testimonies, Lee was found guilty in September 1876 and sentenced to death. Spicer and Bishop appealed the conviction, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Spicer requested clemency from Gov. George W. Emery, who denied it due to Lee's reluctance to make a full public confession. Spicer attended Lee's execution by firing squad on March 22, 1877. The unsettling trials and aftermath inspired Spicer to refer to himself as the "unkilled of Mountain Meadows". Spicer was renamed U.S. Commissioner for Utah Territory by the Supreme Court in 1876. He remained in Utah until the end of his commission in 1878. Discouraged by the recent turn of events, Spicer left for southeastern Arizona Territory when he learned of a silver strike in Tombstone, Arizona. Tombstone, Arizona Territory The first verifiable evidence of Spicer's presence in Tombstone was his appointment as a special correspondent for the Arizona Daily Star on January 3, 1880, though earlier articles bearing the names of "Utah" and "W.S." may well have been Spicer's. As in his Utah days, Spicer's articles dealt mainly in the area of mining. He resumed his other mining activities, such as prospecting and practicing mining law. A previous acquaintance, Charles G.W. French, was named Chief Justice of Arizona by President Ulysses S. Grant and in turn named Spicer a justice of the First District Court in June 1880. Spicer was the first Master of King Solomon Masonic Lodge#5, founded in Tombstone on March 14, 1881. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral A coroner's inquest was held the day after the gun fight of October 26, 1881. The coroner's jury only stated the facts of the gunfight and not whether the shootings were justifiable or criminal. Ike Clanton filed first degree murder charges on November 1 against Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, and John H. "Doc" Holliday. A preliminary hearing, later nicknamed the Spicer Hearing, began on November 1, presided over by Justice of the Peace Spicer. The purpose of the hearings was to ascertain if enough evidence was present to warrant holding the defendant(s) for trial. But both the prosecution and the defense presented their entire cases as if the hearing was a full trial. The prosecution may have been motivated by the fact that it was common for criminal charges to be quickly dismissed during preliminary hearings if the evidence was not sufficient. Defense attorney Tom Fitch may have mounted a full-on defense