The Crimes of "Buckskin" Frank Leslie
On this day in 1889, "Buckskin" Frank Leslie shot and killed his lover, Tombstone sex worker Blonde Mollie Williams. Leslie had taken up with Williams two years earlier but the relationship soured and he murdered her in a drunken rage. A ranch hand who had witnessed the shooting testified against him in court and he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Seven years into his sentence he was given parole after a young divorcee named Belle Stowe assisted him with his case. He married Stowe and it's reported that the two made a small fortune during the Klondike gold rush. After moving to San Francisco in 1904, he disappeared from the historical record. Some believe he committed suicide, although an official cause of and date of his death have never been confirmed. Blonde Mollie Williams was not Leslie's first victim. Shortly after opening the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tombstone, Arizona, he shot and killed Mike Killeen during a dispute over Killeen...