b'ONE LYNCHED, FIVE HUNG Heath was tried separately, found guilty of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 21. Heaths verdict did not sit well with the citizens of Bisbee and Tombstone. A citizens committee was formed called the Forty-Five-Sixty. It seemed a perfect day for a lynching. John L. Sullivan was coming to town. All the mines were closed for the planned boxing event. Sullivan was taken to see Heath by Sheriff Wardthat morning.During the afternoon the citizen\'s committee stormed the jail, removed Heath, and hung him from a telegraph pole in front of the Last Chance Mine. The committee left the other five to their fate, to legally die on the gallows. On March 28, 1884, the five were marched to the scaffold and all five of Heaths confederates were hung. Heath continued to dangle from the telegraph pole, some say for almost two weeks, as an example to all that would follow his path. Finally, his body separated from his head at the noose and crashed to the ground. A local doctor named George E. Goodfellow put down "emphysema of the lungs (lack of oxygen) as the cause of death. He was then buried in the Boothill Cemetery. Photo courtesy of the William Ellis collection of Williams, ArizonaHeath continued to dangle from the telegraph pole, some say for almost two weeks,as an example to all that would follow his path. ArizonaRealCountry.com August 2021 37'