The Legend of Hacksaw Tom

 

Between 1905 and 1915 a bandit nicknamed “Hacksaw Tom” supposedly carried out a series of robberies on wagons and stagecoaches along Arizona’s Apache Trail (the last stagecoach went out of business in Arizona in 1920 when the road to Young, AZ was paved and the commercial stagecoach was replaced by a Ford.)

A steep grade at Fish Creek, which caused vehicles to slow to a crawl was Tom’s ambush site.  He would step out from behind a boulder and level his sawed-off shotgun at the driver.  No one resisted.  Tom never used a horse in his robberies. He appeared on foot, carried out this robbery, and then scampered up and over the boulders of Fish Creek to safety, seldom pursued by anyone. 

Despite his menacing presence, Hacksaw Tom never fired a shot.  He became an anticipated feature for travelers on the Apache Trail.  It is said that some stagecoach drivers invited their friends along just so they could tell people they had been “held up.”

In the mid-1900s a cave was found near Fish Creek which may have been Tom’s hideout.  In any event, a carpetbag was found in the cave which contained, among other things, a sawed-off shotgun and a flour sack mask.

There is not much written documentation to support this tale, which relies heavily on oral tradition.  Several robberies along the Apache Trail that went unsolved are recorded. The exact locations of these robberies have been lost to history.  And yet, we have a very intriguing mask and shotgun.

Gold, Murder and Monsters in the Superstition Mountains

Custer’s Last Stand Re-examined