>> From ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu!CHINN Sun Feb 20 18:11:01 1994
>> From: CHINN@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
>> Subject: Gunfighter file for GENEALOG
 
GUNFIGHTERS
______
 
The gunfighter era was an outgrowth of the Civil War. Some
outlaws were spawned of the Civil War as Quantrill Raiders.
 
The average year of birth was 1853. The average year of death was
1895. About 1/3 of all gunmen died of "natural causes." Many
gunmen did not die violently and lived a normal life span (70
years or so). Of those who did die violently (shot or executed),
the average age of death was 35. The gunfighters-turned-lawmen
lived longer lives than their persistently criminal counterparts.
 
Most professional gunfighters died in states or territories where
the most shootings occurred: Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
California, Missouri, and Colorado.
 
The "occupations" of the various gunmen were often those that
used firearms in ordinary pursuits. There were 110 gunmen who
were law officers, 75 who were cowboys, 54 as ranchers, 46 as
farmers, 45 as rustlers, 35 as hired guns, but also men who had
been soldiers, miners, scouts, teamsters, actors, butchers,
bounty hunters, etc.
 
Gunfighting peaked in the 1870s: Six fights in TX and KS in 1870,
22 in 1871, 13 in 1872, 27 in 1873, 14 in 1874, 13 in 1875, 22 in
1876, 21 in 1877, 36 in 1878, 14 in 1879. In the 1880s: 25 in
1880, 27 in 1881, 15 in 1882, 9 in 1883, 17 in 1884, 7 each in
1885-6, 20 in 1887, 10 in 1888, and nine in 1889. 1895-96 were
bad years, 19 fights in each, but then it began to taper off.
______
 
Clay Allison: (1840-1877)
 
Sam Bass:
     There was also an outlaw named Sam Bass whose gang robbed
the train in Big Springs, Nebraska not far from the Colorado
line.  I think they were from Texas.
 
Charley Bassett:
         Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
 
William Bonney--Billy the Kid: (1859-1881)
     William Bonney was born in 1859.
Billy the Kid was a lad with buck teeth who could do remarkable
things with a .44-40 pistol.
His career began in Silver City, New Mexico Territory.
1881 Billy the Kid was shot and killed by his old friend, Pat
Garrett, in the bedroom of Pete Maxwell at Fort Sumner in New
Mexico Territory.
Billy the Kid died at age 21, having killed 21 men during his
gunslinger career, a victim of circumstances, and many claim the
dupe of the Lincoln County War.
 
William "Billy" L. Brooks: (? - 1874)
     William L. "Billy" Brooks, marshal of Newton and badman of
Dodge City, who was hanged as a horse thief by Sumner County
vigilantes in 1874.
 
Neal Brown:
         Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
 
Henderson Brumley:
     A member of the Rube Burrow train robbing gang in TX for a
short time.
 
Rube Burrow:
     train robbing gang in TX
 
Calamity Jane: (1848-1903)
 
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:
     In Brown's Hole in the NW corner of Colorado for a time.
They made forays into Wyoming from there.
 
Old Man Clanton: (1830-1882)
 
Curly Bill: (? - 1882)
 
Jim Courtright: (1848-1887)
 
William M. Doolin--Bill Doolin:
     The train robbery occurred about half a mile west of
Cimarron, Kansas, about half way between Dodge City and Garden
City on the major east-west line of the Atchison, Topeka, and
Santa Fe Railroad.  On May 26, 1893, one of his gang flagged down
the westbound California Express.  Before the train could come to
a complete stop, Doolin and another outlaw had swung onto the
locomotive from opposite sides and covered the engineer and fire
fighter with revolvers.  Three more outlaws joined the others as
they tried to break into the express cars.  Shots were fired, and
the express car's messenger was wounded.  Doolin and the others
managed to break the door down, and they escaped with a few
thousand dollars.
     Between 1893 and early 1895, Doolin and his gang made their
biggest hauls robbing banks, including those in Spearville and
Cimarron, Kansas.  According to the best estimates, Doolin and
his gang stole about $175,000 in gold and currency during this
period.  What happened to the loot is the basis for this legend.
 
