he's got his T brand, right?

Well, suppose we just
add an E to it, dominant.

[subtle music]

You're not talking
about cattle rustling.

No, no.

They hang people out here for that.

I ain't saying we go
out looking for them.

I'm just saying if a couple of Stinson's

cows wander around our spread,

why not add that E?

[subtle music]

Like you said, three out of five are his.

[subtle music]

What the hell he ain't gonna
miss a couple of cows gone.

That's right, brother.

By all accounts, both the Grahams

and the Tewksburys stole cattle.

It wasn't hard.

You have to remember
this area was open range,

so there were no fences for miles.

The cattle herds would all blend together

and then be separated at branding time.

So it was really easy to
accidentally gather up

some of your neighbors cows

as they wandered onto your spread,

or if a neighbor's cow had
a calf on your property,

it was really easy to adopt
that calf into your herd

and brand them accordingly.

Now, according to Jinx Pyle,
he was not a violent man.

He was married to a devout Mormon

and he never took any violent action

against the Tewksburys or the Grahams

even though he knew they
were stealing his cattle.

He was trying to let the law

take care of this problem for him.

But some of his Cowboys had other ideas.

I know that them Grahams and Tewksburys

are stealing our cattle,

but Mr. Stinson won't listen.

That's a pretty big
accusation uncle John.

You gotta be sure about before
saying such things like that.

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure.

I bet you if we rode over there right now,

we'd find Stinson bees
in their holding pen.

I think we do what Mr. Stinson say.

He tell you leave alone.

Now, what kind of foreman would I be

if I did not look after
my boss's interest?

Well, nothing we can do today.

The hell we can't.

We can ride over there right now.

Mr. John this is bad idea.

I think we do as told by Mr. Stinson.

Either you saddle up and go
over there with me right now

or collect your pay.

And what about you?

You coming?

I'm with you uncle John.

That's a good boy. Let's go.

[dramatic music]

Good morning boys,
what are you looking for?

You. You son of a bitch.

[guns firing]

Uh, come on lets go.

[guns firing]

[somber music]

[man groaning painfully]

You'll be fine.

Go ahead and drop the wagon.

We'll take him to his
folks' place to heal.

[somber music]

Well, that's the story
that Ed and his friends told.

The other side of it,
it's not much different

except for a few details,

and you know, the devil is
always in those details.

[guns firing]

The other side was Elijah
didn't even raise his rifle.

He was trying to get away
and Ed shot him in the back.

That would not surprise me one bit

because ED was known to
be a man with a hot temper

and also to be an excellent marksman.

If he did that might've been the moment

when the Graham started to question

their allegiance with the Tewksburys.

[suspenseful music]

The aftermath of this first fight,

didn't occur in the
backwoods of Pleasant Valley,

but in the Quarter, Prescott
in the winter of 1883,

Ed and John traveled
with their brother Frank,

a frail man to begin with,
they were accused of murder,

but this was a pretty
hard charge to make stick

when the man they supposedly
killed was still alive.

It may have seen for a moment

that all the trouble had been resolved,

but on this journey,
another life was lost.

Frank, you okay?

Give him some water.

[Frank breathing heavily]

Frank?

Frank died during those cold months

and though it wasn't a
bullet that took his life,

his brother still blamed Stinson
and Gilliland for starting

this whole mess in the first place.

Sad thing is Frank wasn't
even at that first gunfight,

he was actually off running
errands with his brother John,

but he wasn't the last innocent

by standard in this
range war, far from it.

[subtle music]

Gentlemen, sit.

What can we do for you, Mr. Stinson.

[subtle music]

A lot of my cattle have
come up missing lately.

Yeah we heard about that.

A lot of cattle.

As you know cattle theft is a
very serious crime out here.

[Graham] They hang men for it.

I am hiring you both
as range detectives.

[chuckles] Us? Detectives?

I already know who's stealing my cattle,

proving it is another matter.

You will find evidence that
will incriminate the Tewksbury.

For your testimony I will give
you 25 cows and 25 calves,

and I will forget about the fact

that you were involved in these incidents.

Oh, we have nothing to...

[suspenseful music]

Your T E brand is shared between you

and the Tewksbury, isn't that right?

Well yeah.

Well, it's not registered.

