William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill (February 2, 1860 – July 1, 1898) was a sheriff, newspaper editor, miner, politician, Georgist, gambler and lawyer, mainly in Arizona. His nickname came from his tendency to "buck the tiger" (play contrary to the odds) at faro or other card games. He later became a captain in Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and died in battle.
Early life
O'Neill was born the first of four children on February 2, 1860, to John Owen and Mary (McMenimin) O'Neill in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was an Irish immigrant who had most likely arrived in the United States during the 1850s. By Spring 1862, the family had moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the American Civil War began the elder O'Neill joined the 116th Pennsylvania Volunteers. On December 13, 1862, during the Battle of Fredericksburg, the senior O'Neill was wounded and served the rest of the war as a member of the Invalid Corps. The younger O'Neill was educated at Gonzaga College High School and Georgetown Law School.
During the first part of 1879, O'Neill responded to an item in the Washington Star calling for men to migrate to Arizona Territory. He arrived in Phoenix, riding a burro, in September the same year. Upon his arrival in town he was hired as a printer by the Phoenix Herald. By late 1880, O'Neill had become bored with position and sought to experience the "Real West" in the boomtown of Tombstone.
In Tombstone, O'Neill took the opportunity to experience the local saloons before taking a job with The Tombstone Epitaph. By mid-1881 he again felt a wanderlust and left town. Where he went to next is unknown, one story has O'Neill journeying to Hawaii (unlikely due to the travel time) and then traveling through California. He is known to have visited Santa Fe before going to Albuquerque, New Mexico and working briefly as a court reporter. In early 1882, he was back in Phoenix working as a deputy to Marshal Henry Garfias. Several weeks later O'Neill moved to Prescott, his home for the next fifteen years.
Prescott
O'Neill arrived in Prescott in the spring of 1882. There he rapidly progressed in his journalistic career. Starting as a court reporter, he soon founded his own newspaper, Hoof and Horn, a paper for the livestock industry. He became the editor of the Arizona Miner weekly newspaper in 1884 to February 1885.
He became captain of the Prescott Grays in 1886, the local unit of the Arizona Militia. On February 5, 1886, Dennis Dilda, a convicted murderer, was hanged. O'Neill and the Prescott Grays stood honor guard for the event. When the trap dropped, O'Neill fainted, which caused him severe embarrassment. He later wrote a story called "The Horse of the Hash-Knife Brand." In it, a member of a posse admits to nearly fainting at the hanging of a horse thief.
On April 27, 1886, he married Pauline Schindler. They had a son, but he died shortly after being born premature.
In 1888, while serving as Yavapai County, Arizona judge, he was elected county sheriff, running on the Republican ticket.
On March 20, 1889, four masked men robbed the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad passenger train in Diablo Canyon. A four-man posse, made up of O'Neill, Jim Black, Carl Holton, and Ed St. Clair, was soon formed and they took off after robbers. On April 1, O'Neill and his posse caught up with the robbers. After exchanging rifle shots, the posse captured the four men. During the fight, no men were injured, but one of the robber's horses was killed.
The four men were William Sterin, John Halford, Daniel Harvick, and J. J. Smith. All four were sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison, but were pardoned eight years later. There is unfounded speculation that, in 1898, William Sterin enlisted under a false name in the Rough Riders, and was killed in action on San Juan Hill. The character of Henry Nash is incorrectly portrayed as Sterin in the TNT made-for-TV movie "Rough Riders". The real Henry Nash was an Arizona school teacher who also served in Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and was a friend of O'Neill up until his death.
After his term was up, O'Neill was elected unanimously mayor of Prescott.
In 1894 and 1896 he ran for Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from Arizona Territory, running on the Populist Party ticket.
One of his best friends was Tom Horn.