Our nation is built upon a history of battles,
fought over honor, family and power.
These bloody and iconic chapters,
define what it truly means
to be an American.
These are Blood Feuds.
- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -
On the dangerous frontier of Arizona, a brutal range war
breaks out that's said to be the deadliest family feud in U.S. history,
the Pleasant Valley war.
Hutton: This was a vendetta between families.
It really was a blood feud.
Narrator: It's a battle to the death
as two ranching clans clash for control over the land
and their right to manifest destiny.
The Tewksbury brothers are frontiersmen
who will stop at nothing to defend their territory.
Ed would stand his ground, and he would not back down.
Narrator: The Graham brothers are grifters,
prepared to kill any man who stands in their way.
Hutton: The Graham boys, they're armed to the teeth
and are determined to get revenge.
Who did this to you?
Who shot you, Billy?
Narrator: Acts of betrayal, unspeakable violence...
Those murdering dogs!
... and ignite a feud
so vicious the pages of American Frontier history
will be bathed in blood.
There's no story in all of Western history as violent.
- There were beheadings. - Lynchings.
This indiscriminate slaughter just seemed medieval.
There's no turning back now.
Meet you in hell, Ed.
[Woman screams]
I'm Ed Tewksbury.
My family and I pioneered Pleasant Valley.
I live by an honorable code.
Tom Graham, he has no code.
I'm gonna get you.
You should be looking over your shoulder
the rest of your life.
I'm Tom Graham.
My brother and I, we settled in the valley.
It was Ed Tewksbury who brought us here.
And let me tell you this...
He is not a man of honor.
If you don't want to die right now, go home, Tom.
It's a blood feud.
It's about vengeance.
Narrator: The feud between Ed Tewksbury and Tom Graham
takes root in the late 1870s
on the unforgiving Arizona frontier.
The Homestead Act lures men to the vast, unclaimed territory.
But only the hardiest of souls can make it here.
Arizona is such a violent place at the time.
The Apache Wars are in full swing,
and they are repeated outbreaks.
Any settler that settled that area
was taking their life in their own hands.
They were essentially settling a killing field.
Narrator: But in the midst of this toxic brew of desert
and danger is a seeming oasis,
a place that comes to be known as Pleasant Valley.
Pleasant Valley is in north central Arizona.
It's right below the Mogollon Rim.
Trimble: They call it the rim of Arizona.
It was a dividing line,
and it dropped off 1,000 feet
down to this nice, little valley.
There's trees to build cabins.
There's grass to support livestock.
This is a place where you could run cattle on free grass
and make a good living.
So here's a cattleman's dream.
Narrator: And one pioneer willing to risk it all
is a fiercely private man named Ed Tewksbury.
Edward Tewksbury was a very strong character.
Spangenberger: You didn't want to get on the wrong side of 'im.
He had quite a temper.
He felt, if he was right,
he was right, and by God, nothing's gonna change that.
Narrator: Originally from California,
Ed's life has been defined by his mixed race.
His father... European, his mother... a Hupa Indian.
Hutton: At the time, in the west,
they had a word for that.
And it was not a positive word.
A half-breed, as they called it then.
Narrator: Following his mother's death,
Ed moves to Arizona in 1877 along with his father,
three brothers and a huge chip on his shoulder.
Gimme that barbed wire over here.
They had endured some racial stuff in California,
you know, "half-breeds."
And you come out here,
and you just say, "I'm not gonna take that anymore."
Hutton: They were tired of being harassed.
Pleasant Valley was one of the last places
where people on the run from another kind of life
who were bold enough could take hold and actually make it.
Narrator: For Ed, it's his best shot to build a life
free from prejudice,
a life where his family relies on no one but each other.
Pleasant Valley offered an opportunity,
dangerous as it was, for them to be left alone.
Narrator: Ed and his brothers
build a simple home for the family and a ranch
for their small herd of cattle.
Trimble: It was hardscrabble.
They just had enough cows to maybe support their families,
and that was about it.