Which means that you have no
legal right to those cattle,

neither you nor the Tewksburys.

I suggest that you register
that brand in your name

and your name only.

I expect you to accept this
offer within the next 24 hours,

or if you choose to reject my proposal

I will draw my own conclusions

and meet out my own justice.

Goodnight gentlemen.

[suspenseful music]

The truth be told, we
don't know how it happened.

We can't tell the reason why the Graham's

decided to betray their friends,

and neither can the
historians who researched

and wrote books about the war.

It remains the ultimate
mystery of this story.

Could it really have been
the cattle they received?

That's hard to believe
something had to have happened

to cause the Graham's to betray them.

Some have speculated that it was an affair

with one of the family
women that drove them apart,

but that's an even harder sell,

especially since the
Tewksburys had no idea

they had lost an ally
until it was too late.

What the hell are we gonna do?

I don't know.

Maybe we could talk to Ed.

Ed? No, we can't do that,

he's a damn hothead.

There's no telling what he'll do.

Ed is my friend I can talk to him.

Yeah. You saw how your
friends started shooting

when Gilliland and the
other ones come out,

he's plumed off his rocker.

Huh? What are we gonna
do? Work for Stinson?

John, he knows we're stealing his cows.

Did you hear him in there?

Did you get his meaning?

It's just a lot of
people to consider here,

family, children.

What about our families?

What he said was we either
hand over the Tewksburys

or we hang alongside them.

I wish we could ask
Tom and John Graham now,

but they're long gone along with anything

that could lead us to the truth.

One thing for sure,

these men once called themselves friends,

they were best of friends,

but now enemies.

The stage has been set.

The war has begun.

[suspenseful music]

Deputy Hawk.

[Jim] Morning Ed.

Morning Jim.

I have a warranty or for your arrest.

For what?

For cattle wrestling.

This is more of Stinson's crap.

No, this warrant was signed
by Tom and John Graham.

What?

[dramatic music]

No.

[suspenseful music]

Now I'm not gonna have any trouble

bringing you boys in, I'm I?

No, deputy, we don't
give you any trouble.

We'll answer the charges.

[suspenseful music]

The Tewksburys defended
themselves in court again,

but this tactical move by
the Grahams and Stinson

actually ended up backfiring against them.

See the treaty of war as
Dawn to Derek calls it

was a public record,

and the jury soon realized that these men

were framing their rivals for a price.

Not only were the Tewksburys acquitted,

the Grahams faced charges themselves.

But as you'll see, time and
time again in this story,

the courts were not effective

in bringing either side to justice.

[Narrator] This story has the breadth

and depth of a Russian novel.

It could be a Western
version of warm piece

and it might take 10 hours to tell it all.

As the fight began, more
players entered the game.

There was the hash knife outfit

who according to one
source brought with them

many of the worst men
that ever left Texas,

they sided with the Grahams.

The Daggs brothers were
in the sheep business

hated by a cattleman,

they made an allegiance
with the Tewksburys.

The list goes on and
on of men who joined up

and fought on various sides of this war.

For now, we will focus
on the central conflict.

It is important however,

to acknowledge certain characters

who would play a significant
role in this bloody history.

William Graham, the
half-brother of Tom and John

didn't arrive on the scene until 1884.

Andy Blevins, sometimes
known as Andy Cooper

showed up with his brothers,

Hamp and Charlie and their father Martin.

What followed then was an
array of rumors of crimes

they'd committed in Texas and Oklahoma.

When they got here,

they took over a house
owned by a Mormon family

who were away at the time
when the family got back,

Andy refused to give it up
and the family did not have

the guts to take it back from them,

I got to say, I don't blame them.

Then there was Commodore Perry Owens

He was a legendary war
man, a killer of Indians.

Sometimes they say without provocation,

believe it or not he ran with Andy Cooper,

that shows the fine line in his days

between cop and criminal.

Commodore Perry Owens
will play his biggest part

in our story a little later on.

Now what happens next
is a little confusing.

According to some sources
on July 24th, 1884,

is when John Tewkesbury
paid John Graham a visit,

there were also some
Stinson's cowboys present.

This was the last goodbye between friends.

[men speaking indistinctly]

[horse whinnying]

Treacherous bastard.

Hey, stay out of this.

Can't believe you do this to your friends

you low life scam.

Get off my land.

