by John Mason Glen, Ph.D., the Prescott Western Heritage Foundation
“Former Prescott, AZ Mayor Killed in Fighting in Cuba,” screamed newspaper headlines on July 2, 1898 announcing the death of Prescott’s favorite son William Owen “Buckey” O’Neill.
A prominent display at the Western Heritage Center, 156 S. Montezuma St., honors the soldiers of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry of the Spanish-American War, better known as Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. O’Neill served as captain of Company A.
Born in 1860 in St. Louis, O’Neill arrived in Prescott, Arizona Territory, in 1880. He was employed as a newspaper editor, miner, sheriff and politician. His avocation was gambling, which resulted in his nickname “Buckey” from his tendency to “buck the Tiger,” while playing games of chance against the odds.
O’Neill was hired by Phoenix lawman Henry Garflas in the early 1880s but moved to Prescott where he served as editor of the Arizona Miner before being elected captain of the Arizona Greys, a local militia unit. When the Greys served as honor guard at the hanging of a convicted horse thief and the trap was sprung, O’Neill fainted, causing him severe embarrassment.
In 1888, O’Neill was elected Yavapai County sheriff. Shortly into his term, four masked miscreants robbed the Atlantic and Pacific eastbound train near Diablo Canyon, east of Flagstaff. After a week of tracking, O’Neil’s posse caught up with the bandits and a firefight ensued. The robbers were arrested, convicted and sent to the Territorial prison in Yuma.
In 1889, O’Neill married Pauline Schindler, a schoolteacher. An early advocate for women’s suffrage, she engaged in civic and charitable endeavors following her husband’s death, even serving in the state Legislature.
In 1898, as tensions between Spain and the United States heightened principally over the harsh treatment of Cubans by Spanish authorities, President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers. O’Neill was one of the first to enlist.
After training in San Antonio and Tampa, the unit went to Cuba. It was at the foot of the San Juan Heights, awaiting orders to advance and under fire from Spanish Mauser rifles, that O’Neill met his fate.
Convinced an officer must display immense courage, he refused to take cover, commenting that “the Spanish bullet has yet to be molded that can kill me.” Within seconds an enemy bullet found its mark. He is buried at Arlington in a hero’s grave.
