Published March 7, 2023, for State 48 A2Z
You may remember back in our November 1, 2022, article we covered the historic 1910 Gila County Sheriff’s Office & Jail. In that article, we discussed one of the jail’s most mysterious happenings, the murder of Kingsley Olds while he slept in his cell. If you missed that article you can read it here.
The story begins back on or around June 22, 1911, when Kingsley Olds, who was born in California on September 6, 1862, took the daughters of his mining boss, Wesley Goswick, on his trip to obtain needed machinery parts at the direction of Goswick. It was not reported why they were at Horseshoe Bend on the Salt River, roughly 22 miles north of the town of Globe, but what happened on that day, remains as much a mystery today as it was nearly 112 years ago. Here is what is known.
On June 24, 1911, a local cowboy and ranch owner, Sam Beard, came across Olds as he was heading to Globe from Horseshoe Bend. Olds was found unconscious along the Salt River with most of his jaw torn away from a gunshot wound. Beard found a note that Olds had written before lapsing into unconsciousness in which he stated that he “had been shot by either an Indian or Mexican”. Another newspaper article I found reported that the note said that Olds was shot by either a Mexican or an Italian. The note also said that he didn’t know what happened to the girls but to look for them by the mules, which by this time had been harnessed for two days. Beard, unable to locate the girls, reported his findings upon reaching Globe.
A Posse was assembled the following day and a thorough check of the area was conducted, but the Posse was unable to find any evidence of the mysterious person who Olds claimed shot him while he and the girls were bathing in the river. The girls’ lifeless bodies were found and recovered from the river.
Olds was taken to the hospital to have his injuries attended to. But based on footprints found by the river, it was ascertained that Olds had chased the girls into the deep section of the river where they drowned. No evidence of violence or assault was found.
In a June 25, 1911 article, the Daily Arizona Silver Belt reported, “Persons who visited the scene of the tragedy at Horseshoe Bend, assert that it is hardly possible to conceive of anyone but Olds having been responsible for the murder of the two girls as there were found no tracks of anyone on the banks of the river except those of Olds and the two girls. It is said that Olds is mentally unbalanced.”
Wesley Goswick made his way into Globe on June 26th with the plan to murder Olds when he was stopped and disarmed as a result of his intent.
By June 27th, rumors had circulated around Globe that friends of the slain girls’ family were taking matters into their own hands and planned to forcibly remove Olds from the hospital and lynch him without a trial. However, Gila County Sheriff John, “Rimrock Henry” Thompson had already removed Olds from the hospital and placed him in a “secure” cell at the jail and assigned deputies armed with Winchester Rifles to stand guard over Olds throughout the night.
Then, on June 30th, in another strange turn of events, Olds admitted that he shot himself in a suicide attempt while maintaining his innocence in the death of the two girls. His confession was printed verbatim in the Silver Belt. “I had not been feeling well for some time, so I went and laid down on the quilt. Left the girls bathing. So I got up off the quilt and went over where I thought they was in the sand. Could not find them. I became insane. I ran over the river and rather than return home I shot myself, but after I did became lifeless for some time, but when I came to I could not get to my gun anymore.” Old was held directly responsible for the girls’ deaths and was held in the County Jail until his trial date.
By July 1st, word had gotten out that Olds had reported seeing the ghosts of the two girls as they visited him in his cell. Was this his guilty mind seeing things or were the two girls reaching out from beyond to haunt their accused murderer? This is where the mystery ends though as Olds would never see the inside of the courthouse and would never be questioned about the accused murders in a court of law.
In the early morning hours of July 3, 1911, one single shot rang out by an unknown assassin using a 30-40 Winchester rifle which was abandoned and found near the scene. So, who was it that ended Olds’ existence and sealed the case of this unsolved mystery? More than a century later we still do not know and never will.
It seems that the assassin had somehow stolen a set of keys from the janitor's closet the previous night and made his way into the empty building in the early hours, making his way to the judge’s chambers and into its bathroom where he steadied his rifle on Olds as he slept in his cell some 25-30 feet away. The shot had to travel at a severe angle and pass the bars on the window as well as Olds’ cell, striking the accused murderer in the shoulder before traveling down his body into his lungs causing near-instant death. All this while under the darkness of the early hours and the unlit cell.
While the assassin was never found it was determined that the person had to be a marksman to make the shot; a fact that should have narrowed this search if anyone cared about finding justice. However, in the ensuing chaos following the early morning shot, the assassin would make his getaway. The only potential witness was a man named Peter Collins who reported that he witnessed a “dark figure slowly fleeing the courthouse around 4:25 pm. However, due to Collins’ intoxicated state, his report was not followed up on.
It was also reported that many residents saw and recognized the shooter but turned their heads away and would not mention a name. It was typical frontier “justice” of the old west. Following the Olds’ death, Goswick was not able to be found, but it is interesting to note that he was an avid hunter and “crack shot”. A search for the missing keys was almost believed to be futile when they all of a sudden showed up in a package at the courthouse. It seems that the assassin didn’t want the city to have to pay to replace them.
Today, the legend of Kingsley Olds remains alive in the town of Globe, as well as in the historic jail. It has also been reported by paranormal groups that his presence is still in the cell today based on their investigations. Olds is not the only spirit found to be haunting the old dark jail but those are stories for another day. Olds’ cell remains relatively unchanged from that fateful day. When you visit you will find a mannequin of Olds asleep in his cot where he was fatally shot along with a statue of a young girl outside his cell, representing the ghost of one of the Goswick girls that he was haunted by.
You can read more about the Olds mystery on the following pages.
With that, we will wrap things up for another week’s travels. We thank you for riding along with us this week on our visit to the 1910 Gila County Jail in Globe, Arizona, and look forward to your joining us again on next week’s trip to another amazing place in the Great State 48. Until next week, please be sure to comment on our articles, share our posts with your friends and family, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Linked In to have our posts and photos delivered directly to your newsfeeds. Peace!
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