Nellie Cashman - Arizona

Arizona

Later in life, Cashman moved to Tombstone, Arizona. She raised money to build the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and committed herself to charity work with the Sisters of St. Joseph's. She continued to work as a caretaker, taking a position as a nurse in a Cochise County hospital.

When Cashman's sister Fanny lost her husband in 1881, Cashman arranged for Fanny and her five children to move to nearby Tucson, Arizona. Fanny died two years later, leaving the children in Cashman's care.

Cashman traveled to Baja California soon after her sister's death, after hearing rumors of untapped gold and silver deposits, and joined 21 men in a prospecting venture. Just 16 hours into the 100-mile journey, the group's water supply was nearly depleted, and most of the men were suffering from dehydration. The venture was quickly abandoned.

In December of 1883, bandits committed the Bisbee Massacre, killing several innocent bystanders. Five men were found guilty of the crime and were sentenced to die by hanging on March 28, 1884. Many people were eager to make a spectacle of the execution, and sheriff J.L. Ward ran out of courtesy tickets to the event. A local carpenter built a grandstand next to the courthouse, planning to charge for tickets. Cashman was indignant at the behavior of the citizens of Tombstone, feeling that no death should be celebrated. She befriended the five convicts, visiting them regularly to provide them with spiritual guidance. Cashman further convinced the sheriff to set a curfew on the day of the hangings to prevent a crowd from forming. The night before the execution, Cashman and a crew of volunteers tore down the grandstand under the cover of darkness. The hangings proceeded as scheduled, out of public view. When Cashman learned that a medical school planned to exhume the bodies of the five convicts for study, she enlisted two prospectors to stand watch over the Boot Hill Cemetery for 10 days.

Cashman and her associate Joseph Pascholy co-owned and ran a restaurant and hotel in Tombstone called Russ House, now known as Nellie Cashman's. According to a popular legend, a client once complained about Cashman's cooking, and fellow diner Doc Holliday drew his pistol, asking the customer to repeat what he had said. Embarrassed, the client replied, "Best I ever ate."

In 1886, Cashman left Tombstone to travel across Arizona, opening restaurants and boarding houses in Nogales, Jerome, Prescott, Yuma, and Harquahala, near Phoenix.