Pete Spence - Suspect in Morgan Earp Assassination

Suspect in Morgan Earp Assassination

At 10:50 p.m. on Saturday, March 18, 1882, Morgan Earp was shot by assailants who fired through a glass-windowed, locked door at the Campbell & Hatch Billiard Parlor in Tombstone. At the time, Morgan was playing a late round of billiards against owner Bob Hatch. The shooters narrowly missed Wyatt Earp, who was watching the game. Spence's wife, Marietta Duarte, testified at the coroner’s inquest that her husband, Frank Stilwell, Frederick Bode, "Indian Charlie" Cruz, and a half-breed named Fries bragged about shooting Morgan. Her husband had threatened her with violence if she told what she knew.

The coroner's jury concluded that Spence and his accomplices were the suspects in Morgan's assassination. Spence immediately turned himself in so that he would be protected in Behan's jail. When the prosecution called her to testify at Spence's preliminary hearing, the defense objected because her testimony was hearsay and because a spouse could not testify against her husband. The judge agreed and dismissed the charges.

However, the Earps learned of the coroner's jury findings and took action on their own, setting out to find and kill the Cowboys they felt responsible. Spence owned a ranch and woodcutting camp at South Pass in the Dragoon Mountains, where he employed Indian Charlie Cruz. Cruz was the lookout during Morgan Earp shooting. He was killed by the Earp posse on March 20, 1882, two days after Morgan's murder. Spence turned himself into Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, to be safely held in jail while the Earps were riding on the trail of Morgan's murderers. The Earps later concluded that Spence was an accomplice, but that Stilwell had shot Morgan Earp, and "Curly Bill" Brocius had fired the shot that narrowly missed Wyatt Earp.