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Life in Territorial Arizona is often characterized by the crime and outlaws that made the headlines. Is that an accurate picture? What crimes were actually most common? How well did the courts function? Did citizens often have to take the law into their own hands? How was frontier justice really administered?
Drawing from court cases and newspaper accounts, Dr. Paul Hietter will provide a fascinating glimpse into the Arizona Territory justice system in his program How Wild Was It? An Overview of the Crime and Justice in Arizona Territory. This is a chance to discover if the legends, folktales and myths stray from the historical truth.
Dr. Hietter has taught U.S. and Arizona history at a variety of colleges since 1991, and is currently a professor of history at Mesa Community College. He has published a number of articles on his area of specialization: crime and criminal justice in territorial Arizona. In 2004 museum program series Dr. Hietter presented the Kibbey murder case that occurred in Florence and in 2006 a program on the Globe lynchings.
This free program is presented by a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council and will take place on November 10th at 2:00pm. Don’s miss this opportunity to hear the real story of the wild west days of Arizona. The museum is located at 715 S. Main St in Florence.