In Arizona, The Gringos Get You

Gringos Get You isn’t the feel-good, emotional bonding version, folks.

(Is there a Mexican Yakov Smirnoff?)

A fragment of the Old, Wild West — when justice often came self-served or not at all. As the years march, it fades further from memory, outside of its most famous occurrences, O.K. Corral, et al. So many other stories, particularly those with inconvenient, contentious, or even revisionist outcomes, fade even faster, or are almost entirely erased. Such is the kidnapping, rape, and murder case of Mary Cunningham. I cannot provide a link to further reading here because, well of course I couldn’t locate one. As far as the internet is concerned, this story doesn’t exist. More on that after the column.

Published Tuesday, October 11, 1988, in the Gainesville Times, Crime Prof. Alex Taylor details the harrowing account of righteous Wild West vengeance.

Alex Taylor Tuesdays - Gringo Brothers - Crime Stories History - Wild West - Chihuahua Mexico - Arizona - Gainesville Times

TRANSCRIPT:

Gringo brothers vindicated sister’s murder

As cool autumn winds blow in from the northwest, soothing white-hot desert sand and cactus, folks around Naco, Ariz., remember the story of two young brothers . . . and one of the most daring feats in American history.

The story began on an early morning in 1865, on the ranch of Dave Cunningham in southern Arizona, near the Mexican border. Thirteen Mexican bandits under the command of notorious Juan Navarro, raided the ranch and rode off with 15-year-old Mary Cunningham.

Dave, his two sons, Adrian and John, took up pursuit and chased the outlaws several miles inside Mexico to a large canyon. There, they found Mary at the bottom of the canyon, raped and murdered. Her body had been pushed over the cliff and was lying near her body.

Dave Cunningham turned back to protect his wife, but Adrian and John continued to track the Navarro band east along the U.S./Mexican border toward the town of Agua Prieta.

Catching the bandits in a small cantina, the brothers sneaked up and stabbed to death the one guard posted near their horses. Using the same tactics, they soon killed another bandit who came out of the cantina. A short time later, two more members of the band came out, pushing along one of the female guests of the cantina.

In the ensuing battle, both bandits were killed, but Adrian suffered a serious cut on his arm. Instead of joining in the fight, Navarro and the remaining eight men rushed from the cantina and fled on horseback toward the town of Chihuahua, which is located several hundred miles south of El Paso, Texas.

One week later, the brothers caught up with the band near Chihuahua and immediately opened fire on their sleeping camp. At dawn, they found five dead bandits, but Navarro had escaped.

Realizing he was being followed, Navarro set a trap and soon caught the brothers in a deadly crossfire. Luckily for the brothers, Adrian suffered only a leg wound, but two more bandits died in the battle.

With Adrian in great pain, the brothers rode directly into Chihuahua. Gangrene had infected Adrian’s leg and a doctor had to immediately amputate or the young man would die.

Believing his brother was close to death, John went looking for Navarro. True to old western lore, the last two bandits met John on the street in front of a dusty cantina. The fight was short and as the last bandit fell, John walked up and continued to fire into the bodies. He was immediately arrested by the Mexican police, who strangely ignored Adrian.

An American cavalry detachment, under the command of Major Ben Hunt, passed through Chihuahua on its way back from Mexico City. Hearing of the brothers and their bloody duel with Navarro, Major Hunt simply went to the jail and released John, taking both brothers back to the United States.

President Franklin Pierce was greatly impressed, calling the bloody and furious ride one of the most audacious feats ever brought to his attention.

Several books and movies, one starring Burt Lancaster, have been based on this incident. Even today, the country of Mexico is reluctant to talk about the two young gringos from Arizona.

-Alex Taylor’s column on history and criminology appears in The Times on Tuesdays.

Yes, there are books!

Non-existent story? Almost. There are just a handful of books mentioning the crime and its aftermath. Try Googling it for yourself. Famous? Not sure that’s an accurate label any longer. Nonetheless, here’s some additional trivia:

According to author Robert (Bob) Turpin’s book, Famous Old West Murder Mysteries, Adrian Cunningham, with a cork leg, became a scout for the U.S. Army during the Apache war. He was killed in 1916 near Tubac, Arizona, some 30 miles south of Tucson, not far from the Mexican border. John became a captain for the Union army during the Civil War. He later settled in Tucson Arizona as a land surveyor and died in 1912 at the age of 82.

The Burt Lancaster movie Prof. Taylor references is likely The Professionals (1966). Although the plot loosely resembles the Cunningham-Navarro story, the movie was actually based on the 1964 novel, A Mule for the Marquesa by Frank O’Rourke (now retitled as The Professionals).

And yes, gringos is not spelled with an e!

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TRANSCRIPT:

Gringo brothers vindicated sister’s murder

Yes, there are books!

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By T. Nelson Taylor

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