Viola Slaughter - Wife of The Sheriff

Wife of The Sheriff

Although the house had been abandoned, and deteriorating, for fifty years, Viola Slaughter was very happy with her new house. She marveled at the views nearby and the fact that, just by walking from one side of the house to the other, she would be crossing countries every time. From 1886 to 1890, John worked as sheriff in Tombstone, so the Slaughters made Tombstone their new hometown. They decided, however, to keep the ranch after John was elected.

In 1887, one of the few earthquakes in the history of Arizona hit their ranch, destroying a large part of it. John felt quite disappointed about his life as a rancher and he had decided to retire from being a working rancher once his days as sheriff were over. Viola, however, convinced him otherwise. She offered to help him with his ranching, going as far as saying "just give me a plain house with wide board floors, muslin ceilings and board finish around the adobes. That's all I want".

In 1892, the Slaughters, having remodeled their ranch, moved there permanently. Viola Slaughter also became famous across the west for her curing abilities, and cowboys would come from as far as New Mexico to get treatment from her. She would also join John on his frequent trips to Mexico; they helped catch a killer there, and usually brought cattle from as far as Hermosillo. Viola Slaughter would later tell the famed writer Charles Morgan Wood that she heard one time that John had been killed in Mexico by Apaches, and she got on a wagon and headed towards the frontier. Three days later, she saw her husband from afar. Viola was so happy that she felt ill, but she faked her weak feeling when her husband got to her, and he did not notice that she was not feeling good.

In 1896, John went on the attack, following Apaches to Mexico. Instead, he found the abandoned baby, Apache May.