The Great Wham Robbery
Arizona, The Youngest State
McClintock, 1913, page 471

One of the most notorious crimes of the Southwest, possibly 
the only instance of an attack by white men on American 
soldiers has been the Wham Robbery.  May 11, 1889, Major J.W. 
Wham, paymaster, U.S.A., started from Fort Grant for Fort 
Thomas, taking with him in an army wagon, a box containing 
$26,000 in gold and some silver for the pay of troops.  As 
escort he had eleven colored soldiers from the 25th Infantry 
led by a sergeant.  The party had passed Cedar Springs, and 
had entered a small defile when the way was blocked by a 
large rock that seemed to have rolled down the hillside.  
A number of soldiers were busy removing the rock, their 
rifles laid aside, when a fusillade of shots came from the 
brow of a nearby ridge.  The soldiers acted well, deploying 
behind such cover as they could find, but the road was fully 
commanded by a foe that had constructed seven little rock 
shelters and who offered only the target made by the smoke 
of their rifles.  Five of the soldiers had been wounded, 
none of them seriously, when the major was found in full 
flight.  Their only officer gone, the Negroes followed and 
the field was left to the enemy.  Three men were seen to 
come down to the road, pick up the chest and carry it over 
the ridge.  Help soon came from Grant. The contents of the 
box had been emptied into gunnysacks and the robbers had 
departed on horses.  At the time it was believed that 
thirteen men had shared in the robbery but at the time 
only seven sets of tracks were found.

Within a few days the military authorities had secured 
evidence on which were arrested eight Gila Valley farmers 
and stockmen including Ed Lyman, Wal. Follett, Gilbert and 
W.T. Webb, Dave Cunningham, Tom Lamb and Dave Rogers.  A 
number of witnesses were gathered up, one of them swearing 
that he had seen several of the accused hide their booty in 
his haystack and use his fireplace to burn the gunnysacks.

Ed and Wal. Follett and Tom Lamb were dismissed and no 
evidence was found against a Gila farmer who was popularly 
charged with having laid the plot and received his share 
of the loot.  The others were bound over under very heavy 
bonds.  The case was brought up in November and lasted 
thirty three days.  The District Attorney was Harry 
Jeffords who was assisted by William Herring and S.M. 
Franklin.  The attorneys for the defense were led by 
Marcus A. Smith and Ben Goodrich.  There were 165 
witnesses.  The five Negroes who had been left on the 
field identified three of the accused.  Wham was as bad 
a witness as he was a soldier and by Mark Smith was led 
into a trap in trying to identify 1000 in gold that had 
been seized by the Government after deposit by Gilbert 
Webb in a hotel safe.  The man with the haystack 
declared he had lied in his first statements. The verdict 
was for the defendants.



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