06/16/2026
ARIZONA RANGER HISTORY
On January 1,1902, Bisbee peace officer Dayton Graham accepted the position as the first sergeant of the Rangers from Captain Mossman.
With only five days as a Ranger, Sergeant Graham led a posse that resulted in the arrest of three rustlers. A month later, on February 1, he resigned his Ranger commission to become the Bisbee City marshal. Captain Mossman persuaded him to return as Sergeant on April 1, but by March 31, he had resigned permanently. After becoming the constable of Douglas, he was wounded in 1903 saloon gunfight that left another peace officer dead. According to Bill O'Neal's The Arizona Rangers, "a few days later," he gunned down the culprit and, some time later, shot and "wounded a Mexican who tried to resist arrest."
Graham eventually found himself sentenced to five years for murder.