Birth 28 Jan 1861 Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, USA
Death 19 Apr 1891 (aged 30) Yavapai County, Arizona, USA
Spouse: Mariah May Dickinson Hawkins 1864-1889
Daughter of Samuel Cotton Dickinson and Frank Lee’s sister.
Children:
Charles Thomas Hawkins 1883–1936
Minnie Lee Hawkins Smith 1886–1974
The orphaned children were raised by their grandparents Samuel Cotton and Nancy Dickinson.
Jim along with his parents and siblings were a part of the 1875 wagon train from Missouri.
Jim Hawkins’s daughter Minnie married Maurice Calvin Smith (brother of Hulda Susan Smith Dickinson Marshall).
The Dickinsons along with Maurice and Minnie Smith owned and operated the store/post office in Cottonwood until it was sold to Alonzo Mason in 1907. Frank Dickinson and M C Smith were the last owners of the Cottonwood store (EV Mercantile) and sold it to Alonso Mason.
James Hawkins was killed April 19, 1891.
Constable Hawkins was shot and killed while escorting a prisoner to the courthouse. The man had just been arrested for resisting arrest. As they walked to the courthouse the man suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Constable Hawkins in the chest. The suspect was sentenced to life for Constable Hawkins' murder but was released after serving only three years. James Hawkins was the 5th Constable killed in the line of duty in Arizona.
YAVAPAI COUNTY CONSTABLE HISTORY
Constable James Hawkins
Yavapai County Constable's Office - Jerome Precinct
Murdered April 19, 1891
Tom Gallagher was a bookkeeper for the United Verde Mine in Jerome. While he was known as a good fellow when sober, about once a month he would go on a violent raging binge of drunkenness.
In the morning hours of Thursday, April 16th of 1891, he was disarmed by Yavapai Deputy Sheriff Smarr for being drunk, armed, and 'looking for trouble'. During that day, Gallagher procured another pistol and commenced being disorderly. On Saturday, April 17th, Deputy Smarr arrested Gallagher and brought him before Justice of the Peace Goodwin, of the Jerome Justice Court. Gallagher plead not guilty and was held over for trial the next day. Judge Goodwin remanded Gallagher into the custody of Constable Hawkins.
Constable Hawkins held Gallagher in a closed saloon (The jail had previously burned down). At about 4am, Constable Hawkins was relieved by a sheriff's deputy and went to get some sleep. While Constable Hawkins was gone, Gallagher went behind the bar of the saloon and found a pistol--which he hid on his person. Constable Hawkins returned about 11 am and took custody of Gallagher and walked him towards the Justice Court for his trial. While walking, Gallagher pulled his newly found pistol and shot Constable Hawkins in the chest.
Constable Hawkins died later that day. Gallagher held off all captors for several hours, threatening to kill the first man who tried to take him. Unfortunately for Gallagher, the cylinder fell out of his revolver, and he was recaptured by Deputy Smarr.
Plans to lynch Gallagher from the citizens of Jerome convinced Deputy Smarr to immediately take Gallagher to Prescott. Gallagher was convicted of the murder of Constable Hawkins and sentenced to life in prison.
The July 18, 1894, Weekly Journal-Miner paper had an article that a petition for pardon had been started in the county (possibly in Jerome where Gallagher had friends). Shortly thereafter, Gallagher was pardoned and released.
A December 25th, 1894, edition of that paper reported that Gallagher was working as a clerk for the inept U.S. Marshal William Meade--who was an embarrassment to Arizona government.
