Burt Alvord

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burt Alvord (1866-1910?) was an Arizona marshal who later operated as an outlaw during the 1890s.

The son of a justice of the peace, Alvord was born in 1866 in the Arizona Territory. Often traveling with his father, Alvord was present at Tombstone, Arizona during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral at the age of 15. Alvord was later appointed deputy sheriff by Cochise County Sheriff John Slaughter in 1886 and quickly established a reputation as an excellent tracker by bringing in many cattle rustlers and other wanted criminals. It is suspected, however, that Alvord began operating as an outlaw during this time. While Sheriff Slaughter was suspicious of Alvord, there were no charges that could be proved by the time of Slaughter's retirement in 1890. Alvord began rustling cattle in the mid-1890s before becoming marshal of Wilcox, Arizona in 1899. Alvord later formed an outlaw gang with Billie Stiles and began committing armed robberies. The gang was captured in September after a train holdup near Cochise County, but later escaped from jail. The Alvord-Stiles Gang was again captured in 1903, but escaped once again. Shortly after this, Alvord and Stiles attempted to fake their deaths by sending their coffins to Tombstone, however the two continued to remain wanted men. The Arizona Rangers, pursuing the men into Mexico in 1904, trapped them and wounded Alvord in the ensuing gunfight and brought him back to Arizona were he was sentenced to two years imprisonment. The details of his later life are unclear, however, he was supposedly spotted in South America as far away as Jamaica, up until 1910 when, it was claimed, Alvord died as a Panama Canal worker, although his identification was never verified.