Old West Outlaws - N-O

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Tom Pickett (1858-1934) - Raised in Decatur, Texas , Pickett would grow up to be both a lawman and an outlaw at various times of his life. He began a life a crime when he stole some cattle at the age of 17. Soon captured, his father, a former officer for the Confederacy and a member of the Texas legislature, mortgaged the family home to pay his fine. Pickett later went on to serve as a Texas Ranger for a short time. He then followed a cattle drive to Kansas and became a gambler. There he met "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh and the pair went to Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1879, where Pickett served as a "peace officer" in the Dodge City Gang. When the city of Las Vegas ran the men out of town, he and Rudabaugh soon joined up with Billy the Kid's Gang and were rusting cattle near Fort Sumner. After Tom O'Folliard was killed by Pat Garrett's posse, Picket and the others fled, hiding out in a stone house in Stinking Springs, New Mexico. Garrett soon tracked them down on December 23, 1880 and in the ultimate shoot-out, Charlie Bowdre was killed, and the rest of the gang captured and taken to Santa Fe, New Mexico . After being released on a $300 bail, Pickett drifted into northern Arizona where he hooked up with the Hash Knife outfit and participated in the Graham-Tewksbury feud. Wounded in the leg during one of the many skirmishes, Pickett returned to working as a cowboy. He married in 1888, but his wife and baby both died in childbirth. He spent the rest of his days gambling, bartending, prospecting for gold and working as a cowboy. However, he did serve a short stint as a U.S. Deputy Marshal. After he was forced to have his leg amputated, Pickett returned to northern Arizona where he died of old age on on May 14, 1934 in Winslow, Arizona at the age of 76.

They also planned to collect some $900 owed to Newcomb by Rose's brothers. However, as they approached the house the pair of outlaws were ambushed, shot out of their saddles by Rose's brothers who wanted to collect the large county on their heads.  Both bodies were then taken to Guthrie, but Newcomb was still alive.  When he sat up and begged for water, he received another bullet for his efforts.

Henry Plummer (1832-1863) - Born in Maine in 1832, he moved with his family to Wisconsin in 1845.  He moved on to California where he did a variety of odd jobs before being appointed deputy sheriff of Nevada City. He began to get into trouble when he killed John Vedder on September, 1857 in a dispute over Vedder's wife, who he had been having an affair with.  He was sentenced to ten years in San Quentin, but when he convinced the prison authorities that he was suffering from tuberculosis, he was released in August, 1859. He returned to Nevada City, where he got into another dispute in 1861 and shot a man who later died of his injuries.  Killing yet another man in a fight later the same year, he fled to Washington before moving on to Montanawhere he became the sheriff in Bannack in 1863. Allegedly the leader of a gang of road agents called the Innocents, the outlaws terrorized the area between Bannack and Virginia City, rustling cattle, holding up stagecoaches, and robbing anyone who they met along the way. A Vigilante Committee hanged Plummer on January 10, 1864.  However, since his death, it has widely been disputed as to whether Plummer was actually guilty, with some suspecting that it was the vigilantes themselves who had caused the mahem in the area. More ...

Charley Pitts (18??-1876) - On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang attempted to rob the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota. Among the outlaws were the James Brothers, the three Younger Brothers, two Quantrill veterans, including Clell Miller and Charlie Pitts. and a local outlaw named Bill Chadwell. The attempted robbery was to be the demise of the infamous James-Younger Gang and the death of Charley Pitts.  When ordered to open the safe, bank cashier, Heyman, refused to do so and ducked down.  Angered, Jesse put a pistol to his head and shot him.  The shot was heard beyond the bank and when the bank alarm began to go off the Northfield citizens opened fire upon the gang.  Charley Pitts and Bill Chadwell were killed.  Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were badly wounded but managed to escape.  However, they were captured just one week later, just east of Mankato.  The Younger Brothers were sentenced to life terms in prison.  Frank and Jesse escaped back to Missouri, unharmed.

Bill Power, aka: William St. Power, Tom Evans (18??-1892) - Not much is known about Bill Power other than he drifted into Indian Territory with a trail herd from the Pecos. His name was actually William St. Power and in addition to using the name "Bill Power," he also used the alias of Tom Evans. While working at the Bar X Bar Ranch, he became acquainted with Emmett Dalton and other cowboys who would soon become part of the infamous Dalton Gang.

In the two years the Dalton Gang operated, the outlaws were involved in a number of train and bank robberies before they schemed to a double bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas on October 5, 1892. Spotted by locals, a shootout followed the attempted robbery which claimed the lives of power, along with Grat and Bob Dalton, and Dick Broadwell; as well as four Coffeyville residents.  Emmett Dalton, though seriously wounded, was the only the only one to survive and wound up serving 14 years in prison. Power was buried, along with the Dalton brothers at the Coffeyville, Kansas Cemetery.

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