Gunfighter Capitalof Thewest
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TEXAS: Gunfighter Capital of theWest Texans had fought Comanches, Mexicans and Yankees, and that fighting spirit carried over after the Civil War for better and for worse—10 of the deadliest 15 Old West shootists operated in the Lone Star State By Bill O’Neal The poisonous atmosphere of Reconstruction produced such gunfighters as native Texan John Wesley Hardin, left , who ascosa, Texas, was already known as the away, still clutching his Winchester. Valley pursued at age 15 killed a former slave. “Cowboy Capital of the Plains” when Woodruff, but Lem stopped him in his tracks with a slug to The late Hardin, above, took a one of the deadliest saloon shootouts the left eye. fatal bullet from John Selman, in frontier history exploded at the The gunfire awakened Jesse Sheets, owner of the North Star who was born in Arkansas but town’s main intersection. On Saturday restaurant next door. When he unwisely peered out the back made his reputation in Texas. evening, March 20, 1886, four cowboys door of the North Star, either Chilton or Lang gunned him More than a few publications, from the nearby LS Ranch—Ed King, down. Even as Sheets dropped with a hole in his forehead, (see two below) played up the Fred Chilton, Frank Valley and John Lang—attended a baile two bullets ripped toward Chilton’s gun flash. The rounds exploits of hardnosed Hardin. Tat a dive just west of town. These LS riders frequently tore into Chilton’s chest. He handed his gun to Lang and caroused in Tascosa and had made a number of enemies; died. Lang now retreated outside, exchanging a furious fire King was especially disliked. At 2 in the morning the quartet with the men in the saloon. Sheriff Jim East hurried to the of LS men left the dance and rode into Tascosa. At the central scene, and his deputy shot at the Catfish Kid, who dropped intersection King dismounted to meet sporting lady Sally and played possum, then escaped into the night. Emory. King’s companions continued west in search of fur- Woodruff and Emory survived their wounds, but that after- ther recreation in a saloon, while Ed and Sally strolled arm in noon the town held a mass funeral for the three LS men and arm toward her house. Jesse Sheets, the latter of whom left a widow and five chil- N O According to one account, as the couple passed the Dunn dren. A mortician clad the dead men’s bodies in new black T T U & Jenkins saloon, several men out front exchanged words suits, and the entire populace of Tascosa, along with a num- H W E R with King. Suddenly a gunshot rang out, and King collapsed, ber of area cowboys, formed a half-mile procession to Boot D N A L dead when he hit the ground. Lem Woodruff, a cowboy who Hill. At his widow’s request, Sheets was buried far from the U A P ; S had been trying to win Sally’s affections, ran out of the plots of King, Valley and Chilton. R E V O saloon and without hesitation fired a Winchester slug into Juries tried the survivors for murder, but all were ultimate- C K O the throat of the fallen King. “Boys, they’ve killed Ed,” shout- ly acquitted. The following year the Catfish Kid killed an O B ; N O ed John Lang. “Come on!” adversary in another post-midnight shootout. Indeed, I T C L Brandishing their revolvers, Lang, Chilton and Valley Tascosa saw at least 10 fatal gunfights during the 1880s (see L O C N I sprinted toward King’s corpse. The angry trio slipped into the “Tascosa: Hell Town of the Texas Panhandle,” by Frederick B U C rear of Dunn & Jenkins, and moments later a barrage of gun- Nolan, in the December 2010 Wild West). C M . G fire erupted inside. With Woodruff were John “the Catfish Tascosa may have stood out like a sore thumb on the fron- T R E B Kid” Gough, Charlie and Tom Emory, Louis Bousman and tier, but there were plenty of bloody trigger fingers elsewhere O R : S H others, and these men blazed back at their attackers. Two in Texas—with notable gunfights occurring in such Lone Star P A R G bullets caught Woodruff low in the abdomen, and one hit hot spots as San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth and Lampasas. O T O H Charlie Emory in the leg. The wounded Woodruff stumbled After the cowboy—a Texas creation—the most colorful and P 42 W I L D W E S T O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 romanticized frontier figure is the gunfighter. Texas made an courage. Texas would become the site of more blood feuds ers took on the state police in a local saloon, killing four of each sheepherder he dispatched. “I have killed 