27. From Grifting to Robbing
William “Brazen Bill” Brazelton’s (died 1878) began his criminal career as a conman. He was born in San Francisco, orphaned at an early age, and grew up as a street urchin. In 1876, he arrived in Prescott, Arizona, where he claimed that he would stage a show during which he would eat a wagon wheel. Brazelton got the good people of Prescott to pay in advance to attend, then left town to bring the rest of the show’s crew and stagehands. He never returned.
A year later, in September of 1877, Brazelton graduated from grifting to armed robbery and held up his first stagecoach. Wearing a mask, he forced the driver to get down and secure the lead horses by the bit. He then ordered a passenger to throw down the express box, break it open with an axe, and hand him the contents. Over the following year, Brazelton committed about eight more stagecoach robberies in Arizona and New Mexico.