Johnny Behan
John Harris Behan (October 23, 1844 – June 7, 1912) was from April, 1881 to November, 1882 sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona Territory. Behan was appointed the first sheriff of the newly-created county in February, 1881. The mining boomtown of Tombstone was the new county seat and Behan's headquarters. Immediately before taking office as sheriff, Behan had served five months as undersheriff for the southern area of Pima County, which included Tombstone, succeeding Wyatt Earp in this position. Behan married and had two children, but his wife divorced him, accusing him of consorting with prostitutes. He had a relationship with Josephine Marcus for an uncertain period of time until she too was upset by his liaisons with other women, and she left him for Wyatt Earp.
Behan was sheriff during the events leading up to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He testified at length after the shooting in support of the Cowboy's position that the Earps had precipitated the shootout and murdered three Cowboys. After the Earps were exonerated, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush on December 28, 1881, and assistant deputy Morgan Earp was killed by assassins on March 19. The outlaw Cowboys named as suspects in both shootings were either let go on a technicality or were provided alibis by fellow Cowboys. Wyatt Earp killed one of the suspects, Frank Stilwell, in Tucson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt and his federal posse set out after other suspects, pursued by Johnny Behan and his county posse composed mostly of Cowboys.
Johnny later ran the Yuma Territorial Prison and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912.
Read more about Johnny Behan: Early Life, Marriage, Family and Divorce, Relationship With Josephine Sadie Marcus, Behan Moves To Tombstone, Later Life, Death and Burial, Popular Culture
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“I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.”
—Brendan Behan (1923–1964)