Wyatt Earp: (1848-1929)
     Wyatt Earp was born in 1848 in Monmouth, IL
The Earp (Arp) family can be found in Benton, Cherokee, and
Cleburne Counties in Alabama in the 1850-1870 period.
Wyatt Earp went to Kansas City where he met Wild Bill Hickok.
     Wyatt Earp got into Ellsworth, Kansas, just as the famous
gunslinger, Ben Thompson had the town treed.  Wyatt Earp
borrowed a badge and a couple of pistols from the mayor.  Wyatt
Earp told Ben Thompson to either throw down the shotgun in the
road or he'd kill him.  Ben Thompson threw down the shotgun. This
made Earp a famous man up and down the Chisholm Trail.
Wyatt went to Wichita where he was made deputy marshal.
He went out to Dodge and became deputy marshal there.
Fall of 1879 Wyatt Earp and others (Morgan and Virgil Earp)
journeyed by horseback down to Tombstone, Arizona and was
appointed deputy.  Virgil Earp was appointed town marshal.
At Tombstone, Arizona Wyatt Earp invested in a new Oriental
Saloon venture, and sent for his gunslinger friends to work
there.
1881 OK Corral Gunfight at Tombstone, Arizona.
Wyatt Earp was in Silverton, Colorado following his famed
gunfight at the OK Corral.
Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
He had some 100 shootouts.
d. 1929 at age 81
 
King Fisher: (1854-1884)
 
Patrick Floyd Garrett--Pat Garrett: (1850-1908)
     Patrick Floyd Garrett was born in 1850.
Pat Garrett was a tall, rangy individual.
He married Polinaria Guiterrez. They had seven children.
1880 Pat Garrett went to New Mexico Territory and was elected
sheriff of Lincoln County.  He was ordered by Governor Wallace
(author of "Ben Hur") to bring Billy the Kid in.
1881 Pat Garrett shot and killed his old friend, Billy the Kid,
in the bedroom of Pete Maxwell at Fort Sumner in New Mexico
Territory.
Pat Garrett was shot and killed by Wayne Brazil in Las Cruces,
New Mexico in 1908. Pat Garrett was buried in Las Cruces, New
Mexico.
 
John Wesley Hardin: (1853-1895)
     Before his death, John Wesley Hardin wrote an autobiography,
"The Life of John Wesley Harding," Seguin, Texas 1896. (A later
publication is at Norman, 1961.)(11 killings confirmed and 19
shootouts)
 
W. H. Harris:
         Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
 
James Butler Hickok--"Wild Bill" Hickok: (27-May-1837/2-Aug-1876)
     James Butler Hickok was born 27-May-1837 in Troy Grove, La
Salle County, IL; son of William HICKOK and Polly BUTLER; sister
Sallie (HICKOK) SMITH (b. abt. 1800; d. abt. 1899)
Wild Bill Hickok was a fine-looking fellow, with long curly hair
hanging down his back and dandy dress.
He was a noted desperado or "border ruffian."
frontiersman
US Marshall where? When?
1858 Wild Bill Hickok shot down five desperadoes in a street
brawl in Leavenworth.
1867 scout for Fort Riley
He drove stage coach on Santa Fe Trail
Wild Bill Hickok went to Kansas City where he met Wyatt Earp.
He became law in Hays City
1871 At Abilene Hickok replaced Tom Smith as town marshal
When? Elected sheriff of Wichita.
     Wild Bill Hickok moved to the Black Hills of South Dakota
where he was shot and killed in a saloon by Jack McCall in
Deadwood, SD 2-Aug-1876. "Wild Bill" Hickok was the holder of
Aces and Eights when he was shot, known ever after as the
deadman's (poker) hand.
     Twenty-seven nicks cut on the handle of his revolver, each
signifying a man whose life had been taken by him.
 
John Henry Holliday--Doc Holliday: (1852-1887)
     John Henry Holliday was born in 1852 in Valdesta, GA
Doc went on to Dodge City where Wyatt Earp was marshal.
He went to Tombstone, Arizona.
1881 OK Corral Gunfight at Tombstone, Arizona.
Doc holiday went to Glenwood Springs, Colorado for health
reasons.  He lived at the TB sanitarium until he died.
Doc Holliday (age 35) died in 1887 at Glenwood Springs, CO from
tuberculosis and alcoholism. Doc Holliday did look older than his
years due to his having TB and being a longtime alcoholic.
Doc Holliday's final resting place is an unmarked grave in the
cemetery on a hill overlooking Glenwood Springs, Colorado in the
mountain valley below.
 
Tom Horn:
     He was hung in Cheyenne, Wyoming for a murder.  His
guilt/innocence is still controversial. Buried in Boulder,
Colorado - in the old Olympia Pioneer Cemetery.
 
Al Jennings:
     Outlaw Who Ran for Governor
 
Bob Ledbetter:
     A shipper who profited from the cattle business.
 
