John C. Handy

John Charles Handy (October 20, 1844 – September 24, 1891) was a prominent physician who attacked his wife's divorce attorney and was killed. He practiced medicine from 1871 to 1891 in Tucson, Arizona Territory. He was first a contract surgeon for the U.S. Army at Camp Thomas and married an Apache woman. He became known for a fiery temper and during a disagreement with the post trader killed him, but was acquitted of all charges. Handy moved to Tucson in 1871 and remarried. He was selected in November 1886 as the first Chancellor of the University of Arizona and was a well-regarded physician. He founded the Pima County Medical Society in 1879 and helped set high standards for medical care. In 1884, he was among 58 Tucson pioneers who formed the Society of Arizona Pioneers.

He severely abused his wife Mary Page, chaining her to a bed in their home for days and may have administered morphine to her until she was addicted. Two years later he was having an affair with a married woman and filed for divorce, accusing her of being "a morphine fiend and a common slut." Handy publicly stated that any lawyer who defended her "would be sorry", and repeatedly threatened to kill her attorney Francis J. Heney.

After he won the divorce trial and custody of their children, who he sent to live with his mother, he tried to evict Mary Page from the home the court had awarded her. In September 1891, he attacked Heney on the streets of Tucson and the attorney shot him in what was ruled as self-defense. Handy's good friend Dr. George E. Goodfellow, a nationally recognized expert in gunshot wounds, traveled to operate on Handy but was unable to save him, and Handy died the next day.

Handy's son Jack was told by his paternal grandmother and aunt that Heney had attacked his father, but as an adult learned the truth from his maternal grandmother. Jack became friends with Heney and served as a pallbearer at his funeral.

Personal life Dr. John Handy of Tucson, Arizona Territory. Handy was born in on October 20, 1844 in Newark, New Jersey and moved with his parents to California in 1853. He graduated at age 19 from the Cooper College in San Francisco and received his medical diploma from Toland Medical School in 1865. He served as an Army contract surgeon in Arizona Territory at Fort Apache and Camp Thomas for two years. (b. 14 September 1861). She was the daughter of Larcena Scott and William Fisher Scott. Her mother had earlier in life been kidnapped by the Apaches, wounded, and left for dead. Her mother gained fame after she crawled across the desert for 16 days and lived to tell the story.

Abuse and divorce

Privately, his wife Mary complained to her neighbor, the wife of Ben Heney, that her husband abused her. Heney broke away and ran, pulling a pistol from his pocket. The noon-time crowd around the courthouse saw the fracas. Some shouted, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Handy grabbed the pistol and tried to take the weapon from Heney. The two men struggled for control of it when it discharged, striking Handy in the lower abdomen. Handy, although wounded, lifted the smaller Heney off the ground and then both men fell to the street, still grappling for the revolver. But Heney refused to release his grip on the pistol while Handy still struggled for it. Deputy Sheriff John Wiegle and several other people finally removed the gun from Heney's grip and Handy's fingers from Heney's hands.

Handy was supported as he walked to his own office a block away where he inspected his own wound. The bullet had nearly penetrated his body. Doctors Michael Spencer and Hiram Fenner removed the bullet from near the base of his spine. Handy was then taken to his home. Handy insisted that his friend Dr. George E. Goodfellow in Tombstone, widely known for his expertise in treating gunshot wounds, be summoned to repair the internal damage.

Handy was honored with Masonic funeral rites in Tucson which were followed by a procession up Court Street including "a thousand Mexican women, wearing black rebozos" who had benefited from his services. His body was then transported by rail to Oakland, California, where he was buried in a family plot near his father.

Aftermath

Handy named his sister Cornelia Holbrook of San Francisco to administer his estate, which he divided among his five children. His ex-wife Mary unsuccessfully contested the will, and Holbrook sold all of Handy's Arizona property, including his office, horses, buggies, medical books, instruments, and mining claims. Handy's mother Roseanne's name was on the deed that Handy had coerced Mary into signing over. After the divorce, Roseanne Handy dropped the lawsuit to evict Mary from the Handy home. A year later Mary got a judge to cancel the deed and she regained ownership of the home.

Young Jack grew up hating Heney. Jack was unhappy in both homes and ran away in 1896 at age 14 and went to sea on a whaling ship. Jack returned to San Francisco in 1902 and at age 19 married Beatrix Walter. They went to Tucson, where they lived with his maternal grandmother Larcena Pennington Page for about two years. They returned to San Francisco, where Jack eventually became an executive for Standard Oil. In 1906, Heney became nationally known when he successfully prosecuted timber fraud in Oregon. He was persuaded to investigate the crooked political system in San Francisco. Abe Ruef, the primary target of his investigation, dug up Cornelia's story that Heney had ambushed Handy and got The Daily News of San Francisco to publish her story. Ruef tried to persuade Jack to file charges. Instead, Jack went to visit Heney and thanked him for the support Heney had offered his mother under difficult circumstances, the true story Jack had heard from his grandmother in Tucson. The two men became lifelong friends, and Jack was a pallbearer at Heney's funeral in 1937.