Nah, I ain't leaving til
I say what I have to say.

Fact, next time I see
you, I'm gonna kill you.

Don't do it.

[suspenseful music]

But what we can't figure out is that

a similar incident
happened the day before.

So on July 23rd, 1884.

According to these stories,

this is where John Tewkesbury pays a visit

to the Stinson foreman.

This story says John Tewksbury

was accompanied by William Richards,

Ed Rose and George Blaine, a character

with the sorted history who
recently showed up in the area.

Now these stories paint
a different picture

and what transpires next
is a lot more violent.

[dramatic music]

The Tewksburys are coming.

[suspenseful music]

What do you want?

You're playing in the rodeo.

We're still on the board.

You're not welcomed here, except him.

The rest of you clear out.

That's no way to treat your neighbors.

You should be more hospitable.

Like I said, Mr. Rhodes can stay,

the rest of you get going.

Who do you think you are?

Just because you're Stinson's
boy it don't matter to us.

[guns firing]

[suspenseful music]

The story of this war
is full of such mysteries.

And the closer you look,
the more confusing it gets,

who killed who is not always cut and dry.

And members of both sides of this fight

seemed to crossover to the other,

motivations aren't quite clear.

I'll give you an example.

One day a Mexican sheep herder was shot.

[guns firing]

Some say it was done
by the Blevins family,

but author Jinx Pyle is certain

it was done by a man named Bill Concord.

Now bill was actually
friends with the Tewksburys,

so why would he kill the sheep
herder that they'd hired?

Well, I guess Bill wasn't so crazy

about sheep being on his land.

He also though did not want
to piss off the Tewksburys.

So he did it and made it look
like it was the enemy's doing,

the killers trail led straight
back to the Graham ranch.

So many historians try to make sheep

the main motivation for all this violence.

Okay. So yes, anyone that owned sheep

was a direct target of the cattlemen,

but it was just one of many factors,

and it really didn't become a factor

until the war had already begun.

Now one of the sources
in Jinx Pyle's book says

both factions in the Pleasant
Valley War were cattlemen.

The sheep that were
brought into the valley

under the protection
of the Tewkesbury guns,

were only in incident intended
to harass the Grahams.

Now, sheep herders were not exactly

the most popular guys in Pleasant Valley.

Another one of them named Samuel Shul

got the big fist fight with Hamp Blevins.

After giving Blevins a beat down,

he went back to his home
where he was soon shot

in the face with a shotgun.

Shul?

[guns firing]

[somber music]

It's never been proven,

but it's quite possible that Hamp Blevins

was the one who did it.

[somber music]

The reason that the
Pleasant Valley War escalated

to the point that it did was because

it wasn't just the Tewksburys

and the Grahams families that
were killed or killing people,

people that were just passing through,

Cowboys going from one point
to another were being killed,

some were found, others just went missing

because wild animals, lions, hogs,

would eat their bodies and they'd be gone.

[somber music]

Mark Blevins, the head
of the Blevins family,

brought his boys up from Texas

running from the Texas Rangers.

He joined the hash knife
cattle drive to hide his trail

and to get three square
meals a day driving cattle.

And they landed in the lush
tall grass of Pleasant Valley.

What a Haven for cattle and
what a Haven for rustling,

and rustle they did.

In July of 1887, Mark Blevins disappeared.

Some say it was the Tewksburys,

but no one really knows for sure.

[suspenseful music]

Morning Mark, where are you headed?

Maybe out scalp hunt.

What?

Don't play dumb.

We know your boy Ed put up $50
each for a Tewkesbury scale.

I don't know nothing about that.

Get out of my way.

I've got work to do.

You're a liar.

You Blevins are all in it together.

You guys don't keep
secrets from one another.

Yeah. Like killing our shipper,

I suppose you don't know
nothing about that either.

Nobody calls me a liar,

especially to a half breed Tewksburys.

[suspenseful music]

Mr. Reynold, the Blevin
boys blame the Tewksburys

for the disappearance of their father.

And they sent out on a mission

along with the hash knife cowboy buddies

to find their father or to kill Tewksbury.

[air whooshing]

How are you Tom?

Busy today?

Not really.

Where are you boys riding too?

We're out hunting.

You boys got murder in your eyes.

We're hunting Tewksburys.