James F. ("Bud") Ledbetter:
     a U.S. Marshal in OK
 
Harvey Logan:
     (9 killings confirmed and 11 shootouts).
 
Bill Longley: (1851-1878)
     (11 killings confirmed and 12 shootouts)
 
William Barclay Masterson--Bat Masterson: (1856-1921)
     William Barclay Masterson was born in 1856.
     He was a buffalo hunter on the great plains.
     Took part in the historic Battle of Adobe Walls in which 19
hunters were attacked by 1000 Indians.
     He became a Peace Commissioner of Dodge City in 1883.
     On January 12, 1889, a few of Ingalls's finest citizens,
including Bat Masterson, decided to go after some county records
that were still being held in Cimarron. The men, armed with
Winchesters and six-shooters, slipped into Cimarron at 10:00 in
the morning. They rushed into the county building, seized the
records, and placed them in a wagon, but by this time the
Cimarron men had gathered, and shooting began between the two
factions. One Cimarron man, J. W. English, was killed, and two
others were seriously wounded. After the fight was over, the
raiding party returned to Ingalls with the county records and
three wounded men. When he heard of the incident, Governor John
Martin ordered two companies of militia to Cimarron to keep the
peace.
     Bat ran for sheriff of Ford County, KS, which he won at the
age of 22.
     Bat Masterson journeyed by horseback down to Tombstone,
Arizona, since Wyatt Earp had sent for him to work in his new
Oriental Saloon venture.
     He left Tombstone for Trinidad, Colorado
     Bat Masterson was sheriff of Creede, Colorado for a while.
It was a wild woolly mining town.
     He accepted post of U.S. Marshal in New York State
     He was a sports writer on the New York Morning Telegraph
     He took sick in 1921 and cashed in his chips at age 65
 
Mysterious Dave Mather: (?-?)
 
M. F. McClain:
         Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
 
Frank McLowery: (? - 1881)
     Shot and killed by Wyatt Earp in 1881 OK Corral Gunfight at
Tombstone, Arizona.
 
Tom McLowery:
 
Jim Miller:
     (12 killings confirmed, and 14 shootouts)
 
Joaquin Murrietta: (1830-1853)
 
Ed O'Kelly: (? - 13 June 1904)
     Ed O'Kelly shot and killed Robert Ford 8 June 1892 with a
shotgun in a saloon Ford owned in Creede, Colorado. O'Kelly was
sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder in Canon City, CO.
Freed in 1902.  Killed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 13 June 1904.
 
John Ringo: (1844-1882)
 
Luke Short: (1854-1893)
     Luke Short was born in 1854 in Texas.
Started out as a trader with the Sioux Indians up around Nebraska
 
Country.
     Luke Short journeyed by horseback down to Tombstone,
Arizona, since Wyatt Earp had sent for him to work as a dealer in
his new Oriental Saloon venture.
     He went to Dodge City in the 1880's and bought an interest
in the Long Branch Saloon.
     Peace Commissioners of Dodge City in 1883.
     Luke Short went on to Texas and bought out the White
Elephant gambling hall.
     Shortly after he sold the White Elephant, he became
desperately sick and died in bed in 1893 in Kansas City at age
39.
 
Belle Starr:
     Some of this bunch were in the southern part of Colorado for
a while. The cabin at Youngers Bend that belonged to Belle Starr
has recently been moved to a site north of Carthage, MO.
 
Ben Thompson: (1843-1884)
     Ben Thompson was born in 1843 at Lockhard, TX.
     Ben and Billy Thompson were two of the greatest gamblers and
faro-bank fiends, also two of the most desperate men and sure
shots.  It is said that Ben and Billy Thompson shot down 25 men.
Every year, without fail, they came to Dodge to meet the Texas
drive.
     Bill Thompson killed Sheriff C. B. Whitney with a shotgun in
the plaza at Ellsworth the first year of the cattle drive to that
place.  While Bill escaped, Ben Thompson stood off the town as he
waved that double-barreled shotgun at the mayor and several
deputies who were hiding out of sight behind buildings, doors and
in halls.  Wyatt Earp told Ben to either throw down the shotgun
or he'd kill him.  Ben Thompson later told Bat Masterson that he
had a hunch that Wyatt meant to kill him, and so he did throw
down the shotgun.  Ben Thompson was fined $25.00 for disturbing
the peace.  Bill Thompson was acquitted when tried.
     Ben Thompson got the job as marshal for the city of Austin,
but he killed one too many men and was let out.
At San Antonio Ben shot down saloon owner Jack Harris.
Ben was 41 years of age when he was cut down and had killed over
40 men.
 
