Autumn of the Gun (63 page)

Site of present-day Amarillo, Texas, which didn't become a town until 1887.

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

John Wesley Hardin was arrested August 23, 1877, in Pensacola, Florida.

John Wesley Hardin opened his law office in February 1894 in Gonzales, Texas.

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

Oakes Ames, a wealthy congressman from Massachusetts, was instrumental in creating Credit Mobilier, which defrauded the nation of twenty-three million dollars.

Wyatt Earp left Dodge City in September 1879, bound for Las Vegas, New Mexico. He stopped in Mobeetie, Texas long enough to be run out of town by Deputy Sheriff Jim McIntire. Earp and Mysterious Dave Mather had tried to work a “gold brick” swindle.

A “black sheep,” sent money from home. Banished lest he tarnish the family name.

On March 11, 1884, Ben Thompson and King Fisher were ambushed in San Antonio.

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

A few months before, Doc Holliday had run Charlie White out of Dodge City. There is no known reason for Holliday's grudge, nor did he ever confront White again.

0n October 11, 1880, Frank Hunt sat before an open window in the Red Light Saloon and dance hall. An unknown assassin fired through the window, mortally wounding Hunt.

Bat Masterson and Billy Thompson reached Dodge in mid-July. Billy had recovered.

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

Pat Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico in November 1880.

Despite the legends, there is no recorded evidence that Billy the Kid killed more than five or six men in his short life. In a dispute over a tract of land, Pat Garrett was gunned down from ambush on February 29, 1908, near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Medina, Texas came into existence in 1880.

Authorized by Congress, the Butterfield Overland Mail operated from September 15, 1858 until March 1, 1861. The route was 2,795 miles, from St. Louis to San Francisco.

The Killing Season
(Book 2)

Wyatt Earp's alliance with Ike Clanton and Frank McLaury was admitted by Earp in his testimony before Wells Spicer, October 30 1881.

Earp deserted Mattie, his second wife, in 1882. She went on to become a prostitute, and at the age of thirty committed suicide on July 3, 1888, in Pinal, Arizona.

This is the horse that became noted for its fleetness in a quarter-mile run, but not until 1941, when it became a registered breed, was it referred to as a “quarter horse.”

December 28, 1881, just before midnight, Virgil Earp left the Oriental Saloon. As he crossed the street there were two shotgun blasts. After removal of the buckshot and four inches of bone, he survived. He died of pneumonia in Goldfield, Nevada, in 1905.

March 18, 1881, Morgan Earp was playing a Saturday night game of billiards in the Campbell and Hatch Billiard Parlor in Tombstone. Suddenly there were two shots from the back door, and a slug shattered Morgan's spinal column. Wyatt was narrowly missed by the second shot. Morgan Earp died less than an hour later.

November 14, 1882, Billy Claiborne was gunned down in Tombstone; he had been involved in a failed ambush. In 1887, near Bonita, Arizona, Ike Clanton was shot for cattle rustling.

A freight wagon common to the plains, first built by the Studebaker brothers in 1852.

James Gillett was born November 4, 1856 in Austin. He was a Ranger for six and a half years.

Joe King attempted to ambush Stoudenmire, whose return shots missed. King escaped.

The Dawn of Fury
(Book 1)

For a while, Robert Ford returned to the home of his parents in Richmond, Missouri, but was met with widespread contempt and scorn. Charlie had the same problem, and just two years later, in 1884, he committed suicide. Robert Ford was ridiculed wherever he went, and after two years in P. T. Barnum's freak show, began to drink and gamble excessively. On June 8, 1892, in Creede, Colorado, Ed O. Kelly killed Bob Ford with a shotgun.

It was said, following King Fisher's death, that Mrs. Hannehan came to the cemetery on each anniversary of Tom's death, piled brush on Fisher's grave, and lit a brush fire.

There's no record that the killers of Ben Thompson and King Fisher were ever found.