Narrator: It's a humble beginning.
But Ed has faith that, with hard work, the Tewksburys
can live undisturbed in Pleasant Valley.
But their days of solitude won't last long.
Soon after the Tewksburys settle into Pleasant Valley,
another industrious young man
comes to Arizona looking for opportunity.
His name is Tom Graham.
Tom Graham was a very ambitious man.
Obregón Pagán: Tom was young.
He still had a little bit of baby fat and innocence about him.
But he had a real look of determination in his eye.
Herring: He came to Arizona
after a long period of restless wandering,
sometimes on both sides of the law.
Narrator: Wild, wily and always looking for an angle,
Tom is looking to get into the cattle business
with his like-minded brothers.
They were in the great American tradition
of looking for the next big thing.
Narrator: And it's cattle that's on Tom's mind
the day he saddles up to a bar
in a remote town outside of Pleasant Valley
and meets Ed Tewksbury.
It's a meeting that would change their lives
and the course of history.
Tom: Me and my brother just moved out east from California.
Come into town every now and then to play a little poker.
Oh, yeah?
Ed Tewksbury isn't much of a talker.
But something about the young man appeals to the cattleman.
They struck up a conversation,
and it turned out that they actually had a lot in common.
They were both of pioneer stock.
Obregón Pagán: They both lost their mother at a young age.
They both lived in California for a while.
And they're both fledgling ranchmen.
You ever get lucky?
A matter of fact, we won 60 head of cattle out in Phoenix
last week from a couple of fellows who were there
to sell their herd.
That right?
We're looking to set up and graze that herd,
maybe get into ranching.
Obregón Pagán: And so Ed said, "you know,
you ought to think about this place we're living.
You know, come on up, take a look
and see if you can make a life for yourself."
Ed Tewksbury.
Tom Graham.
Tewksbury tells Graham about Pleasant Valley,
tells him about the opportunity there.
Narrator: Tom arrives with his older brother, John,
a man with a wild streak and a nose for trouble.
John was a little bit more fiery.
And I get the feeling that John sort of led Tom around a lot.
Herring: But they were a strong brotherhood, the two of them.
Narrator: John sees the area's potential
and agrees with his brother
that this is where they should ranch.
John Graham was a very ambitious man.
When he had an opportunity, he took it.
Narrator: Soon, the grahams set up a homestead
within sight of the Tewksburys' ranch,
and the two families become fast friends.
Graham and Tewksbury are kindred souls.
Narrator: Ranching is going well.
The Grahams have a herd of 60 cattle,
while the Tewksburys own around 40.
Their families are growing.
Thank you, darling.
Ed Tewksbury's brother John is now married,
and the neighbors have high hopes for the future.
- Long-lasting... - Fruitful and long, huh?
Woman: Cheers.
Narrator: But a new, powerful player in Pleasant Valley
is threatening to disrupt the peace,
a cattleman who will turn these fast friends
into bitter enemies.
The trouble really began
when Stinson brought a herd of cattle over.
Obregón Pagán: James Stinson is a very large cattle owner,
and he moves part of his herd down into Pleasant Valley.
Narrator: Stinson is a wealthy judge who resides in Phoenix.
Trimble: Stinson wanted to have a cattle empire.
He went in and tried to buy people out.
And he really offended both the Grahams
and the Tewksburys, uh, with his high-handed ways.
Narrator: After moving some 1,200 head of cattle into Pleasant Valley,
Stinson's herd far outnumbers those of the brothers,
who have less than 100 head combined.
Suddenly, the vast valley looks a lot smaller.
Grass is free, but it's not really free.
People control grass.
And Stinson had a sense of, "I own all of this range."
Narrator: Concern quickly brews amongst the Tewksbury
and the Graham brothers.
So I hear Stinson was in town,
meeting with his foreman, checking on his cattle.
Stinson is an incredible threat.
Narrator: So the two families hatch a scheme
to increase the size of their herds
and teach this interloper a lesson.
Heard his cattle is gonna be calving soon.
