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John Harris Behan (October 24, 1844 – June 7, 1912) was an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as Sheriff of Cochise County in the Arizona Territory, during the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and was known for his opposition to the Earps. Behan was sheriff of Yavapai County from 1871 to 1873. He was married and had two children, but his wife divorced him, accusing him of consorting with prostitutes. He was elected to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly, representing Yavapai County. In 1881, Wyatt Earp served for about five months as undersheriff of the eastern half of Pima County. When Wyatt resigned, Behan was appointed to fill his place, which included the mining boomtown Tombstone. When Cochise County was formed in February 1881, Behan was appointed as its first sheriff. Tombstone became the new county seat and the location of Behan's office. Sadie Marcus was his mistress, possibly as early as 1875 in Tip Top, Arizona, and certainly from 1880 until she found him in bed with another woman and kicked him out in mid-1881. After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Behan testified at length against the Earps. He supported the Cowboys' statements that they had raised their hands and offered no resistance, and that the Earps and Doc Holliday had murdered three cowboys. After the Earps were exonerated, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush on December 28, 1881, and assistant deputy Morgan Earp was killed by assassins on March 18, 1882. The outlaw Cowboys named as suspects in both shootings were either let go on a technicality or were provided alibis by fellow Cowboys. Wyatt Earp killed one of the suspects, Frank Stilwell, in Tucson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt and his federal posse set out after other suspects, pursued by Behan and his county posse composed mostly of Cowboys. Behan's posse never caught up with the much smaller federal posse. The Earps left Tombstone under a cloud of suspicion. Sadie left Tombstone for San Francisco in early 1882, and Wyatt Earp followed her to San Francisco, where they began a lifelong relationship that lasted 46 years. Behan was arrested for graft and later failed to win re-election as sheriff. He later was appointed as the warden of the Yuma Territorial Prison and had various other government jobs until his death in 1912. Early life Behan was born on October 24, 1844, in Westport, Missouri, in what is now Kansas City, the third of nine children. His parents, who had wed on March 16, 1837, in Jackson County, Missouri, were Peter Behan, a carpenter from County Kildare, Ireland, and Sarah Ann Harris, a native of Madison County, Kentucky. John Harris Behan was named for his mother's family and his maternal grandfather, although the 1900 Federal census reports an 1845 date of birth for him. Behan moved west to San Francisco, working as a miner and a freighter. During the American Civil War, Behan was a 19-year-old civilian employee of Carleton's Column of Union Volunteers in California. He fought in the Battle of Apache Pass on July 14–15, 1862 and in 1863 settled in Tucson, where he found work delivering freight to military installations. In 1864, he served as a clerk to the First Arizona Legislative Assembly in Prescott, the territorial seat. This brought 19-year-old Behan into contact with some of the most influential men in the state.: 108  Moves to Arizona In 1865, he moved to Prescott, the new capital of the Arizona Territory, where he speculated in real estate and prospected for minerals. While prospecting along the Verde River February 28, 1866, five other men and he were attacked by Indians. Behan helped fight them off and gained a reputation as a brave man. He also operated a sawmill. Yavapai County Sheriff John P. Bourke married German immigrant and widow Harriet Zaff in 1860. She had four children from her two prior marriages: Benjamin, Catherine, Victoria, and Louisa. Bourke hired Behan as an undersheriff in 1866, and fourteen-year-old Victoria caught Behan's eye. After two years Behan resigned to run for Yavapai County Recorder, which he won in 1868 at age 23. It was one of the most important jobs in the county as he was responsible for maintaining accurate records that were the basis for all taxes collected.: 108  Whenever he was not holding office, Behan worked in various saloons or mines. Marriage and family In March 1869, Behan married Bourke's step-daughter Victoria Zaff in San Francisco, Bourke's home town. Victoria was already pregnant. The couple quickly returned to Prescott, Arizona Territory. Only three months later, on June 15, 1869, Victoria had her first child, Henrietta. Victoria and Johnny later had a son, Albert Price Behan, born in Prescott on July 7, 1871 or 1872 (d. January 27, 1949). Political office Behan succeeded his father-in-law in office as the Yavapai County sheriff from January 1871 to December 1873. He took a chance at a more important position and in 1873 successfully ran for office as Yavapai County's representative to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly. The Territorial Legislature met in Tucson or Prescott for a six- to eight-week legislative session, and Behan attended his first session in January 1874 in Tucson. On September 28, 1874, Behan was nominated as sheriff at the Democratic convention in Yavapai County. The Prescott Miner reported on October 6, 1874, that "J.H. Behan left on an 'electioneering' tour toward Black Canyon, Wickenburg and other places" north and east of present-day Phoenix. Behan was gone for 35 days campaigning for the sheriff's office. Meets Sadie Marcus Some accounts state that Sadie Marcus ran away from her parents' home in San Francisco in 1874 and traveled to Prescott, Arizona. Her friend Dora Hurst and she, with other passengers on a stage coach, had been forced to hole up in a ranch house near Cave Creek by Apache Indians, who had escaped the Cave Creek reservation. Indian fighter Al Sieber was tracking the Apaches. Sadie said the famous Indian scout led them to safety. According to Sadie, she first met "John Harris" here, whom she described as, "young and darkly handsome, with merry black eyes and an engaging smile". She said, "my heart was stirred by his attentions as the heart of any girl (would) have been under such romantic circumstances. The affair was at least a diversion in my homesickness, though I cannot say I was in love with him." Divorce from Victoria Zaff Behan returned to Prescott on November 11, 1874, but lost the election. He apparently spent considerable time away from home, either at saloons along Prescott's Whisky Row or at nearby brothels. His affairs were finally too much for Victoria. On May 22, 1875, Behan's fortunes took a turn for the worse when Victoria filed for divorce. While being divorced alone wasn't completely unusual, Victoria took the extra step of asserting in her divorce petition that Behan "has within two years last past at divers times and places openly and notorious.... Discover the J N Zaff popular books. Find the top 100 most popular J N Zaff books.