200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen, 1835–1935

By Laurence Yadon, Dan Anderson and Robert Barr Smith

A lively reference covering a century’s worth of shooters, sheriffs, and more in the Lone Star State.

The Lone Star State is known for producing both vicious outlaws and valorous lawmen. While Machine Gun Kelly terrorized urban civilians, lawmen such as Ranger John Barclay Armstrong tried to keep things under control. This is the story of Texas’s most famous criminals, intrepid lawmen—and in the case of James Edwin Reed, both—as well as such figures as the legendary Judge Roy Bean.

This reference brings to life a time before the West was tamed, and also includes a chronology of well-known crimes and a locale list of notorious events.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 29, 2008
• ISBN: 9781455600052

Book preview

image1

Actual gunfight. A photographer captured forever this gunfight as it actually occurred in El Paso at Seventh and El Paso streets in late 1907. (Courtesy of the El Paso Public Library, Southwest Collection)

Copyright © 2008

By Laurence J. Yadon and Dan Anderson

All rights reserved

The word Pelican and the depiction of a pelican

are trademarks of Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.,

and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Yadon, Laurence J., 1948

200 Texas outlaws and lawmen, 1835-1935 / by Laurence J. Yadon, with Dan Anderson ; edited by Robert Barr Smith.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58980-514-9 (pbk. : alk. paper),978-1-45560-005-2 (ebook)

1. Outlaws—Texas—Biography. 2. Peace officers—Texas—Biography. 3. Criminals—Texas—Biography. 4. Texas—History—Republic, 1836-1846—Biography. 5. Texas—History—1846-1950—Biography. 6. Frontier and pioneer life—Texas—Anecdotes. 7. Crime—Texas—History—Anecdotes. 8. Law enforcement—Texas—History—Anecdotes. I. Anderson, Dan, 1950- II. Smith, Robert B. (Robert Barr), 1933- III. Title. IV. Title: Two hundred Texas outlaws and lawmen, 1835-1935.

F385.Y33 2008

364.1092’2764—dc22

[B]

2007045195

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.

1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053

To the men and women of Texas law enforcement

Old West Texas. (Courtesy of the University of Oklahoma Press)

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chronology of Significant Events

Texas Outlaw Hideouts, Hangouts, and Locales

Texas Outlaws and Lawmen

Bibliography

Preface

This popular history is an outgrowth of our previous book, 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen, 1839-1939. Once again, we have largely relied upon the scholarship of leading Western writers for the stories told here. The principal author’s lifelong interest in Texas was inspired by the frontier lives of rancher Samuel Burk Burnett and other distantly related Missouri kinsmen who settled in nineteenth-century Texas.

In this work, we have focused on notable luminaries of Lone Star outlawry and the law officers who pursued them from the opening days of the Republic to the middle years of the Great Depression. Loosely applying standards used by the eminent scholar Bill O’Neal in his seminal work Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, we have profiled the better known Texas outlaws who engaged in at least two gunfights or armed robberies in which significant gunfights occurred. Certain colorful characters, such as Judge Roy Bean, the self-appointed Law West of the Pecos, and high-profile lawmen, outlaws, and gangsters from elsewhere who operated in Texas or who were one-time Texas residents, have also been included. These individual profiles cover the one hundred-year period beginning with the first declaration of Texas independence in assemblies in Goliad and elsewhere in 1835 and ending with the Depression-era crimes of Machine Gun Kelly and the Barrow gang. Altogether, this volume contains more than two hundred profiles featuring more than five hundred outlaws, gangsters, and lawmen, including a fistful of Texas feudists, Rio Grande border warriors, and Indian fighters.

We have also included a section identifying still accessible outlaw hideouts and locales for those who enjoy treading in the footsteps of history, as well as a Texas outlaw chronology. Usually, we have relied upon traditional narratives of events using standard sources and the works of authors generally accepted as reliable. However, in some instances we have rejected traditional narratives of events, offering alternative versions or related new interpretations based on recent scholarship or variations we deem reliable. Usually the variant theories are referenced, but not expounded, since this is a book of popular history rather than a work of academic scholarship. Generally we reviewed books, magazines, and periodicals available to us as late as January 2007.

Once again, the distinguished historian Robert Barr Smith (Tough Towns, Outlaw Tales of Oklahoma) took time from his own writing schedule to guide our efforts as Consulting Editor. Nevertheless the judgments we have made concerning the relative credibility of competing sources, and any errors sifting fact from mythology, have been our own.

Regrettably, but of necessity, a great many colorful, compelling Texas outlaws and lawmen have been set aside for another time. And so, dear reader, enjoy these pages with the assurance that our Texas outlaw tour has only just begun.

