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Gunfighter
Summaries - B
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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 setoff 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.
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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.
Continued Next Page
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