Bill Thompson:
______
 
Dalton Gang:
 
Dick Broadwell (? - 5 Oct 1892)
Emmett Dalton (1871 - 13 Jul 1937)
Frank Dalton (1864? - 27 Nov 1887)
Grattan (Grat) Dalton (1861 - 5 Oct 1892)
Robert (Bob) Renick Dalton (1870 - 5 Oct 1892)
William (Bill) Marion Dalton (1863 - 1894)
Bill Powers (? - 5 Oct 1892)
 
     Their father, Lewis Dalton, came west from Kentucky to
Missouri during the late 1840s. By 1850 Lewis Dalton was trading
horses and running a small saloon at Westport, now Kansas City.
Lewis Dalton (age 36) married Adeline YOUNGER (age 15)(of
Independence, MO) in March 1851 at Independence, MO.  Lewis and
Adeline (YOUNGER) DALTON had 15 children.  The Daltons moved to
Coffeyville, KS in 1886 and lived there for a short time.
Coffeyville, KS became the hometown of "the Dalton boys."  They
went on train robberies and gun battles throughout the West.
     The Dalton Gang rode into Coffeyville, Montgomery County,
Kansas on October 5, 1892 and attempted to rob two banks, the
Condon Bank and the First National Bank. They took about $25,000
in 12 minutes.  A shootout followed which claimed the lives of
eight men: the outlaws, Grat and Bob Dalton, Dick Broadwell and
Bill Powers; and four Coffeyville residents, Charles T. Connelly,
Coffeyville city marshal (killed by Grat Dalton in "Death
Alley"), Lucius M. Baldwin, George B. Cubine and Charles Brown.
Three other townsmen were wounded.
     The four dead members of the Dalton gang were held in the
Coffeyville city jail. The next afternoon the outlaws were buried
in black-varnished coffins made of wood. Grat and Bob Dalton and
Bill Powers were buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Coffeyville, KS.
 
Emmett Dalton:
     Emmett Dalton was born in 1871. He was the youngest, named
for an Irishman who had been hung on the gallows in England.
     About five months after the robbery, Emmett Dalton went on
trial at nearby Independence, Kansas. He pleaded guilty to
murdering a Coffeyville citizen and was sentenced to life in
prison at the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing. After
fourteen and one-half years in prison, Emmett Dalton was pardoned
by E. W. Hoch, governor of Kansas, in 1907.  Emmett Dalton
married Julia Johnson and settled in Tulsa, OK, where Emmett was
employed as a special police officer. On July 13, 1937, Emmett
Dalton, sixty-six died peacefully in Hollywood, CA.
 
Frank Dalton:
     Frank Dalton became a deputy U.S. marshal in 1884 riding out
of Fort Smith, Arkansas, for Judge Isaac Parker, known as the
"hanging judge." Brother Grat went along as Frank's posseman.
Frank Dalton was killed in the line of duty on November 27, 1887
in Indian Territory near the Arkansas border while trying to
capture a band of whiskey runners. Frank Dalton was buried in
Elmwood Cemetery, Coffeyville, KS.
 
Robert (Bob) Renick Dalton:
     b. 1870
     d. 5 Oct 1892 at Coffeyville, KS
 
Grattan (Grat) Dalton:
     Grat Dalton was born near Lawrence, Kansas in 1861. He was
name for a dead Irish statesman. Grat Dalton was promoted to
Frank Dalton's job as deputy U.S. marshal after Frank was killed
on November 27, 1887. Grat Dalton then hired Bob Dalton as
posseman. Soon afterwards Emmett Dalton joined his older
brothers.  Grat Dalton died 5 Oct 1892 at Coffeyville, KS.
 
William (Bill) Marion Dalton:
     Bill Dalton was born in 1863. He supposedly was the smartest
of the second batch, a con artist. He was the worst of the five.
William also tried out for a role, after the deaths of two of the
original trio, and was shot for his trouble in 1894.
______
 
James Gang:
 
James Robert Cummins/Cummings "Windy Jim" (? - 1928/1929)
Robert Newton Ford (? - 8 June 1892)
Alexander Franklin "Frank" James (1844 - 18 Feb 1915)
Jesse Woodson James (1847-April 3, 1882)
Clell (McClelland) Miller (? - 1876)
Jim Poole
George White
 
Collectively Frank and Jesse James called themselves the Williams
Brothers.
 
