Ghosts of Whiskey Row: Antlers Pool Hall

Prescott, Arizona is an easy weekend getaway for area paranormal investigators and ghost hunters.  There are several haunted hotels and saloons to photograph, and it’s a good area to hunt for ghosts of the early pioneers that may still be lurking in the city.  Prescott was once a busy metropolis and honored as the first Arizona Territorial Capital City. 

Whiskey Row, located on south Montezuma Street, was known as fierce block of saloons overflowing with drinking, gambling, and murders. The block was destroyed by fire on July 14, 1900.  Most of the current buildings were constructed between 1900 and 1905. Stories say there were once forty saloons and similar establishments of its kind housed on this city block which sits across the street from the courthouse. Now, a more tranquil lane filled with shops, cafes, and yes—a few saloons, the Whiskey Row ghosts have stories of violence and injustice to pass on to us.

On December 23,1936 Burt Anderson entered the Antlers Pool Hall about 11:30 PM and approached Cecil Kuykendall, a ranch hand who was sitting at the lunch counter.  Anderson came to the door and asked Kuykendall to step outside—he had something to say to him.  It seemed that Anderson and Kuykendall had been in and out of the Antlers several times earlier and had been heard quarreling that evening. 

Kuykendall didn’t hear Anderson calling him out, so Burt repeated his request.  Anderson backed away to the curb in front of the Antlers. Kuykendall leisurely strolled outside. As soon as the doors closed on them, a bullet crashed through one of the doors about six or eight inches above the floor and hit the toe of a patron inside the establishment.  

Kuykendall dodged around trying to elude Anderson and told him “Why don’t you fight like a man!" A moment later a second shot was heard.  A bullet passed completely through Kuykendall’s body. Officers were unsure if the bullet entered from the front or the behind, but it pierced the lower part of his stomach. 

Kuykendall fell to the sidewalk in front of the Antlers.  The barkeeper ran to him, lifted his head and Kuykendall feebly asked him, “What did he do it for?”  Cecil Kuykendall died fifteen minutes later at Mercy Hospital.  

Officers ran across from the court house to the Antlers just before the shots.  They found Anderson standing over the mortally wounded man, a .45 Colt pistol in his hand.  He handed over the gun to the officers and an arrest was made on the spot.  Anderson refused to make a statement. 

It turned out Burt Anderson had quite a long trail of arrests behind him.  He was picked up in Prescott for disturbing the peace in 1934.  He served a prison sentence in Oklahoma in 1911-1912 for assault to kill.  Anderson was arrested in Los Angeles in 1929 for assault with a deadly weapon, but later acquitted.      

This time Anderson was to pay for his misdeeds.  He was executed in the gas chamber at the Florence State Prison on August 12, 1937--just eight months after the murder. Anderson’s family arranged for burial in the Eagle Eye Cemetery in Aguila, Arizona where he finally found peace in his life.  Kuykendall was laid to rest in Prescott’s Mountain View Cemetery.    

The Antlers Pool Hall has long hung up its rack.  A quaint little store operates in its place where hundreds of tourists shop each weekend.  Take a stroll down Whiskey Row late some evening and listen for the sounds of ghosts of the past.  Spirits of another kind now rule Whiskey Row.

From Phoenix take I 17 North to the 69/89 Exit.  Follow HWY 69 which turns into HWY 89 into downtown Prescott and Gurley Street. Montezuma Street is on your left after you pass the courthouse park.

Debe Branning   nazanaza@aol.com

www.mvdghostchasers.com