Laurence Yadon, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Dan Anderson, Katy, Texas

Robert Barr Smith, Consulting Editor, Norman, Oklahoma

Acknowledgments

Research for this project was performed in conjunction with our previous work, 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen, 1839-1939. Accordingly a number of organizations assisted the authors in the research for these projects over the past four years. These institutions included but were not limited to the Flying Fingers Typing Service, Sand Springs, Oklahoma; Texas Ranger Museum, Waco, Texas; the Haley Library; Harris County Public Library; Dallas Public Library; Fort Bend County Public Library; Houston City Public Library; Young County Historical Commission; City-County Library, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Oklahoma Historical Society; Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma Library; Oklahoma Heritage Association; Oklahoma Centennial Commission; Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Texas Jack Association; Oklahombres, Inc.; Oklahoma Outlaws, Lawmen History Association; Tulsa Police Department; Public Library, Enid, Oklahoma; Beryl Ford Collection, Tulsa; Oklahoma Publishing Company; Lenapah Historical Society; the University of Tulsa; Kansas State Historical Society; Will Rogers Museum; National Cowboy Hall of Fame; Gilcrease Museum; Enid Public Library; Boone County Heritage Museum, Harrison, Arkansas; and the Lincoln Heritage Trust, Lincoln, New Mexico.

Individuals who assisted us in these two projects have included Bill O’Neal, Nancy Samuelson, Bob Ernst, Ron Trekell, Armand DeGregoris, John R. Lovett, Mike Tower, Michael and Suzanne Wallis, Bob Alexander, Robert K. DeArment, David Johnson, Chuck Parsons, Rick Miller, Bill O’Neal, Bob Ernst, Rod Dent, Gary Youell, Phil Edwards, Terry Zinn, Michael Koch, Diron Ahlquist, Willie Jones, Clyda Franks, Emily Lovick, Lisa Keys, Joseph Calloway Yadon (ardent researcher and author’s son), Danielle Williams, Irene and Larry Chance, Glendon Floyd, Curt Johnson, Dee Cordry, Rik Helmerich, and Herman Kirkwood. Thanks are also due to Helen J. Gaines, Jim Bradshaw, Adrienne Grimmett, Beth Andreson, Jim Hamilton, Dana Harrison MacMoy, Mary Phillips, Stacy M. Rogers, Rand McKinney, Jana Swartwood, Gini Moore Campbell, and Phillip W. Steele. We are especially thankful for the assistance of Mr. Dorman Holub, Chairman, Young County Historical Society, as well as Jim Bradshaw, passionate archivist with The Haley Memorial Library & History Center at Midland, Texas; Sgt. Kevin F. Foster, Fort Worth Police historian; Jane Soutner with the Texas History Division of the Dallas Public Library; and Brian Burns, Information Specialist at the Border Heritage Center of the El Paso Public Library. Special thanks also to Ashley Schmidt and Dana Brittain at the Fort Bend County Library—Cinco Ranch Branch. Thanks to the good folks at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum at Waco.

Lastly, without the patient guidance of our Consulting Editor, Robert Barr Smith, and the patient support of our respective spouses, Martha Yadon and Julia Anderson, this book would not have been possible.

Major Railroads in Texas. (Texas: A Modern History, by David G. McComb, copyright 1999. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press)

Chronology of Significant Events 1835-1935

Texas Outlaw Hideouts, Hangouts, and Locales

Abilene, Texas

Texas mythology says that John Wesley Hardin killed Charles Cougar here on July 6, 1871, in a hotel for snoring, although contemporary newspaper reports make no mention of such a newsworthy motivation.

Austin, Texas

Billy Thompson, younger brother of noted gunman Ben Thompson, killed his friend Sgt. William Burke after a night on the town, on September 2, 1868. Five years later he killed another friend, Sheriff C. B. Whitney, at Ellsworth, Kansas.

The Iron Front Saloon, 605 Congress Avenue, was home away from home to Ben Thompson, John Wesley Hardin, and other hard cases. During demolition of the Iron Front, a skull was reportedly founded embedded in its walls. In later times, the site was occupied by the American National Bank.

Birthplace of pioneer Texas Ranger James Gillett, November 4, 1856, and place where Texas Ranger John B. Jones died on June 19, 1881.

Austin County, Texas

Dreaded shootist Wild Bill Longley was born here on October 6, 1851, then participated in many Reconstruction-era killings before he was hanged in Giddings, Texas.

Bakersfield, California

Barney Mason, noted Texas lawman and associate of Pat Garrett, died here of natural causes on April 11, 1916.

Brown’s Hole, Colorado

Isham Dart, alias Ned Huddleston, a black Texan associated with the Tip Gault gang, was reportedly killed here on October 3, 1900, by bounty hunter and convicted assassin Tom Horn.

Brownsville, Texas

Arkansas native Nathan Reed claimed in his memoirs that he robbed a bank here in April 1891 and then was chased by Texas Rangers into Indian Territory, earning the often-claimed sobriquet Texas Jack.

Caldwell, Kansas

Texas troublemaker James D. Sherman alias Jim Talbot and fellow Texans Tom Love and Jim Martin opened fire on former city marshal Mike Meagher and his replacement John Wilson the afternoon of December 17, 1881, in violent epilogue to a disagreement between Meagher and Talbot the previous evening. Meagher was mortally wounded, while Sherman escaped, only to be assassinated himself in California fifteen years later by persons unknown, possibly his wife’s paramour, or so the story goes.

