b'WHEN A CRAZED GUNMAN SHOT UPA CATTLEMANS MEET IN DOUGLASBy May PascoeI N A LONG HISTORY OF CATTLE ASSOCIATION MEETINGS in Arizona, there were a few, if any, where gunplay entered the agenda. It did at a meeting in Douglas between the Cattlemans Association and the forest service. It wasnt during the meeting, but immediately after it had adjourned.The cattlemen and the forest service got together atneeded. Howard didnt care for Ben Robertson. OCTOBER 2, 1937the grand old Gadsden Hotel, one of the finest inA rancher named English who delighted inAfter the luncheon meeting at the Gadsden Lee the state in 1937, on October 2nd. It was a luncheonspreading trouble starting rumors once told Howard slipped out. About a dozen others stood meeting, one where views could be exchangedLee that Ben Robertson had killed Lees horse around talking after the meeting adjourned. over the Gadsdens popular food. As the meetingthat had disappeared. Suddenly Lee Howard appeared in the banquet room progressed, a few ranchers noticed a cowboy nameddoor on the mezzanine. He had a .38 pistol in his Lee Howard in the crowd. Lee had been a cowboyOBSESSION hand and was pointing it at Ben Robertson.on various ranches on the boot heel of New MexicoThat bit of information gnawed on Lee Howards most of his life. Nobody thought anything of himmind. Soon he became obsessed with revenge.Lee squeezed off the first shot. It missed Robertson, being present, but most agreed he had no business atDespite the fact that Billy Pascoe was bringing himsmashing into the plaster on the wall and sending the meeting. his supplies, Lee began boasting he was going to killchunks of plaster crashing to the floor. Lee fired all the Robertsons and Pascoes in the area. Nobodyagain. Robertson had crouched his six foot frame NOT QUITE RIGHT paid much attention to his crazed boasting. Leebehind a chair for protection. He was unarmed. The Lee didnt do much of anything these days. He hadinsisted, My gun holds five bullets. There are fivebullet went through the crown of Bens hat, parting a horse fall on him, crashing down on his head, aPascoes and five Robertsons. Ill kill them all. his hair but missing any flesh. Lee fired again. The few years back. He received a nasty head wound andslug went into George Winklers thigh and through since, had been a bit deranged. Howard lived in aBilly Pascoe and Ben Robertson were driving overit, missing the bone.lean-to shack of three walls and a roof backed upthe Continental Divide one day when they spotted against a hillside in the Cloverdale area. Lee Howard crouched behind a bush up ahead.Howards gun jammed before he could get the As soon as Lee realized he had been spotted, hefourth shot off. William Hunsaker grabbed Lee and His place was some two miles from the well-knowndisappeared into the brush. disarmed him. Veteran Douglas policeman Sam Pascoe ranch that butted up against the MexicanHayhurst was on the scene in seconds and arrested border and the neighboring ranch of Ben Robertson.Howard knew that Billy and Ben were always wellHoward. Hayhurst quoted Howard as saying he had Ben Robertson and Billy Pascoe ran the two ranches.armed, usually with a 30/30 or 270 rifle on a rackbeen taking shots at Ben Robertson since he heard They were brothers-in-law. Billy befriended Howard,in their vehicle and a .45 in the glove box. Afterhe had killed his missing horse.who had no horse and was virtually stranded in thisspotting Howard lying in wait for them, Ben and shack. Billy would pack 100 pound gunny sacks ofBilly began to take his threats more seriously.TheyLEE JAILED, TRIEDpinto beans, slab bacon, and potatoes out to Leewarned their respective families that if HowardCochise County Attorney Frank Thomas, his clerk from town, which is about all the groceries Howardcame to either ranch to be prepared to shoot himDavid Marks, and Sheriff I.V. Pruitt all went to before he couldDouglas from Bisbee for Lee Howards arraignment. open up on them. Lee waived a preliminary hearing and bond was set at $2,500. Lee didnt have it and rode back with MOVES TOSheriff Pruitt to the county jail at Bisbee.TOWNChet Howard, LeesLee was tried and found guilty of attempted murder. brother, was awareCharlie Rak of Rucker Canyon and Frank Kentz, of Lees obsessionboth witnessed the shooting and they testified. The with the Pascoesjudge gave Lee Howard a stiff sentence, not less and Robertsons andthan 15 nor more than 20 years in the state prison his threats to killat Florence. them. Chet talked Lee into moving toThere was a bit of irony during Lees stint in Douglas, away fromFlorence. Former Mayer Justice of the Peace Milton the Pascoe andJoseph Thompson started his sentence there after Robertson places,Lee was settled in. Thompson had slit the throat so he could keepof one Gibby Gibson who had been harassing a better eye on hishim and was sentenced in Prescott to Florence for StellarD, Wikimedia Commonsbrother. Chet keptmanslaughter. Thompsons sentence was for seven to the Robertsons and10 years, much less than Howards. Howard would Pascoes informednot have liked that if he had known. Thompson was on his brothersa member of the Pascoe and Robertson families that whereabouts. Lee hated so much. View of the mezzanine of the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas, Arizona52 January 2024'