John Harris Behan (October 24, 1844 – June 7, 1912) was an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as Sheriff of Cochise County in the Arizona Territory, during the gunfight at the O.K.

John Harris Behan was named for his mother's family and his maternal grandfather, although the 1900 Federal census reports an 1845 date of birth for him.

He fought in the Battle of Apache Pass on July 14–15, 1862[1] and in 1863 settled in Tucson, where he found work delivering freight to military installations.

[11] He took a chance at a more important position and in 1873 successfully ran for office as Yavapai County's representative to the Seventh Arizona Legislative Assembly.

Some accounts state that Sadie Marcus ran away from her parents' home in San Francisco in 1874 and traveled to Prescott, Arizona.

According to Sadie, she first met "John Harris" here, whom she described as, "young and darkly handsome, with merry black eyes and an engaging smile".

He was elected to represent Mohave County at the Tenth Arizona Legislative Assembly, which met beginning January 6, 1879, in Prescott.

[21] In the middle of 1879, he relocated to Prescott, where he opened a business providing services to local mines and exercised his skills as a lawman by joining several posses.

But 19-year-old Sadie Mansfield, whose occupation was given as "Courtesan",[23] the same person that his former wife Victoria had named in their divorce five years earlier, was also living in Tip Top.

Depending on which version of events is correct, Sadie said she first arrived in Tombstone as part of the Pauline Markham troupe on December 1, 1879, for a one-week engagement.

[28] Sadie reported later in life that Behan pestered her in San Francisco with letters from Tombstone, bragging about the growing town and promising to marry her.

[14] Based on the information Sadie provided the Earp cousins with, when correlated with other sources, Josephine may have left San Francisco for Prescott as early as October 1874,[16] when she was 13 or 14 years old.

The Markham troupe was documented as leaving San Francisco on board the Southern Pacific Railroad, not a ship nor a stagecoach, for Casa Grande, Arizona in October 1879, the end of the line.

[19] Bat Masterson, a friend of Wyatt Earp's who was in Tombstone from February[34]: 41  to April 1881,[35] described Sadie to Stuart Lake as "an incredible beauty"[36] and as the "belle of the honkytonks, the prettiest dame in three hundred or so of her kind.

[36] When Behan first arrived in Tombstone in September 1880, he also got a job bar manager in the Grand Hotel, a favorite of the outlaw Cowboys, and a good place to make political connections.

Elections were held on November 2, and it was expected that Democrat Shibell would be defeated by Republican Bob Paul, who Wyatt had supported during the campaign.

[41] James Johnson later testified for Bud Paul in the election hearing and said that the ballots had been left in the care of Democrat Phin Clanton.

When the state created Cochise County, Governor John C. Frémont appointed, and the territorial legislature approved, Behan as sheriff on February 10, 1881.

"[49]: 164 As Cochise County sheriff, one of Behan's duties was collecting prostitution, gambling, liquor, and theater fees, taxes for which he received 10% of all proceeds.

[18] On January 31, 1882, Behan was arrested for collecting bills totaling $300 twice, arraigned in front of Justice Stilwell, and discharged due to a technicality.

[51] In 1882, after Southern Pacific Railroad completed laying tracks and building facilities across the northern portion of Cochise County, he assessed them $8,000,000, which they appealed.

She waited for Earp to come get her there and when he didn't, she resumed a life of prostitution in Pinal, Arizona, where on July 3, 1888, she took a lethal dose of laudanum together with alcohol.

[54] The records show evidence that Cochise County Marshall Behan was sympathetic to the interests of and a friend to Ike Clanton, "Curly Bill" Brocius, as well as Johnny Ringo, and a group of cattle rustlers and ranchers, loosely known as "Cowboys".

[55] Stilwell was arrested by a combined federal and sheriff's posse a month later for a Bisbee stage robbery, an action that would indirectly lead to the O.K.

As the lawmen were carried to their homes, they passed in front of the Sheriff's Office, and Johnny Behan told Wyatt Earp, "I will have to arrest you."

He also testified that Tom McLaury threw open his coat to show that he was not armed and that the first two shots were fired by the Earp party.

The Cowboys who were identified as suspects in both cases got off on either legal technicalities or were provided alibis by men who said they were in Charleston at the time Morgan was shot.

The story was reprinted by the San Francisco Call, which quoted Behan describing the Earp's lawbreaking behavior in Tombstone.

His funeral was conducted by the Arizona Pioneers Historical Society, and their eulogy declared, "he held positions of public trust, and in all was active, faithful, and honest.

[70] In the 1993 film Tombstone, Behan (Jon Tenney) introduces himself to Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell): "Besides sheriff, I'm also tax collector, Captain of the Fire Brigade and Chairman of the Nonpartisan Anti-Chinese League.