John Gilmo inexplicably later returned the sixshooter to Burns, and the inebriated deputy again commenced making threats against anyone attempting to arrest him. An exasperated Marshal Moore and Deputy McClellan quickly obtained a warrant for Burns and located their suspect inside the Centennial. This time they found Burns arguing with lawman Dan Tucker. At the words "We've got papers for you," Burns turned and commenced firing. Tucker, Moore, and McClellan fired simultaneously, but not wildly. Burns died on the spot.
As it turned out, the late Jim Burns did have friends, and they pooled their monetary resources for a prosecution fund. Eventually all three lawmen were arrested. Tucker was released on a $2,000 bond, and charges against him were dismissed. Moore and McClellan eventually went to trial and were acquitted.
.366 TUCKER, DAVID
BURNS,Tom (1854-1901)
Tom Burns, of English-Irish parents, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but does not enter the historical record until March 9, 1881, at Visalia, California, when, during a saloon brawl, he tried to kill a man but merely shot the sombrero off his head. Burns was arrested for assault, and a judge subsequently sentenced him to two years in San Quentin. The state released him in January 1883. By 1886, Burns was in Arizona, and by 1893 in San Francisco, California, working for the Morris Detective Agency. Meanwhile, desperadoes Chris Evans and John Sontag had executed a series of train robberies in California's San Joaquin Valley. Lawmen had been slain. Rewards were being offered. Naturally, the Morris Detective Agency expressed an interest, and it sent operative Samuel Black to investigate. In May 1893, detective Tom Burns joined him. However, during a shootout on May 23, Black was severely wounded and retired from the chase. The outlaws escaped.
Wells Fargo detective John Thacker now became involved. He, U.S. Marshal George Gard, several Fresno County deputies, and Tom Burns moved into the San Joaquin Valley and on June 11 fought an allnight gun battle with Chris Evans and John Sontag. Come morning, the posse found a badly wounded John Sontag, helpless and immobilized, in a pile of manure and straw. A seriously wounded Evans stopped at a house a few canyons away and pleaded for help. The parties within reported him to the sheriff's office. Sontag died, and Evans was convicted of murder and sentenced to Folsom Prison for life. Although who killed whom became confusing in
terms of the bad guys, Tom Burns accepted the newspaper credit.
Burns filed for a share of the reward, afterward quarreling about it on the rear platform of a train with another operative, George Witty. Burns shot Witty in the hand, whereupon the two wrestled and fell off the train, the impact knocking both unconscious. Burns recovered first and thought he had killed Witty, but both men survived. Each put the incident behind them, although as time passed Burns acquired a reputation as a bully. A Pinal County, Arizona, housewife charged him with rape in August 1899.
Later, as an Arizona cowboy, Burns argued with a young ranch hand named Wallace. The youth shot Tom Burns off his horse, killing him instantly. The Sire of June 20, 1901, described Burns as most Famous Gunfighter," but it noted that everyone was so happy to see Burns dead that the mourners "danced on his coffin."
BUSCADERO
A term originally applied to lawmen, it stems from the Spanish rca, meaning to search, seek out, hunt, or pursue. Lawmen in particular often adopted this moniker, but American usage also applied it to fugitives hiding out in brush country.
Early American movies also invented the buscadero six-gun rig. The basic elements were a Mexican holster threaded through a slot in a wide cartridge belt. These looked flashy on such movie actors as Tom Mix, Buck Jones, William S. Hart, and Ken Maynard, although Bronco Billy Anderson became the first star to wear one, strapping it on dur, ing a 1903 western called Tie Great Tmira Roby Of all these individuals, Tom Mix should have known better, but he too was caught up in what he thought the public wanted. What the Hollywood studios primarily wanted was eye-catching flamboyance passing for reality. No genuine gunman, outlaw, or lawman ever wore anything remotely resembling the latter-day buscadero rig.
Hollywood also put together the tie-down rig, a picket string tying the holster tip to the wearer's leg. Original Western holsters never had holes in the tip. Guns riding low on the hip or leg, especially if tied down, made it difficult and uncomfortable for a wearer to mount and dismount a horse. Riders carried the gun belt high on the waist or wrapped it around the pommel; after dismounting, if anticipating trouble, they would loosen the belt to drop the holster down, not necessarily to accommodate a fast draw but for more comfortable, confident, and easy drawing and firing. An old-time gunman would have been less interested in a fast draw than in a secure and steady one. Incidentally, these rigs were not made for fist-fighting scenes. Guns fall out; holsters and belts get twisted and uncomfortable. To avoid this, movie actors usually had their gun rigs sewn to their clothes so that everything would stay in place during the brawling scenes. Revolvers would be fastened inside the holsters to keep them from falling out.