I'd love to give you
one of them bastards.

Wait up I'll come along.

They met in a saloon,

and then in a drunken boisterous manner

they said the phrase,

let's just start a little war of our own.

That became the title of a book written

by the late Don Dedera.

That best describes what
happened in Pleasant Valley.

The boisterous talk was overheard,

and when they showed up
at the Middleton Ranch

to kill Tewksburys, they were expected.

[suspenseful music]

Hello in the house, Mr. Newton?

It's us Blevins boys, we
just want something to eat.

Get the hell out of here.

Whoa wow Ed, we're just here for a meal.

This ain't a a boarding house.

Turn your horses and get.

Okay. Okay. Just calm down.

Once again, no one knows
who took the first shot,

but it's a damn good guess that
it wasn't the Blevins gang.

It was not an ideal situation
that they were looking for.

[guns firing]

Regardless, bodies of
both men and horses fell.

[man groaning painfully]

Hamp Blevins was shot in the head.

Ed Tewkesbury nearly shot by John Payne.

Payne's running for cover,

and he shot Ed Tewkesbury
with Jim, Robert took both.

[guns firing]

Tom and [indistinct] are both wounded.

[guns firing]

Glasby walks 30 miles
before he finds help.

And without a single casualty,

the victory goes to the Tewkesbury side.

Jinx Pyle writes in his book,

that right after the shootout,

a band of Apaches on
the war path come down

and they look at the bodies
and they see the guns

out the ports and they take
off as fast as possible.

[somber music]

The defeated then comes
back in a couple of days,

they buried their dead.

The ranch house had
already been abandoned,

but they burned it down anyway.

[somber music]

Now you're probably wondering

where was the law in all of this?

Well, they were in Prescott to be exact,

a good distance away.

So trying to stop a blood
feud in Pleasant Valley,

wasn't quite like taking a
walk down to the O.K Corral.

I'm looking for the Tewksburys,

I understand you gentlemen

are just the ones to help me find them.

No tiny law dogs, it's
something about them.

[] How do you mean?

They've been running
a rough shot all over

this valley, he ain't
held in no new account.

Well, he know Prescott
is a long ways from here,

and if no one reports it,

then how do we know
what's going on out here?

They're thieves and murderers,

you got to take them all in.

You know, with claims like that,

I'm gonna need some hard facts.

And if they're true, I'll go after them.

Oh, I'll give you the facts.

Sheriff, wake up, the horses are gone.

What?

The horses, all of them.

The Tewksburys got them.

They left this note with
our man at night watch.

They got the drop on them.

We've found your horses wandering loose

with all the rustling
going on in the area,

we took them for safekeeping.

You can come by our ranch on your way out

of Pleasant Valley to
reclaim them, Ed Tewksbury.

Which one of you is Ed Tewkesbury?

I'm Ed. You must be sheriff Mulvenon?

Damn right I am. And how
dare you still our horses?

Those are some mighty strong words.

It's the truth, you even
left a note with my man.

Your man could have woke
up with his throat slit.

What?

That's what a rustler
would do, or an Indian.

Fact is your whole posse coulda woke up

with their throat slit.

Lot of dangerous men lurking
around in these parts.

Are you threatening me?

I'm the law.

You're the law in Prescott,

up here we don't have
much use for such titles.

What we're trying to say is take your men

and go back to Prescott while you can.

What are you saying to me?

You're a smart man,

what kind of risk you
think these posse members

are willing to take?

What to say some of our friends come along

and stop you as you're trying
to take us back to Prescott.

What would you do?

I have a warrant out for your arrest.

I'd take your man and go home.

[suspenseful music]

Go back to Prescott.

We'll be along eventually.

Well, I'm gonna need
my horses back then.

I'll have them taken
over the backend store.

[suspenseful music]

Now, this wasn't the first time

that Mulvenon was told to stay away,

months earlier he made his first attempt

to calm the conflict.

[dramatic music]

Don't turn around.

I'm Sheriff Mulvenon, and I'm...

I know who you are and
who you're looking for.

Leave Pleasant Valley
or you will be killed.

[dramatic music]

He was warned by not
just one, but both sides.

I'm Sheriff Mulvenon,
and I'm looking at...

I know who you are and
who you're looking for,

leave Pleasant Valley or you'll be killed.

