Virgil's Return

Originally published in the August 2020 True West magazine

By Ron Williams

 

In 1895 Virgil and Allie returned to Prescott, Arizona, after living in Colton, California and spending time in Colorado. Prescott had always been Allie’s favorite place.

 

Soon after their arrival, Virgil partnered with W.H. Harlon in a lease of the Grizzly mine, in the Hassayampa district of the Bradshaw Mountains. The two men took to gold mining in earnest, despite Virgil having the use of only one arm. However tragedy struck on November 7, 1896: While both men were working the mine, a cave-in occurred. Virgil was pinned by the debris, knocking him unconscious for several hours. When he came to, Virgil discovered he had dislocated his right hip, and both his feet and ankles were badly crushed. He also suffered serious cuts on his head and bruises all about his body. The injuries took a toll on his already battered body – it would take several months for him to recover.

 

In the spring of 1900, Virgil and Allie left Prescott proper and headed 25 miles southwest, to the Kirkland Valley region of Yavapai county. Virgil had applied for, and been granted, 160 acres there under the Soldier’s & Sailor’s Act as a Civil War veteran. He and Allie built a small house on their land and raised cattle, but they regularly traveled up the mountain to visit Prescott.

 

Later that year, in the fall of 1900, Vigil received the Republican nomination for Yavapai county sheriff at Prescott. While he must have been honored to have been nominated to that esteemed office, he quickly declined the nomination. Perhaps his numerous injuries – both in Tombstone and there in Prescott- persuaded him that he was not up to the demands of being sheriff. Perhaps he was just politically astute enough to know that he probably wouldn’t defeat Democrat incumbent Sheriff John Munds. Either way, Virgil declined the nomination. The Yavapai county Republican party did not seek a replacement nomination, and Sheriff Munds was reelected.

 

Virgil ranched the Kirkland Valley for three years. In 1903, he sold his holdings to the neighboring Rigden family and left Arizona for good.

 

In 1904 he settled in Goldfield, Nevada, where he became an Esmeralda County Deputy Sheriff. Virgil contracted Pneumonia in the spring of 1905, and never recovered. He died at the age of 62, on October 19, 1905. His last words to Allie were “Light my cigar, and stay here and hold my hand.”

 

At his daughter’s request, Virgil’s body was transported to Portland, Oregon, and buried at River View Cemetery. Allie would live another forty-two years in San Bernardino with Virgil's family. She died at the age of ninety-nine in 1947.