We ready?
Just about.
They plan to round up Stinson's calves that stray from his herds
and claim them as their own.
It's a form of cattle rustling known as mavericking.
Mavericking is the art of taking those unbranded calves
and putting your brand on 'em.
This is when Tom Graham and Ed Tewksbury,
uh, got a joint partnership in a herd.
Here's what I've been working on.
What do you think?
I think it's not half bad.
Brown: Tom Graham and Edward Tewksbury,
their brand was the "T" over "E," Tom and Ed.
Narrator: The new T-E brand,
once burned into the Stinson calves,
will make them property of the Tewksburys and the Grahams
in the eyes of the law.
And so they actually were cattle rustlers together.
Narrator: But the Tewksburys and the Grahams
underestimate Stinson.
He's not the type of man who takes kindly to losing cattle.
Obregón Pagán: His cattle start disappearing.
And Stinson knows something is up.
And he believes that some of the locals in Pleasant Valley
are taking his cattle.
Narrator: Stinson's ranch foreman investigates
and soon puts two and two together.
While his calves go missing, the T-E herd is thriving.
He eagerly reports to his boss what this means.
The Tewksburys and Grahams
preyed on the Stinson herds in order to build their own.
Narrator: Although Stinson recognizes the Grahams
are equal partners in the mavericking,
he reportedly singles out the half-Indian Tewksburys
as the culprits.
In the sight of many Arizonans, they're tainted by Indian blood.
Narrator: Stinson sends the foreman
and his men to teach the Tewksburys a lesson.
Herring: The Stinson foreman
was determined to stop the Tewksburys.
And he rode up to the Arizonans ranch
with some men.
Narrator: The plan is to use this show of force
to threaten Ed and John and stop the rustling.
Suddenly, these men come riding in unannounced,
and they're armed.
Narrator: When Stinson's men arrive,
they discover the Tewksburys aren't alone.
The Grahams are with them.
Now, right away, the Tewksburys and the Grahams are defensive.
And it went to violence very, very quickly.
Narrator: This is just the first chapter
in what comes to be known as the Pleasant Valley war,
one of the bloodiest feuds in U.S. history.
[Screams]
Narrator: In 1883, in the Arizona territory,
the first shots of the Pleasant Valley war
are about to ring out,
triggering one of the deadliest feuds
in American Frontier history.
The Tewksbury and the Graham brothers
have been stealing calves from the largest cattle tycoon
in the area, Judge Stinson.
Stinson has dispatched a posse of armed men
to teach them a lesson.
It went to violence very, very quickly.
Trimble: As the story goes,
the Tewksburys asking, "what do you want?"
And he said something
to the effect of, "you, you S.O.B."
Somebody called somebody a black son of a bitch.
Hands go for guns.
And the foreman pulled his pistol
and fired a shot and missed.
And Ed returns fire. Boom, boom, boom.
Graham is instrumental in jumping in and helping Ed.
Stinson's men, they're trying to draw their weapons,
but their horses are jumping around.
They get off a few shots, but the shots go wild.
Narrator: Stinson's men are outmatched.
Obregón Pagán: Then, they go charging off.
They run from the situation.
It's all over very, very quickly.
Hutton: So the first shots in the Pleasant Valley war
actually have the Grahams and Tewksburys as allies.
Narrator: But the Arizonans and Grahams' days as comrades
are numbered because Jim Stinson isn't about to back down.
So he comes up with a new plan.
Trimble: Stinson is very devious.
He wanted to divide the two families, get 'em fighting.
Narrator: This time, he won't use guns.
He'll use the law.
He looks around. He tries to figure out,
"I need somebody on my side who's willing
to then turn evidence against the Tewksbury brothers
for stealing cattle."
Hutton: Stinson realizes that the Grahams
are gonna be more useful to him
as accomplices rather than enemies.
He wants them to finger the Tewksburys
as the cattle rustlers.
Narrator: Stinson wants to spark a blood feud.
So he calls a meeting with the one person
he deems the weakest link, John Graham.
Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Graham.
I think that John Graham was easily influenced.
Sure thing.
What can I do for you, sir?
You know I run a large herd of cattle down here, Graham.
And I'm losing a lot of 'em to rustlers.
Now, why don't you tell me what that has to do with me?
I think you and your brother
are a little too closely associated with those rustlers.
You don't want to end up in jail.
Besides, I can provide you with adequate compensation.
He offers John a very lucrative contract that,
if he will identify whoever's rustling cattle,
John stands to profit handsomely from this.
Keep talking, Mr. Stinson.
Narrator: It's a simple deal.
John Graham goes to the law
and charges the Tewksburys with stealing.
For any man convicted, Stinson gives John a bounty.
25 full-grown cows and 25 calves for every charge
you make that ends up in a conviction
for a cattle rustler.
Well, that sounds like it might work for us.
Now John faces the difficult task
of getting his younger brother Tom on board
to seal the deal.
♪♪
I don't like it.
It ain't right.
We have to get that out of your head.
This is an opportunity for us.
Tewksburys have been good to us.
They helped us get set up here.
We rustled those mavericks together.
And now you want to tell Stinson
that it was the Tewksburys
that's been stealing from them the whole time?
Whatever the Tewksbury does, they're not family.
You and me got to stick together.
Well, we have a chance to be real cattlemen
with Stinson's reward.
The Tewksburys will go to jail instead of us.
Tom, perhaps idolizing his older brother,
eventually goes along with it.
This is a dark side of the Grahams
because this was a violation of what was the code
of the west, your honor and loyalty to friends.
Narrator: The Grahams know that partnering with Stinson
will declare war on the Tewksburys
but will keep their family out of jail
and gain them a piece of Stinson's cattle empire.
Blood is thicker than water.
And Tom falls right in line with his brother to the very end.
All right.
I'm in.
Narrator: On November 14, 1883,
a meeting is held to sign a contract with Stinson.
They took the deal out of self-interest.
And it forever shattered their friendship
with the Tewksburys.
Narrator: This fateful document
later becomes known as the treaty of war.
Trimble: It was a double-cross.
And what a price it cost 'em.
Narrator: Within days,
the law comes after Ed and John Tewksbury.
Man: Tewksburys, come on out of here.
The brothers are blindsided.
When they discover it was the Grahams who turned them in,
they feel completely betrayed.
They were the ones who invited the Grahams
up to Pleasant Valley.
And suddenly, their friends had turned on them.
This really hit them very, very hard.
Narrator: The Tewksburys face four indictments
on stealing Stinson's cattle.
They have to stand trial.
Narrator: With the Grahams' damning testimony,
they fear conviction is inevitable.
But after several months in court,
there's a surprising verdict when the judge
learns about the Grahams' deal with Stinson.
Brown: When the judge found the contract,
he suddenly became pro-Tewksbury
and dismissed the charges against the Tewksburys
for rustling.
Narrator: For the Grahams, it's a crushing blow.
Not only has their plan blown up,
but now the Tewksburys know the complete depravity
of the double-cross.
The Tewksburys are completely betrayed by the Grahams
in the most fundamental way.
And so they're determined to get revenge.
Narrator: Shortly after the trial,
a festering John Tewksbury can no longer contain his anger,
and he goes looking for John Graham.
John Graham!
John Tewksbury has got a temper and a violent streak.
And that's what's gonna get him into trouble.
Narrator: Drunk with rage,
he can't stop himself from striking a blow.
But he quickly comes to his senses.
The Grahams may have lost the court case,
but they still have their sweet deal
with powerful Judge Stinson.
Surrounded by Stinson's men,
John Tewksbury realizes that, if he goes any further,
he could be killed.
And John Graham knows it, too.
John Tewksbury has no choice but to walk away seething.
Both men know this is not the end.
With the Grahams sitting pretty in Pleasant Valley,
the Tewksburys set out to rebuild their lives.