BUSHWHACKED
The term refers to ambushing someone from cover, specifically from behind trees, rocks, bushes, or brush. The assault is unexpected and usually at a distance, delivered with a rifle or shotgun. Guerrillas and marauders during the Civil War were particularly adept at bushwhacking, although manhunters like Tom Horn practiced it as a necessary part of their trade. It was simpler to kill a wanted man or an enemy than to risk being killed yourself in trying to capture him.
.366 HORN, TOM
CALAMITY Jane
See CANNARY, MARTHA JANE
CANNARY, Martha Jane (a.k.a. Calamity Jane) (1844?-1903)
Martha Jane Cannary (the last name is sometimes spelled with one "n") is better known in history as "Calamity Jane." During her early teens, the family moved from Missouri to Wisconsin, where her father, Robert Cannary, became such a heavy drinker that after the Civil War she left home, supporting herself primarily as a prostitute. She later claimed to have been a stage driver, scout, and guide, but evidence-except for her word-is nonexistent. By 1876, probably in Wyoming, she acquired the name Calamity Jane, although why she got it historians haven't proved. Nevertheless, the two words "Calamity Jane"-and her alleged relationship with Western gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok-combined to make her a world-famous figure for over a century after her death.
What we know about her isn't much. There are no known photos of her in early life, and those that survive from later times reveal a woman in her forties or fifties, husky, muscular, short-haired, gruff, a mannish-appearing woman who cursed like a mule-skinner and had more miles on her than the San Francisco stage. There are no smiles in any of these photos; the truth is that she probably had very little to smile about. She was frequently jailed, had no par
ticular skills, and was such a poor gambler that she usually supported herself by prostitution. That she drank in excess and could spit tobacco juice farther than most men seems to be a given. Yet above all, she was a survivor-rugged, adventurous, independent, flamboyant, and strong minded.
She claimed to have ridden with Gen. George Crook's column into Montana, evidently posing as a man-but again evidence for this, other than her word, is lacking. In 1885 she supposedly married Clinton Burke, an El Paso, Texas, cab driver, although no records exist. They allegedly had a daughter, whom she reportedly turned over to St. Mary's Convent in Sturgis, South Dakota. (Other stories mention two children.) Otherwise, any of her marriages would have been the common-law variety.
Although Jane traveled occasionally with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, history associates her primarily with Wild Bill Hickok, perhaps because Hickok often appeared as effeminate as Jane was mannish. Whether Jane and Wild Bild even met is debatable. All we know for certain is that she expressly wished to be buried beside him and came close to getting her wish. But that too is a puzzle. At one time their tombstones were pictured as side by side, but they now lie head to toe, Calamity Jane in the upper grave. Regardless, the facts are that she was, is, and remains one of the most recognizable
females in western/frontier folklore.
See HICKOK, JAMES BUTLER
CANNON, A. B. (a.k.a. Add) (1865?-?)
Choosing a life of crime at a reasonably early age, A. B. "Add" Cannon, originally from Buffalo Gap, Texas, accompanied by a 19-year-old accomplice, Joe Brown, hijacked and shot a drummer (salesman) traveling between Abilene and Anson, Texas, on October 25, 1885. Apparently pleased with their new career as desperadoes, the pair waylaid and robbed a stagecoach on the following night as it traveled between Abilene and San Angelo. Now bent on a life of crime but imbued with a degree of calculating caution, the pair rode 200 miles south, to Kendall County, where on December 2, they held up a stagecoach.
The robberies aroused George Scarborough, the Jones County sheriff, as well as the Mitchell County sheriff and future U.S. Marshal Richard C. "Dick" Ware. They pursued the outlaws, capturing Cannon and Brown near Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas. Charged with robbing the U.S. Mail, the robbers went to trial at San Antonio before a U.S. District Court.
The proceedings commenced on May 25, 1886, but the jury deadlocked. The two men made bail and were about to be released when Scarborough placed them under arrest for the Jones County robbery. On July 23 he incarcerated them in the Jones County jail at Anson.
