Nicknamed the "Queen of Copper Camps" for having the richest copper mining operations in the world, Bisbee also was the scene of dastardly crimes. From drunken shootouts in saloons to strikers clashing with mining executives, the town's past is filled with stories of vengeance and street justice. The aftermath of an 1885 lynching led directly to the establishment of the Copper Queen Library, too late to deter the infamous Bisbee Massacre of 1883. In Lowell, an argument about an alleged affair ended in murder, while the Fly-Swatting Contest of 1912 encouraged a different kind of killing. Author, journalist and historian Francine Powers uncovers the real-life dramas of Wild West Bisbee.
Francine Powers is an award-winning reporter and member of the Cochise County Historical Society. She has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and was on the television program Ghost Hunters , as well as many podcasts and radio shows. She was the editor in chief of the online paranormal magazine Spirits of Cochise County and the owner of Bisbee Haunted Historical Tours from 2013 to 2016. She is a Bisbee native and the author of multiple books, including Haunted Bisbee .