But even with the charges dismissed,
the Arizonans reputation as respectable cattlemen
is ruined.
So their lives are exponentially more difficult
than they were when the Grahams showed up.
Narrator: Even worse, the legal fees
from the protracted court battle
have brought them to the brink of bankruptcy.
With their cattle operation finished,
they lease their land to a profitable, new enterprise...
Sheep.
Hutton: The Tewksburys turned to sheepherding
as a way to make some money.
And they're willing to lease out part of their range
to sheep that are coming down from the north.
Narrator: Focused on this new venture,
the Tewksburys keep to themselves.
But they are merely biding their time for revenge.
I wouldn't say that they wanted to let bygones be bygones,
but they let things lie.
Narrator: Meanwhile, the Grahams fall upon hard times.
Six months after their pact, their benefactor, James Stinson,
decides he isn't making the money
he expected in Pleasant Valley.
So he chooses to cash out of his cattle operation.
Trimble: When Stinson started this feud,
it was to divide and conquer for financial gain.
That was his purpose.
But it wasn't working out for him, and he knew it.
Narrator: With Stinson gone, the Grahams
lose their protection against the Tewksburys.
Making matters worse, their own cattle business
is failing due to a new player in the valley.
Obregón Pagán: The Aztec Land & Cattle Company
who were there, also known as the Hashknife Cowboys,
moved their operations from Texas into Arizona.
Narrator: With 33,000 Texas longhorns, the Hashknife outfit
employs a band of armed thugs to guard their herd,
led by a particularly violent man named Andy Blevins.
Herring: Blevins had a murder charge from Texas
and was a serious outlaw, a killer of men.
Narrator: Ever the opportunists,
Tom and John Graham decide to sell their small herd
and go to work for the Hashknives and Andy Blevins.
The Grahams quickly understood the benefits of wild people like Andy Blevins.
Narrator: The Graham brothers now have
the biggest cattle outfit in the valley behind them.
And the Aztec's operation is thriving.
But there is one looming threat,
the very venture the Tewksburys have embarked upon... sheep.
Sheep eat the grass right down to the roots,
and they leave nothing.
They'll denude the land.
Cattlemen all across the west despise sheepherders.
It's oil and water.
Spangenberger: The cattlemen decided
that the Mogollon Rim was an area
that would separate the sheep ranching
from the cattle ranching.
And if the sheep came over that, that was a no-no.
Once they did, then the troubles began.
Narrator: And if the Hashknives and Grahams
go after sheepherders,
that means the Grahams will go after the Tewksburys again.
The feud between the brothers is set to reignite.
Trimble: February of 1887
was the beginning of about nine months of real hell.
It began when one of the Tewksburys drove the sheep
over the Mogollon Rim,
and you've got to know there's outrage down there
among the cattlemen.
Then, all of a sudden, things got real nasty.
Hutton: Cowboy reaction to sheep coming into the valley
was to kill the sheep.
That's exactly what they did.
Narrator: The Tewksburys find their flock
at the bottom of the canyon.
They rimrocked the sheep, as it was called.
They ran 'em over the cliffs and killed them all.
Narrator: The slaughtered livestock is only the beginning.
The carnage sparks a vicious war
from which there is no turning back.
Those murdering dogs!
At stake is the quintessential quest to survive
on the American Frontier.
Herring: They tipped it over into real warfare.
And what we get was this kind of relentless, tit-for-tat violence.
Narrator: It's February 1887,
Pleasant Valley on the Arizona frontier.
The blood feud between the Tewksburys and the Grahams
has been simmering and is about to explode into one
of the deadliest conflicts in the history of the wild west.
The Tewksbury brothers
have discovered the wholesale slaughter
of nearly their entire flock of sheep.
Then, Ed and John follow a trail of blood
to find an even more gruesome scene.
Ed: They killed 'em.
Those murdering dogs!
Hutton: They killed the sheepherder.
And as story goes, to make matters worse,
they beheaded him.