So for the time being,

there was no law in Pleasant Valley

except what each man made for himself.

The sheriff, he smartly
decided to return to Prescott.

[air whooshing]

[guns firing]

John?

Before the boy died,

he confessed that it was Ed

who was the one who had done it,

but a man by the name Jim Hawk

took the blame for his murder.

[guns firing]

Jim claims that he was there
looking for John Graham

with a warrant,

and mistook Billy by mistake,

and he states that Billy
opened fire on him,

and he said that he just
had to put a bullet in him.

The only thing that came from this murder

was just more hatred
between these families.

After Ed got away with
what the Graham's believed

to be the murder of William,

they in their allies were
more united than ever.

They came back at the
Tewksburys with a vengeance.

On September 1st, 1887,

well, Ed was in the
house with John Rhodes,

his friend and the women.

John Tewkesbury and William
Jacobs went out that morning.

[somber music]

[guns firing]

[suspenseful music]

Jacobs was shot in the back.

John Tewkesbury was shot
in the back of the neck.

One source in Pyle's book says that

John Tewkesbury was found with clumps

of his own hair in his hands,

proving it must have been
a very painful death.

[somber music]

In their next step of retaliation,

the Graham's laid siege
to the Tewksbury cabin.

[guns firing]

I'm David Graham.

Where's my brother?

He's dead, so is Jacobs, you're next.

[suspenseful music]

Let us come out and
take care of the bodies.

No, we gonna feed you to the hawks,

just like you did to my dad.

That was my husband,
you're son of a bitch.

I'm gonna kill every goddamn
Graham that walks the earth.

[guns firing]

You see anything?

Nothing.

They ain't going away.

We need some help.

Then I should sneak out and get some.

As soon as it's dark.

[indistinct] I seen
him not Sloan again...

Jim they have raided
the Tewksbury's farm,

we need your help now.

You don't hear him ride the
patient, get them all now.

Go.

[dramatic music]

[guns firing]

Hey, we got John Rhodes,
we're coming in don't shoot.

[somber music]

After the siege on
the Tewksbury's place,

Andy Blevins Cooper made his way up

to Holbrook with some of his brothers.

Now, Holbrook was not exactly
a haven of peace either,

according to one source in 1886,

they were 26 shooting deaths there,

to put that in perspective,

the entire population of the
town was only 250 people.

While there, Andy did
a whole lot of bragging

about the killing he'd done in the war,

and soon enough, the pressure

was on the sheriff of Apache County

to do something about it.

The sheriff at the time Commodore Perry,

don't forget, Harry and
Andy had been friends,

as Pyle writes in his book,

they had ridden together,
killed Indians together,

drank whiskey together, and
even courted the same girl.

Maybe that's the reason
it took Perry so long

to catch up with Andy.

Regardless on September 4th,

that's exactly what he did.

Now what you see behind me
is the actual Blevins house

where Commodore Perry Owens

and the Blevins brothers
had their gun fight.

As you can tell, it's changed
a lot throughout the years

and the city of Holbrook
has grown up around it.

But it was important to us
to film on the actual site

and be authentic.

This is the building
where it all went down

and this is the street
where Commodore Perry Owens

walked down to finally
capture Andy Blevins.

[air whooshing]

Andy?

What do you want?

I have a warrant for your arrest.

What's that warrant for?

For stealing them horses.

We talked about this
before, are you ready?

No, give me a minute.

Andy don't do it. Andy?

[guns firing]

That version of the
gunfight is how both witnesses

and sheriff Owens describe it.

I'm now gonna read you
an actual transcript

from Owen's testimony from the inquest.

I says to Cooper, I want you.

Cooper says, "What do
you want with me Owens?"

Says, "I have a warrant for your arrest."

Cooper says, "What warrant?"

I spoke to him about some
time ago from stealing horses.

Cooper says, "Wait."

I says Cooper, no, wait.

Cooper says I won't go.

So I shot him.

There's always two sides to the story

when a law man shoots a criminal.

It was very different time and place,

violence and death was a
constant in people's lives.

Witnesses say the gunfight
took less than one minute,

which left three dead and one wounded.

And despite being shot at,

Owens escaped the battle unscathed.

Commodore Perry Owens
became a legend that day,

which only further inflamed the feud.

