OLD WEST LEGENDS

Gunfighter Summaries

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John Allen - A gunman and gambler, Allen had been in Dodge City, Kansas prior to making his way to Trinidad, Colorado. There, he ran into an “old” Dodge City acquaintance and gambler, Frank Loving. Allegedly the two had been arguing for some time over loans the two had made to each other. On April 16, 1882, their argument came to a head in what is known as the Trinidad, Colorado Shoot-out, in which Allen shot and killed Loving. Charged with murder, John Allen was tried in September, but was found not guilty and walked away a free man. Later he headed back to Dodge City and eventually became a street preacher and traveling evangelist.

Hugh Anderson (18??-1873)  - The son of a wealthy Bell County, Texas cattleman, Anderson followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a cowboy and driving the herds up the Texas Trails to Kansas. Though he came from a good family, he was prone to running with a rough crowd and in 1871, this would become extremely evident. That year, while working on a trail drive bound for Newton, Kansas, he allegedly helped John Wesley Hardin to track down a man named Juan Bideno, who had killed a friend of Hardin's. When Bideno was found in Bluff City, Kansas, Hardin shot him.  

By August, 1871, the cowboys had arrived in Newton, where one of Anderson's friends, a man named Bill Bailey, was shot and killed by another man named Mike McCluskie. On the evening of August 19, 1871, Anderson confronted McCluskie in Tuttle's Dance Hall and shot him, which instigated one of the largest gunfights in the Old West - the Hide Park Gunfight, also known as the Newton Massacre, which left in its wake several dead and wounded. In the melee, Anderson took two shots to his leg, but would survive. Though a warrant was issued for Anderson's arrest, he was smuggled out of town by his father and friends.

Anderson then returned to Texas to recover from his wounds. In the meantime, Arthur McCluskie, Mike's brother, wanted revenge against Hugh Anderson and for the next two years, Arthur and his friends kept a lookout for Anderson. In 1873, Anderson made the mistake of returning to Kansas, where he was working as a bartender at Harding's Trading Post in Medicine Lodge. Arthur McCluskie soon tracked him down and on July 4, 1873 he sent a man into the trading post to invite Anderson to a dual. Giving Anderson a choice of weapons -- either guns or knives, Anderson chose pistols and soon emerged from the trading post. In a particularly brutal dual, both men emptied their guns into each other, but amazingly were still alive. They then resorted to knives and in the end, both were dead.

Reese Anderson - A cowboy and vigilante, Anderson worked for the Granville Stuart Ranch in Montana during a time when the area was rampant with cattle rustlers and bandits. In 1884, Grantville formed a vigilante group, known afterwards as “Stuart's Stranglers ,” and Anderson became its leader. Within just weeks, Anderson led a group of some two dozen volunteers to track down the many outlaws hiding out in the area between the Musselshell and Judith Rivers. In the end, they caught and hanged some 23 men that they caught red-handed with stolen cattle or horses.

William Anderson - Anderson was a drunken gunman who lived in a Delano, Kansas, a small town just outside of Wichita. His excessive drinking and tendency towards gunplay had him constantly at odds with the law. In the spring of 1873, Anderson and several other men were involved in an argument in a Wichita livery stable. Within no time, the confrontation turned to gunplay and one of Anderson's shots went wild, killing an innocent man just passing by. Though, Anderson was arrested, he was later released when the death was ruled accidental. Several months later on October 27, 1873, Anderson was in "Rowdy Joe" Lowe's saloon when Edward "Red" Beard, who owned a saloon next door, burst into the bar with his guns blazing. Beard had argued with one of the "ladies" in his own saloon when she fled into Lowe's place. Instead of hitting his intended target, Beard shot one of Lowe's "girls." Lowe then grabbed his shotgun and began to fire at Beard, who staggered outside. As the bullets were flying, Anderson got caught in the crossfire, taking a load of buckshot in the eye, permanently blinding him. Anderson spent the rest of his days sitting outside cowtown saloons, with his hat in his hands and begging for coins.

Clint Barkley, aka: Bill Bowen - After being accused of a murder in Texas in 1873, Barkley took on the alias of Bill Bowen and fled to Lampasas, Texas to seek the help of Merritt Horrell, his brother-in-law. Merritt, just one of five lethal Horrell brothers, who were cattlemen with a deadly reputation, gave Barkley shelter and a job.

At that time, the lawlessness was so out of hand in Lampassas that the Texas Governor prohibited the carrying of firearms in the city and sent in state police to enforce the law. On March 14, 1873, they arrested Barkley for carrying a gun, and then made the mistake of entering Jerry Scott's Saloon, with Barkley in tow. Inside the saloon were the Horrell brothers and their friends. Upon seeing the officers with their brother-in-law arrested, the brothers immediately confronted the officers. In no time, shots began to blast through the saloon, leaving four of the officers dead.

When Mart Horrell and three other men were later arrested and jailed, Barkley and the other brothers stormed the jail and freed them on May 2nd.  Barkley then accompanied the lawless Horrell brothers to Lincoln, New Mexico, where they terrorized the city before returning to Texas and becoming involved in the Horrell-Higgins Feud. Afterwards, Barkley seemingly disappeared into history.

