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The Notorious Men of the Wild West

Khalid Elhassan December 4, 2019 32 min

25. “I Die Brave, My God!”

Posed photo of Bill Brazelton’s corpse. Pintrest

Brazen Bill Brazelton arrived cautiously at the site of the rendezvous with the horse corral owner, and as he began to collect the supplies, something aroused his suspicion. Before he could react, the night was lit by a shotgun blast, followed by flashes from a fusillade of pistol shots, unleashed by the posse that had been hot on his trail.

Brazelton shouted “you son of a bitch!” as he fell, then lay groaning “I die brave, my God! I’ll pray ’til I die!” On his body were discovered his trademark mask and some loot from previous robberies. His corpse was taken to Tucson, where it publicly displayed in front of the courthouse, tied upright to chair, before it was buried a day later.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.