11 men that I enormous contribution to gunfighter lore. A survey of 255 than any other state or territory. the seven officers who came to arrest a brother-in-law. know about,” he once reported, before adding with disdain, Western gunfighters and 589 shootouts in which they partic- The poisonous atmosphere of Reconstruction intensified Through 1877 the five Horrell boys fought local law officers, “I have lost my notch stick on the Mexicans I killed out on ipated reveals that Texans dominated the tally sheet of fron- the violence and produced such gunfighters as John Wesley Texas Rangers and rancher-gunman John Pinckney “Pink” the border.” tier pistoleers. More of these gunfights—nearly 160— Hardin. In 1868 the 15-year-old Hardin pumped three pistol Higgins, with time out to battle through the “Horrell War” in Cattlemen, too, faced mortal danger. In 1889 Burnet occurred in Texas than in any other state or territory; no balls into the chest of a former slave. Hardin and many other Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. The Horrell-Higgins County sheep rancher Andy Feild agreed to hire a cowboy other Western commonwealth was the arena of even half as Texans shot it out with occupation soldiers and members of Feud reached its climax in Lampasas County in 1877. Pink who was desperate for work. Immediately the cowboy many shootings. Most Western states and territories saw Governor Edmund J. Davis’ detested state police. The turbu- killed one of the Horrell brothers in a Lampasas saloon, and caused trouble, and within days Feild had to fire him. The widespread gunplay for only a brief number of years before lence of Reconstruction also spawned the Early-Hasley Feud the two factions lost one man apiece in a battle on the town cowboy rode up to Feild at a sheep pen and dismounted. law and order prevailed: Kansas, for example, during the cat- (1865–69), pitting Union supporters against former square. By year’s end four of the contentious Horrell brothers “You son of a bitch!” he spat out. “You’ve fired your last tle town era; New Mexico during the bloody had been slain. man!” The man pulled a six-gun and snapped off a shot that Lincoln County War; and Oklahoma during its law- In Hood County the Mitchell and Truitt families feuded in went wild. Anticipating trouble, Feild had slipped his .41 Colt less heyday as an outlaw refuge. But gunfighters 1874 over a land dispute, and two of the Truitts died of revolver into his waistband. Now he whirled around, gun in first opened fire in Texas during the 1850s and con- wounds. The next year county officials legally hanged patri- hand, and shot the cowboy in the elbow and chest. Feild tinued to blaze away at each other until past the arch Cooney Mitchell in Granbury. Mitchell’s son, Bill, charged as the cowboy fled on foot. As the cowboy glanced turn of the century. blamed the Rev. James Truitt, a young minister whose testi- back to see if his pursuer was gaining, a bullet struck him mony was the key to the conviction. After nursing his grudge between the eyes, dropping him to the ground. n a rating of gunfighters, comparing first for more than a decade, Bill murdered Truitt in 1886 at his the number of shootists killed and then the home in Timpson (in Shelby County, focal point of the earli- unfighter buffs may not know Andy Feild, but total number of shootouts, 10 of the dead- er Regulator-Moderator War). certainly they are familiar with Jim Miller. liest 15 spent most of their careers in Texas. The Mason County War (1875–76), or Hoodoo War, was a Texas produced dozens of prominent gun- The top 15, with sometime Texans itali- culture clash between Anglo-American and German- fighters, from “Killer Miller” to the legendary Icized, were: Jim Miller, John Wesley Hardin, Harvey American settlers that escalated into a murderous conflict Ben Thompson, not to mention the lethal Logan, “Wild Bill” Hickok, John Selman, Dallas aggravated by cattle theft. GKing Fisher, Clay Allison and John Selman, who numbered Stoudenmire, King Fisher, Billy the Kid, Ben The politically motivated Jaybird-Woodpecker War Wes Hardin and ex-Ranger Baz Outlaw among his victims. Thompson, Henry Brown, John Slaughter, Cullen (1888–90) of Fort Bend County featured a wild shootout out- Rangy Dallas Stoudenmire tamed El Paso before dying there Baker, Clay Allison, Jim Courtright and John side the Richmond courthouse on Aug. 16, 1889. Following in a vicious fight, and the homicidal Cullen Baker terrorized Hughes. More gunfighters were born in Texas than several brawls and fatal gunfights, Sheriff J.T.