Edward T. "Red" Beard (18??-1873) - The son of the man who founded Beardstown, Illinois, Beard was well educated and married to a cultured woman from Virginia. Although he was a member of a prominent family and the father of three children, Beard abruptly pulled up stakes in 1861 and headed West. Wandering about California, Oregon, and Arizona for several years, he acquired a reputation as a gunfighter. By 1873 he was attracted to Kansas by the cattle boom and established a disreputable saloon there in Delano, Kansas, the worst section of Wichita , where he engaged in a series of wild shootouts. On November 11, 1873, he was killed in a gunfight with a rival saloon owner named Rowdy Joe Lowe.

John Beckwith (1853-1879) - A native of New Mexico, John was born on January 14, 1853 and along with his older brother Robert, ran a cattle ranch on the east side of the Pecos River in Lincoln County. Both John and his brother were working as deputies under Sheriff William Brady, when a posse was sent out to attach rival faction leader, John Tunstall's cattle. When the posse met up with Tunstall, the rancher refused to give over his herd and was killed on February 18, 1878. This event set off the infamous Lincoln County War. Fighting Billy the Kid and the rest of the McSween "Regulators," John's brother, Robert was killed during the climactic battle in Lincoln in 1878. John was shot to death the following year by John Jones.

Robert "Bob" W. Beckwith (1850-1878) - The son of a rancher, Bob was born on October 16, 1850 and when he grew up he worked as a rancher with his younger brother John in Lincoln County, New Mexico. By 1876, the pair had established a ranch of their own. When the bitter rivalry that would spawn the Lincoln County War began, the two became involved in the Dolan-Murphy faction and were deputized. On February 18, 1878, the brothers were with a group of deputies who stopped rancher John Tunstall, killing him and setting off the infamous Lincoln County War. Bob was killed in the climactic battle in Lincoln on July 19, 1878.

Juan Bideno (18??-1871) - Bideno's known career as a gunman was compressed into a few violent days in the summer of 1871. Bideno, who worked as a cowboy and sometimes a hired gunman, signed on to a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. Leading the drive was 22-year-old Billy Cohron, who noticed Bideno's slack work and called him on it several times. This soon led to hard words between the pair. As the cattle crossed the Cottonwood River, they again had words, and Bidino shot the young trail boss. Bidieo quickly fled with a posse in hot pursuit. But, the lawmen didn't have a chance, as John Wesley Hardin found him first. Unfortunately for Bideno, the trail boss he killed was a friend of Hardin's.

Andy Blevins, aka: Andy Cooper (18??-1887) - Blevins was reportedly wanted for cattle rustling and murder in Texas before he and his family moved to Pleasant Valley, Arizona and began ranching. The Blevins soon found themselves in the midst of a local range war between the Graham and Tewksbury factions, called the Pleasant Valley War. The dispute was between cattlemen and sheepherders, who were fighting over property lines and water rights. Blevins soon hired his gun out to the cattle-herding Grahams, and killed two men,  including the leader of the sheepherder's faction. Two days later, on September 4, 1887, Blevins was shot down by Commodore Perry Owens, the sheriff in Holbrook, Arizona. In the gunbattle, Owens also killed Andy's brother Sam Blevins and another cohort named Mose Roberts.  

William "Billy" L. Brooks, aka: "Buffalo Bill" (1832-1874) - Lawman turned outlaw, Brooks was working as a successful buffalo hunter in the late 1840's and like his more famous counterpart, William F. Cody, also earned the nickname "Buffalo Bill." In the 1860's, Brooks sometimes worked as a stage driver, was known as a touch character, and was involved in several gunfights. In the 1870's he was working as a lawman in the Kansas cow towns of Ellsworth, Newton, and Dodge City, where he was reportedly involved in 15 gunfights during his first month. By 1873, Dodge City was "questioning" Brooks due to a number of odd circumstances regarding the many gunfights. Brooks left town and worked again as a stage driver before turning to a life of crime -- stealing mules and horses. In July, 1874 Brooks was captured by a posse with several other horse thieves near Caldwell, Kansas. Hauled to jail to await trial, a lynch mob stormed the Caldwell jail on July 29, 1874 and lynched Brooks, along with two other horse thieves by the names of L.B. Hasbrouck and Charlie Smith. Reportedly, Brooks struggled violently after the rope failed to break his neck and strangled to death. Brooks had moved to the Caldwell area with his wife, who was present when he was lynched.

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Great American Bars and Saloons

By Kathy Weiser

Owner/Editor of Legends of America

Kathy Weiser's first venture into the publishing world takes you into the many watering holes of America's past, particularly the numerous saloons that sprouted up during our nation's Wild West days. This great photographic review displays hundreds of vintage photographs from California to Arizona, the mining camps of Colorado, all the way to New York and its turbulent days of Prohibition.

Hardcover, 2006, 224 Pages. Signed by the author!!
 

New - $17.95 -  Item #kw001