Narrator: By using a beheading,
a telltale Native American form of execution,
this savage slaughter seems to be not just murder
but a personal attack on the Tewksburys heritage.
Hutton: The Grahams were really trying to send a message
by this act of incredible violence.
As if killing the sheep wasn't enough.
This was so horrible to find the man
who had been herding the sheep beheaded.
You know who's behind this.
You know what we have to do.
The Tewksburys are just horrified,
and they were determined to get revenge.
Narrator: On August 19th, they find their opportunity.
The beloved younger brother of Tom and John,
18-year-old Billy Graham, is out riding unguarded and alone
when he's ambushed by a group of men...
[Gunshot]
... who leave him there to die.
Billy, barely alive,
reportedly gallops his horse home to the Grahams' ranch,
hanging on for dear life.
Now, all that the Grahams know is that he leaves early
in the morning and, several hours later,
he comes back into the cabin bleeding.
His bowels are falling out of his hands
because he had been shot in the back.
Who did this to you?
Who shot you, Billy?
The... the Tewksburys.
Ed... Ed was the one who pulled the trigger.
Billy died a pretty horrible and lingering death.
Narrator: For Tom Graham,
this is not like the killing of an anonymous shepherd.
This is family, his brother.
We now have a Tewksbury killing a Graham.
Billy Graham was just a kid.
And there was so much hatred now.
Obregón Pagán: Literally with blood on their hands
with their brother,
they swore that they were gonna avenge their brother's murder
by taking out the Tewksburys.
Narrator: Filled with anguish,
there is only one thing now that will sate Tom's fury...
The death of Ed Tewksbury.
This is war now.
This is gonna be to the last man.
You killed my brother.
Go home, Tom.
You killed Billy.
He came home last night
with a hole blown right through him.
He died in my arms.
I'm gonna kill you.
If you don't want to die right here, right now,
go home, Tom.
Narrator: Tom will get his revenge one day.
To take down his enemy,
he realizes he needs to bide his time
to pick the right moment.
Spangenberger: Tewksbury was a quick man with a gun.
He was a good shot,
and he wasn't afraid to use it.
You should be looking over your shoulder
the rest of your life...
'Cause I'll get you.
♪♪
Narrator: Now that blood has been spilled
and the Grahams have sworn revenge,
Ed and his brothers realize their families are at risk,
and they must act now to keep them safe.
John Tewksbury moves his pregnant wife, Mary Ann,
and their young daughter to his father's house
a few miles away.
Then, the Tewksbury brothers,
accompanied by a group of allies,
head to hide out deep in the hills.
They knew the hills very, very well.
And they waited for things to die down.
Narrator: The Tewksburys camp out in the mountains
for two weeks before John gets anxious.
Obregón Pagán: John's wife is pregnant.
And so he wants to come back to see his wife.
He wants to check on her.
Narrator: That evening,
he arrives at his father's house safely
and enjoys a blissful reunion with his family.
John beds down for the night
with a plan to go back into hiding the next morning.
But outside the cabin,
a group of men bent on revenge is waiting.
Trimble: Sometime during the night,
Tom Graham, John Graham, Andy Blevins
and a few Hashknife cowboys surround the cabin
and wait till morning.
So, early in the morning,
John Tewksbury goes out to gather the horses.
Narrator: John is preparing to head back into the hills,
but he's stopped cold.
Obregón Pagán: Their horses are gone.
So John arms himself and goes out looking for the horses.
As you can imagine, there's lots of brush, lots of trees.
And he's listening if he can hear the horses.
The Grahams were out just a short distance from the cabin.
Narrator: What happens next will escalate the feud
to a whole new level of bloodshed.
Trimble: Blood's been drawn from brothers.
This is the old biblical eye for an eye.
And there's no turning back now.
Narrator: The grisly violence will shock the public
and rock the nation.
Narrator: It's September 1, 1887,
in Pleasant Valley, Arizona.
The Grahams have been hunting down the Tewksbury brothers
to avenge their brother's murder.
After tracking John Tewksbury to his father's home,
the Graham brothers and a pack of Hashknife Cowboys
lie in wait.