Cottonwood, Texas

Hometown of the Newton brothers, perpetrators of the largest train robbery in American history (June 12, 1924).

Dallas, Texas

John Younger of the James-Younger gang killed Deputy Sheriff Charles Nichols in Dallas while resisting arrest, on January 15, 1871, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. The previous year, his better known older brother Cole Younger served as a census taker in the Dallas area during the 1870 United States Census.

The Barrow family gas station and residence is located at 1221 Singleton Road, not far from the first Dallas residence of Bonnie Parker, 2908 Eagle Ford Road. Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis was killed by Clyde Barrow at 507 County Avenue, West Dallas, on January 6, 1933.

Decatur, Texas

Assumed 1865 birthplace of colorful outlaw Richard Little Dick West, who preferred to dine and sleep outside at all times. West was a member of the notorious Doolin gang of Oklahoma Territory, then joined the comedic Al Jennings gang, the Titanic of Oklahoma criminal organizations. Shadowy John Armstrong, later known as Milton J. Yarberry, killed a man in Decatur during an 1877 saloon brawl.

Denton, Texas

Motor Mark Garage, 311 West Oak, was burglarized by Clyde and Buck Barrow on November 29, 1929.

Dimick Township, La Salle County, Illinois

Boyhood home of Texas saloon impresario and gunfighter Rowdy Joe Lowe, who was killed in a Denver gunfight on December 1, 1899. Wild Bill Hickok grew up nearby in Troy Grove, Illinois.

Dodge City, Kansas

Former Dallas resident Mysterious Dave Mather and his brother Josiah killed young Ashland, Kansas, grocer David Barnes over a card game at the Junction Saloon on May 10, 1885.

Dryden, Texas

Ben Kilpatrick, the Tall Texan and former member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, was killed with his partner Ole Beck attempting to rob a train here on March 12, 1912.

Eastham, Texas

Clyde Barrow and Floyd Hamilton mortally wounded Major (given name) Joseph Crowson during a prison farm break on January 16, 1934.

El Paso, Texas

Dallas Stoudenmire came to the aid of Constable Gus Krempkau, who had been mortally wounded by John Hale on the street between the Globe Restaurant and Coliseum Saloon. Stoudenmire shot and killed Hale as Hale peered from behind a pillar after shooting Krempkau on April 14, 1881. Stoudenmire himself was killed in an El Paso gunfight the next year.

John Selman, Sr., assassinated John Wesley Hardin at the Acme Saloon on August 19, 1895. The next year (April 5, 1896) Selman himself was killed by lawman George Scarborough near the Wigwam Saloon before Selman could even draw his weapon.

The Coliseum Saloon and the Gem Saloon were on El Paso Street, while the Wigwam stood nearby on San Antonio Street. The site of the Coliseum Saloon was more recently occupied by the Camino Real Hotel.

Fort Concho, Texas

Birthplace of noted Indian Territory gang leader Crawford Goldsby, better known as Cherokee Bill.

Fort Griffin, Texas

John Selman, Sr., and Sheriff John Larn killed a half-deaf suspect who walked away from them after being ordered to halt in early March 1877.

Fort Worth, Texas

Sam Bass robbed the Weatherford and Fort Worth stage of $400 near here on January 26, 1878.

Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and three associates unwittingly informed authorities of their whereabouts by posing for a photograph at the Swartz Studio, 705 South Main, in 1900. An observant Wells Fargo agent noticed the picture and picked up their trail.

Longhair Jim Courtright and others were ambushed by railroad strikers on December 20, 1876, at Buttermilk Switch, about two miles south of the Fort Worth depot. His fatal gunfight with Luke Short occurred near the White Elephant Saloon, then located at 306-310 Main Street, on a site later occupied by the S. H. Kress Building. After 1896, the White Elephant Saloon was located at 606-608 Main Street, while the affiliated Turf Exchange gambling facility was nearby at 610 South Main.

Grand Saline, Texas

Hometown of Wiley Post, renowned aviator and perhaps the only former bandit in America for whom a state building was named.

Grapevine, Texas

Henry Methvin killed State Highway Patrolmen E. B. Wheeler and H. D. Murphy near the intersection of Highway 114 and Dove Road, on April 1, 1934.

Haskell, Texas

Legendary lawman George Scarborough killed a man whom he had recently arrested for cattle rustling. The QT Saloon grew noisy as Scarborough and his brother resolved the dispute permanently on October 15, 1877.

Houston, Texas

Former Texas residents Harry and Jennings Young perpetrated the largest massacre of lawmen in United States history on January 2, 1932, near Springfield, Missouri, then fled to Houston. The brothers were trapped at 4710 Walker Avenue and committed suicide there three days later.

Houston Press reporter Harry McCormick interviewed Barrow gang members Ralph Fults and Ray Hamilton near the intersection of Hempstead Road and Satsuma on March