James Robert Cummins/Cummings "Windy Jim":
     Lived near Kearney, MO. Known as a horse thief. He rode with
 
Quantrill, most often assigned to Quantrill's lieutenant, Bill
Anderson. He was a member of the James Gang, and was involved in
the train robberies at Winston and Blue Cut, Missouri. May have
been in on the plot to kill Jesse James, since his sister,
Artella Cummins, married Robert Ford, who actually did kill Jesse
James. Their son, Albert Ford, was his nephew. Known descendant
in Canada. Died at the Confederate Soldier's Home at
Higginsville, MO about 1928/1929. The Soldier's Home has been
razed, but the cemetery is still in existence.
 
Robert Newton Ford:
     Member of the James gang. Plotted to kill Jesse James, which
Robert did 3 April 1882 at St. Joseph, MO. Trying to cash in on
the notoriety, Ford bought a saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The
venture failed. Ed O'Kelly shot and killed Robert Ford 8 June
1892 with a shotgun in a saloon Ford owned in Creede, Colorado.
Ford was first buried in Colorado, but was later removed to the
family plot in Richmond, MO.
 
Alexander Franklin (Frank) James:
Frank James was born in 1844.
Joined Anderson's gang in midsummer 1862 at age 19.
On parole as member of Confederate Home Guard unit that fought at
Wilson's Creek. He deserted or left because of illness.
The trial of Frank James took place at Huntsville, Alabama.
Frank James ran a museum out of the James place in his old age.
Frank James died in Kearney, Missouri 18 February 1915.
Tried to hide or disguise his grave because he feared that his
body would be dug up and experiments run on his brain. He had
heard that this had happened to his brother Jesse.
 
Jesse Woodson James:
Jesse James was born 1847 in Missouri, the son of a Baptist
minister.
     They always considered themselves Missouri-Indian Territory
folks, though they had major ties to Fort Scott.
Jesse James was a "Robin Hood" type outlaw.
Jesse James was spawned of the Civil War as a Quantrill Raider.
Joined Anderson's gang in 1864 at age 17.
1873 Held up first train, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific,
near Adair, Iowa.
Held up first bank at Liberty, Missouri.
Jesse James was an early citizen of Council Grove.
Shot and killed by Robert Ford in St. Joseph, Missouri, 3 April
1882.
 
Clell (McClelland) Miller:
     A member of Quantrill's guerrillas, under his lieutenant,
"Bloody Bill" Anderson. Participated in several robberies with
the James Gang. Killed during the bank robbery attempt by the
James Gang in Northfield, MN, in 1876. Body put on display there,
where it went unclaimed. It was buried in Potters Field, but
somehow turned up in Missouri, where it was claimed by his
father. The remains were reinterred in the Muddy Fork Cemetery,
north of the James farm.
______
 
Younger Gang:
 
Coleman "Cole" Younger (1844-1916)
Henry Washington Younger (1810-1862/3)
James Henry Younger (1848-1902)
John Younger (1850-1874)
Robert Ewing Younger (? - 16 Sept 1889)
 
The Younger brothers' father's names was Henry W. Younger.
Captain Walley, 5th Missouri Militia Cavalry, killed Henry W.
Younger in 1861.
The Younger brothers always considered themselves Missouri-Indian
Territory folks -- "Youngers Bend" on the Canadian River.
They also had major ties to Fort Scott in KS.
 
Coleman "Cole" Younger:
     Joined Quantrill in 1862 at age 18. Selected because he had
his own revolver.
Captured on Northfield, MN, robbery. Wounded severely. Served
several years in prison.
Died at Lee's Summit, MO, in 1916.
 
James Henry Younger:
     Joined Quantrill in 1864 at the age of 16. Was with the
James gang in Northfield, Minnesota. He was captured in the
attempted robbery, and sent to prison. Applied for parole in
1902. When it was refused, he apparently committed suicide
(1902). His body was found in a room in the Reardon Hotel, St.
Paul, MN, with a single bullet wound in the head.
 
John Younger:
     He rode for Quantrill
     Killed by officers at Osceola, MO, in 1874.
 
Robert Ewing Younger:
     Participated in the attempted robbery in Northfield,
Minnesota. Captured there and sentenced to prison. Died of
consumption in prison 16 September 1889. Sister Henrietta Rawlins
claimed the remains and buried them in the Younger cemetery in
Independence, Missouri.
______
 
[Ref. McCarty, Lea Franklin. "The Gunfighters" Oakland: Mike
Roberts Color Productions, 1988]
[Ref. O'Neal, Bill. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS.]
[Ref. Breihan, Carl. LAWMEN AND ROBBERS]
[Ref. Dary, David. More True Tales of Old-Time Kansas. University
Press of Kansas. 1984]