And he's ambushed.
[Gunshots]
Narrator: The Grahams ruthlessly gun down
their former friend in front of his family.
[Screams]
Hutton: And now the Pleasant Valley war
really takes on its most violent stage.
Narrator: Next, they reportedly
turn their rage and their guns towards the cabin.
Inside, a pregnant Mary Ann
and other Tewksburys are trapped and completely outgunned.
Hutton: Whole family is gathered, women and children.
They are besieged by these armed gunmen.
Narrator: In a moment of stillness,
John Tewksbury's wife begs the Grahams for a cease-fire.
Let me come out there and bury my husband's body,
you sons of bitches!
No.
Let the hogs eat him.
Hutton: Grahams won't do it.
That's just how bitter everyone is by this time.
Narrator: The Grahams decide to lay siege on the cabin,
planning to kill any adult male Tewksburys inside
and end the feud once and for all.
Andy Blevins, murderous ringleader
with the Hashknife Cowboys,
has a sinister idea for their next move.
We should burn this place to the ground,
be done with as many Tewksburys as we can.
Andy Blevins was a psychopath,
and he wants to burn the cabin down with the women
and children inside.
Now, to Tom Graham's credit, he says no.
We ain't got no beef with Mary Ann.
So there'll be no burning today, Blevins.
Trimble: This was an eye for an eye.
And if you start burning down cabins
with children inside, the other side's gonna do it
because that's what happens in a feud.
Narrator: The siege lasts day and night...
For over a week
until, one night, when gunfire is quiet,
a Tewksbury ally inside manages to escape.
He escaped the snipers and ran to get the law.
Narrator: But the justice of the peace arrives too late.
By the time the law arrived, the Grahams are gone.
Narrator: Miraculously, no one inside the cabin is injured,
and John Tewksbury can finally be buried.
His brother Ed is shattered.
The Tewksburys are at high alert at this point.
Now, one of their brothers has been killed.
They're under assault,
and they're fighting for their lives.
Narrator: But after so much back-and-forth violence,
this gruesome crime sparks a larger outcry.
For years, the Pleasant Valley war,
as it comes to be known,
has been making headlines.
Newspapers chronicle
each offense of the Grahams, the Tewksburys, the Hashknives
and anyone else caught up in the range violence.
They say as many as 50 people died.
Many were missing and never found.
[Gunshots]
The governor of Arizona demands a crackdown.
Arizona wants statehood.
They're never gonna get statehood when every newspaper
portrays Arizona as a wild-eyed cowboy shooting guns in the air.
And so posses go out.
Narrator: On September 21, 1887,
sheriff William Mulvenon enters Pleasant Valley.
Obregón Pagán: He rounds up a posse,
deputy sheriffs of different towns in the area.
They all come in to arrest the Grahams.
Narrator: The sheriff and his men
hide out in the general store near the Grahams' property
and lie in wait
until John Graham and one of the Hashknife Cowboys appear.
When they get close enough,
the sheriff steps out from behind the store.
Throw down your guns!
They're not about to surrender. They pull their guns.
That was all the permission that the law ever needed.
[Gunshots]
They start blazing away.
Spangenberger: The shooting was wild.
They just put out a hail of lead.
The Hashknife cowboy was killed instantly.
Narrator: But John is alive, and the sheriff wants answers.
Where's your brother, John?
You're gonna want to see him with what time you got left.
The sheriff says, "I promise you that,
if you tell me where he is, I will let him stay with you
for these last few moments of your life."
You have my word.
I won't arrest him.
I don't know where he is,
and damned if I tell you if I did.
Obregón Pagán: John refused to give up where his brother was,
and he dies quietly about an hour after the shootout.
Narrator: Tom Graham quickly learns of his brother's death
and that the law is after him.
You have to remember that Tom Graham
was the last man standing in the Graham family.
Narrator: And he makes a fateful decision.
The death of John Graham
ends with posses scouring the countryside.
