Frank Masters (1845-21 September 1881) was an American outlaw of the Wild West.
Biography[]
Frank Masters was born in 1845, and, in the late 1870s, he tried his hand at homesteading in the Arizona Territory. After his first crop failed, he abandoned his wife Lucy and their son to become an outlaw; his son was raised believing that his father was dead. In 1881, he carried out several stagecoach robberies near Tombstone; on 20 September, he killed deputy Sid Lindon, Kim Monroe, and Lem Bailey in a robbery outside of town, leading to the Arizona Stage Company posting a $500 bounty on him. Mayor Fred Donolon of Tombstone sought to make the bounty even more attractive so that bounty hunters from across the state would seek to bring Masters in, so he added $100 more to the bounty; Tombstone Epitaph editor Harris Claibourne added $50, and, soon, several townspeople added more money to the bounty until it reached $5,000. Sheriff Clay Hollister remembered Frank's face, but he could not put a name to it until he saw Frank's estranged wife Lucy and their son on the street of Tombstone. Lucy then sent Bill Sherwood to inform on Frank's location, and Sherwood showed Hollister to Master's hideout. Hollister found Masters unconscious, and he waited until he woke up, finding out that Masters had tuberculosis. He expressed his hope that he would be able to save up to go to San Francisco, but Hollister reminded Masters of the murders he had committed. He then rode back towards town with Masters on another horse, but the bounty hunters Diamond and Howell attempted to ambush then on an uphill road, killing Masters and wounding Hollister. Hollister managed to feign death before crawling to the clifftop and shooting Howell dead before arresting Howell and claiming Masters' reward money for himself.
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