Eva Blevins, who was also in
the house that fateful morning

tells a different version
of what took place.

Is Andy here?

Yes, of course.

Andy, someone's here for you.

I want you Andy.

[guns firing]

As you can see, there
are some discrepancies

about what took place that day.

Owens was never indicted for the killings.

They were all ruled
self-defense by coroner's juries

that were brought in to review each death.

Although some viewed Perry as a legend,

he was soon replaced as
sheriff of Apache County.

Perhaps his killing ways
had served their purpose.

No matter what happened that day,

it only further but fueled
on an already raging fire.

[somber music]

Put your hands up.

You're our prisoners.

[suspenseful music]

[guns firing]

[man groaning painfully]

[somber music]

John, why didn't you surrender?

We wouldn't have had to kill you.

[somber music]

I didn't know it was you.

[somber music]

After the failed arrest
that led to their death,

the sheriff continue on to round up

as many Outlaws as that he could.

The Tewksbury well, they
finally surrendered.

Tom Graham on the other hand he fled,

but he was later captured down in Phoenix.

Trials were held but nothing came of them.

The conventional law once again,

proved inadequate in stopping this war.

You see the different type
of justice was necessary.

[somber music]

We hear you've been bragging

about making Maryann
Tewkesbury into a widow.

Well, now we'll see how
Lizzie Rose likes being one.

[guns firing]

Now it's not clear if Ed was
the one who killed Al Rose,

but he is confirmed to have
have ridden with the vigilantes.

A fact that makes their mission
more of a one-sided quest

than an objective crusade.

Al Rose was killed not far from his cabin,

because unlike Tom Graham,

who was smart enough to
get out of the valley,

well, Rose stuck around and
he paid the ultimate price.

A group of vigilantes was formed

to finally clean out the rustlers.

[suspenseful music]

[guns firing]

Men were hanged, others arrested.

Some fled and went on
to live normal lives,

even becoming sheriffs and
deputies after they turned away

from their outlaw ways,
the violence did continue,

but with Tom Graham,
the last of the Graham's

gone from Pleasant Valley,

it was nothing like it once had been.

However, what happens next

is the most incredible part of our story.

[subtle music]

He's in town.

It ends now.

[metal clanking]

[horse whinnying]

[guns firing]

[air whooshing]

It was the morning of August 2nd, 1892,

when Tom Graham was killed in
the city of Tempe, Arizona.

His assassin Ed Tewkesbury
was accompanied by

that loyal family friend, John Rhodes.

After the killing, the two
men went their separate ways.

Rhodes was arrested in the city

while Ed made his way
back to Pleasant Valley.

[subtle music]

Now many people believe it's impossible

that Ed could have killed Tom,

see Ed was seen in Pleasant Valley

on the afternoon of August 1st,

the murder occurred at
7:00 am on August 2nd,

Ed was also seen in Pleasant Valley

the afternoon of August 2nd at a dance.

So in order for him to have killed Tom,

he would have had to cover
250 miles on horseback

in less than 30 hours.

But that's exactly what he did.

[subtle music]

Now this amazing feat of riding

would have been the perfect alibi,

except that a couple of witnesses saw him

both at the scene and on his escape route.

So Rhodes and Ed were both
arrested and went to trial.

Rhodes had his own set of alibis

in the form of prominent businessmen,

that said he was with them at
the time that Tom was shot.

So furious was Tom's
widow at the acquittal,

she tried to shoot Rhodes in
the middle of the courtroom,

and for good or bad, she was unsuccessful.

But Ed, Ed was actually convicted,

but of course, on a technicality
he had to be retried.

And the second trial ended in a hung jury.

So for the final time,

the law was unable to
convict any of the combatants

of the Pleasant Valley War.

Ed Tewkesbury returned home
a free man, the last man.

[somber music]

After 10 years of
fighting and nearly 50 dead,

the Pleasant Valley War was one

of the main contributors in delaying

Arizona statehood for another 20 years.

But what do we learn from this story?

Historians have researched this for years,

countless books have been written,

other films have been made,

but will we ever really understand
what started this fight?

We can't know the hearts and minds

of the Grahams and Tewksburys,

and we probably never will,

but we do know one thing for sure.

If you live by the gun,
you die by the gun.

[somber music]

[guns firing]

[somber music]