Tom Graham decides just to get the hell out of Pleasant Valley.
Narrator: With Tom Graham vanished,
Ed Tewksbury has no choice but to stand down.
Hutton: Everything quiets down.
It seemed as if peace had come to the valley,
as if the war was over.
Narrator: But there's a final battle still to come.
1892.
It's been five years since the deaths of John Graham,
Billy Graham and John Tewksbury
when word reaches Ed
that his old enemy is alive and well in Tempe, Arizona.
Tom Graham was reported to have boasted that he took part
in the murder of John Tewksbury.
From Ed's perspective, justice has not been served.
The guy who took credit for having
murdered his older brother is still living free.
Narrator: Filled with fury, Ed vows to track his Nemesis down.
Obregón Pagán: Ed decided that he needed to enact justice
on behalf of the family.
Brown: Finally, Tewksbury said, "I'll go down to Tempe
and put an end to this.
I'll kill Tom Graham."
Narrator: It's August 2, 1892, Arizona territory.
Ed Tewksbury's Nemesis, Tom Graham,
disappeared from pleasant valley five years ago.
But Ed's finally tracked him down to Tempe, Arizona,
where he's been living a quiet life as a farmer.
Notorious throughout the country,
this bitter feud has claimed countless lives
and has been raging for a decade.
Brown: Finally, Tewksbury said, "I'll go down to Tempe
and put an end to this.
I'll kill Tom Graham."
Narrator: This is the final chapter
in the Pleasant Valley war.
That morning, an unsuspecting Tom Graham
begins his daily routine.
Obregón Pagán: Tom gets up early.
It's been a good year that year for his crop.
Narrator: He doesn't notice a looming figure on the horizon.
Obregón Pagán: Tom's minding his own business.
Suddenly, he hears a sound.
[Gun cocks]
I'm unarmed.
Your time has come, Tom.
You're the one man I don't mind shooting in the back.
I figured as much.
I'll pay my penance.
Meet you in hell, Ed.
[Gunshot]
The force of it is so strong that it throws him back,
severing part of his spine.
Narrator: The wound is mortal.
Obregón Pagán: He's bleeding, and he's just laying there.
All he can do is look up.
Narrator: There's a code on the range
to show mercy when an animal is dying.
Trimble: The code of the west wasn't just a creation
out of the Hollywood cowboy movies.
There was an honor among cowboys.
Narrator: But Ed Tewksbury shows no such mercy.
The last Graham has been killed,
and Ed is the last Tewksbury standing.
When Edwin Tewksbury shot Tom Graham,
that shot closed one of the bloodiest chapters
of our history.
The west would never see the like of it again.
Narrator: With the death of Tom, the Pleasant Valley war is over.
Ed Tewksbury is eventually arrested and placed on trial
for the murder of Tom Graham.
But due to a technicality in court,
the case is thrown out.
Ed walks out a free man.
Hutton: Ed Tewksbury was the last man
in the Pleasant Valley war.
He went on to become a... a deputy sheriff.
And his future was secure...
To live out a peaceful life and die with his boots on.
Narrator: Having avenged his brother's death,
Ed Tewksbury dies peacefully of natural causes in 1904.
Hutton: And so a quiet ending
to the last survivor of the Pleasant Valley war.
Narrator: While these two men, Tom Graham and Ed Tewksbury,
may now be long gone,
the impact of their blood feud is felt to this day.
You know, when you look at this, nobody won.
Everybody was scarred by this experience.
Narrator: The carnage and violence of this war is so vicious
it's credited with delaying Arizona's admission as a state.
It was 1912 before Arizona became a state,
the last of the 48 Continental United States to be admitted.
Narrator: And the blood-soaked feud
still maintains a notorious place
in the history of the American Frontier.
Herring: Pleasant Valley war was one of the bloodiest conflicts
in American history.
As many as 50 people died directly in the conflict.
Hutton: It really was a blood feud
that took on such epic proportions.
It brought the wild west vividly to life for people all across the country.
- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -