Benson's Bad Boys

True stories of murder and mayhem from the Old West. As settlement of the nation expanded by the building of the transcontinental railroads, Benson, Arizona was founded as a railroad town on the Southern Pacific Railroad line in the San Pedro Valley in 1880 when Geronimo still roamed the valley and terrorized settlers and travelers. The town filled with railroad workers, cowboys, and miners. Within a few months, 13 saloons lined the two block main street. Because Benson was a small town, it never received the notoriety of its neighbor Tombstone, but was just as wild; some say even wilder as it lacked law enforcement and established "civilized" institutions to curb the men's enthusiasm and behavior. The behavior one conjures up of the Wild West—shootouts, saloons, hangings, fights—all happened in Benson.