Little Known "Gunfighters"

Black Bart the Legend by Dunniway & Co.

The following list of names are those gunslingers of lesser renown who sound like characters from "Dime Novels". Read them and envision the terror their names were meant to imply; Black Jack Bill, Cold Chuck Johnny, Dynamite Sam, Shotgun Collins, Luke Short, Dark Alley Jim, Three-Fingered Dave, Kid Ridino, Six-Toed Pete, Buckskin Frank Leslie, Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, Bad Brad Bingham, Double Barrel Dick Staley, Cock-Eyed Frank, Juan Soto, Black Jack Ketchum, Ornery Aubrey, Catfish Kid, Big Nose George, Tennessee Hughes, The Apache Kid, Fred Fearnot, Lefty Jenkins, Grizzled Pappy Caughman, Tom Bell, Scarvey Chelemedos, Cock-Eyed Frank Loving, Bigger Nose Nate Ralphs, Solemn Buford, Nate Champion, Whinnin' Willy, Duck Foot AKA The Duck of Death, & Peg Leg Pete! (Some of the names above are fictional and members of SOTP!)

The following gentlemen are my personal favorites...




BLACK BART

  • Born Charles E. Boles in Norfolk Co., England c1828
  • 1861, August 13, joined 116th Reg't Illinois Infantry Co.B
  • 1863, July 1, promoted First Sergeant
  • 1864, May 26, severely wounded in Acworth, Georgia
  • 1865, June 7, Mustered out in Washington D.C. Returned home to family in Decatur, Illinois Headed for the California gold fields with poor luck
  • 1875 to 1883 robbed 27-28 stages from Sonora, north to Ukiah & Weaverville & back down to Downieville
  • 1883 shot in the finger by a Henry rifle on Funk Hill east of Copperopolis
  • 1883, November 16, goes to San Quentin (because of a laundry mark F.X.O.7.)
  • 1888, January 21, released from prison
  • 1917, New York, Bart dies

    More Bart Details






    DICK FELLOWS

  • 1875 saw lawman Hume board a stage in Caliente with three Wells Fargo boxes. ($240,000) Makes plan with friend to rob it. Sends his friend off to wait while he rents a horse. 30 minutes later horse returns and Dick is on the road unconscious. He returns to town and pays the stableman. Then he steals another horse and decides to rob another stage. Giving up on the first one. He robs the LA stage of it's treasure. But he doesn't have an ax, so decides to place the box on the waiting horse and the horse is spooked and runs home. He then must get away on foot and it's dark when he falls off an 18 foot drop, breaking his leg above the ankle and crushing the instep of the same foot with the box. Dragged himself and box to a Chinese work camp (Southern Pacific Railway) to steal an ax and break open box. Dick then removes the $1800+ and buys food from the workers and makes some crutches. He staggers to another farm house and steals yet another horse. On the trail of the robber is Hume and his men and they find Tommy Fountain looking for his father's stolen horse. The trail is easy as the horse has one temporary mule shoe. When Hume finds the horse thief he finds his robber. When he is questioned about the $1300 on his person and if he robbed the stage he confesses only so that he can turn in the crooked Sheriff who has pocketed $500 for himself. Hume gets $300 back from sheriff and the sheriff gets fired. Dick gets 8 months.
  • 1875, June 16, he goes to San Quentin and is there until May 1881. Why? Before he is taken to prison he escapes and steals a horse with no saddle. So he finds a farm and steals a saddle, but when he tries to place it on the horse...the horse runs back home. He smooth talks and begs a meal from a nice lady who later tells her husband, when he returns telling his tale of an escaped convict and soon Dick is captured.
  • 1881, May - he is out! He moves to Santa Cruz and gets a job on the Daily Echo and teaches Spanish under the alias: George Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages.
  • 1881, July 19, - a stage from San Luis Obispo to Soledad is robbed of $10. Dick is the robber. Between July of '81 and Jan. of '82 many stages are robbed with his modus operandi in and around Black Bart's same territory.
  • 1882, January - Dick is captured by Constable Burke of Santa Clara. Dick praises the man's abilities and charms him into sharing a drink and soon handcuffed Dick has knocked the man down and escapes. 6 days he is loose and makes it to a doctor's home and sweet talks him for assistance.
  • 1882, February 4, - The San Jose Mercury runs the account of Dick's escape and soon Dick is captured in a cabin in the hills around Los Gatos. Hume takes him to SF. and after many letters and discussions about the justice system he confides in Hume that "Crime doesn't pay." He is packed off to Bakersfield to await trial and is sentenced to life in Folsom.
  • 1882, April 2, - Dick escapes his guards in Bakersfield and finds a horse staked alone in a field and decides to make another getaway on yet another horse....trouble is, this horse has been recovering from near death from loco weed and soon it has an attack of the jitters, scattering Dick all over the place. Where he is soon captured and returned to his safe cell. Where he remained all his "natural" life!






    JOHN WESLEY HARDIN

  • Born in Bonham, Texas, May 26, 1853 son to a Methodist Minister
  • 1867 Stabbed a black youth and killed three Union soldiers(?)
  • 1868 in Moscow, Texas Killed an exslave "Mage"
  • December 25, 1869 kills Bradley in a street duel at Towash, Texas.
  • 1870 - 1871 is said to have killed three more men.
  • Had a slight run in with Wild Bill Hickok, Abilene, Kansas
  • May 1871 kills Charles Cougar (after he is blamed for killing some Mexicans and Indians.)
  • July 7, 1871 as a "lawman" he shoots Juan Bideno in the head.
  • September 1871 shoots two black lawmen in Smiley, Texas.
  • July 1873 he kills lawman Jack Helm in Albuquerque, Texas.
  • Went to prison after a "legal" gunfight on his 21st Birthday; served 15 years
  • 1895, August 19, Shot from behind
  • He claimed to have killed 44 men
  • Read more about the man in the book's: "The Pistoleer" by James Carlos Blake
    or "Blood letters and Bad Men" by Jay Robert Nash.

  • The interesting results of his notorious exsistance is curious by noting that he would have been the most famous gunman in history if he had just had a contemporary biographer like Billy the Kid had Pat Garrett!

    Read more?
    Outlaws of Texas
    Famous Texans






    Captain HARRY LOVE






    TUBURCIO VASQUEZ

  • Born in Monterey, California, August 11, 1835 (or 1837?)
  • First killed a man at age 15 in a dance hall (stabbing)
  • Between 1852 & 1863 Robbed and rustled alone (spent 3 terms in San Quentin)
  • 1867 back to prison (learned to form groups)
  • 1870 organized a gang with one black & one white
  • His reputation grew with the ladies and was soon shot in the streets of San Juan, by an irrate husband.
  • 1871 wounded severely by Bob Liddell crossing Water St. Bridge in Santa Cruz, California
  • Hid out to heal his wounds in the Cantua Canyon where folk legend Joaquin Murieta had been "captured."
  • Captured near Los Angeles.
  • 1875, March 19, Hanged in San Jose, California
  • Last words: "Pronto!" He was buried in Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery.
  • The invitation to his hanging!
  • If nothing more is said of the brigand, it must be noted that he lived the legend of Joaquin Murieta and brought "life" to the fantasy.



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