1. Wells W Spicer was an American journalist, prospector, politician, lawyer and judge whose legal career immersed him in two significant events in frontier history: the Mountain Meadows massacre in the Utah Territory in 1857; and the 1881 shootout commonly known as the Gunfight at the OK.
Wells Spicer had two siblings: an older brother, George; and a younger sister, named Seba.
The family relocated to Tipton, Iowa when Wells Spicer was about nine years old.
Under Bissell's tutelage, Wells Spicer was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1853.
Abbie and Wells Spicer separated in 1876, although Wells Spicer considered himself still married years later.
Wells Spicer was admitted to the Utah bar and specialized in mining suits and claims, and he started a hotel in Corrine City.
Swetland died shortly thereafter, but Wells Spicer was joined by Abbie and Earnest around the same time.
Wells Spicer continued his journalistic efforts, contributing to the Salt Lake Daily Tribune and Utah Mining Gazette.
In 1874 Wells Spicer leased Rollins Mine, a defunct lead mine, in the Lincoln Mining District 18 miles west of Beaver near Minersville.
Wells Spicer advised Lee to make a full confession, but Lee did not wish to implicate members of the Mormon hierarchy.
Wells Spicer now found himself ostracized: by non-Mormons who felt he became "the most complete jack Mormon" by defending Lee; and by Mormons who were incensed by his defense strategies.
Wells Spicer attended Lee's execution by firing squad on March 22,1877.
The unsettling trials and aftermath inspired Wells Spicer to refer to himself as the "unkilled of Mountain Meadows".
Wells Spicer was renamed US Commissioner for Utah Territory by the Supreme Court in 1876.
Wells Spicer remained in Utah until the end of his commission in 1878.
Wells Spicer resumed his other mining activities, such as prospecting and practicing mining law.
Wells Spicer went on to give a lengthy dissertation as to how he came to his decision.
The grand jury accepted Wells Spicer's ruling and refused to indict Holliday and the Earps.
Wells Spicer returned to prospecting, first in Pima County, Arizona, then in Ures, Sonora, Mexico.
Wells Spicer put all of his resources into a mine at Quijotoa, but the veins were not deep enough.
An article 3 months later in the Daily Star stated that shortly before his disappearance while en route to Covered Wells, Spicer visited a man named Bill Haynes and tried to commit suicide twice while there.
One theory is that Wells Spicer, who had a history of evading creditors, planned his "suicide" by pretending to be despondent while at Haynes' cabin and then quietly made his way to Mexico where he spent the rest of his days.