Slightly over a month later, on the night of August 31, 1886, "Add" Cannon surprised the temporary jail guard William C. Glazner and beat him severely with a lead pipe wrapped in a towel. With his man down and unconscious, Cannon grabbed Glazner's revolver and fled the jail clad only in his underwear. Although Scarborough organized a posse early the next morning, the diligent search proved futile. Five days after the violent escape, Glanzer died of skull fractures.
A. B. "Add" Cannon was never apprehended.
.36P SCARBOROUGH, GEORGE ADOLPHUS
CANTLEY, Charles (1858-1895)
Charles L. Cantley first saw the light of day at Palestine, Anderson County, Texas, on May 5, 1858. Reportedly serving a stint with the Texas Rangers, Cantley, at the age of 25, moved to Silver City, New Mexico.
Grant County sheriff James Woods retained the youthful Texan as a deputy sheriff and jail guard, but
on the morning of March 10, 1884, Cantley and another deputy, Steve Wilson, were overpowered by train robbers "Kit" Joy, Frank Taggart, Mitch Lee, George Washington Cleveland, convicted murderer Carlos Chavez, and suspected horse thief Charles Spencer. The desperadoes locked Cantley and Wilson in a cell and escaped, shooting their way out of town, although a posse captured them within hours. When Cantley caught up with the posse, he found Taggart and Lee on the verge of being lynched. Cantley grabbed a rifle and screamed that he would not permit a lynching so long as he was armed. So the posse disarmed him. Taggart and Lee were quickly suspended by the neck until dead.
Cantley continued as a deputy under Sheriff Woods's administration and later under his successor, Andrew B. Laird. Following elections of May 1890, Charles Cantley was elected marshal of Silver City, a position he retained for five successive terms.
Cantley did an admirable job of maintaining order and carrying out his duties, but he developed an addiction to liquor. In time he became aggressive and arbitrary. The more he drank, the more he enforced the law kyk way. On October 10, 1895, policeman Cantley approached attorney James S. Fielder in the White House Saloon. Cantley, obviously befuddled by drink, berated Fielder and challenged him to go for his gun, drawing his own revolver and firing two shots. Both missed. Fielder now commenced shooting, knocking Cantley to the ground with the first bullet. A second bullet finished him off. A coroner's jury ruled the killing justifiable, and so the city fathers began accepting applications for a new town marshal.
CANTON, Frank (a.k.a. Joe Horner) (1849-1927)
Frank Canton was born Joe Horner in Richmond, Virginia, but sometime in midlife he changed his name to Frank Canton; he has been known as Canton ever since. After the Civil War he moved to Texas, drove cattle to Nebraska, and some time around 1880 he served a couple of terms as sheriff of Johnson County, Wyoming. Along the way he became a detective for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. In this field he played a preeminent role in the Johnson County War; he was later accused of the murder of John Tisdale, a rancher said to be a rustler.
From Wyoming Canton moved back to Oklahoma, where he served as a deputy sheriff and U.S. deputy marshal. On one occasion he arrested a Lon McCool and during a struggle shot McCool in the face. McCool lived. During 1897, Canton showed up as a U.S. marshal in Alaska but reportedly went snowblind a year later. In 1907, when the territory of Oklahoma became a state, he became adjutant general of the national guard.
.3615- JOHNSON COUNTY WAR
CAP-AND-BALL Gun
This single-shot revolver was loaded with loose powder and a ball; the weapon was fired by a percussion cap placed on the nipple of the chamber. The process could be slow and tedious, so each shot had to count. Nevertheless-movies, magazine illustrations, and expectations to the contrary-the cap-and-ball continued in the West for years after the Civil War, because metal cartridges were expensive. Later, as metal cartridges became less expensive and more easily available, most cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws made the transition.
CARNES, Herff A. (1879-1932)
Herff Carnes was born at Fairview, Wilson County, Texas, on May 23, 1879. During his youth Carnes must have heard exciting tales of lawmen versus outlaws, for on February 13, 1903, Herff enlisted in Capt. John R. Hughes's Company D, Texas Rangers, at El Paso, Texas.
One particular incident in 1906 caught Captain Hughes's attention. Violence associated with labor disputes had always been a concern of state law enforcement agencies, and the oilfields at Humble, Texas, were fertile ground. Rangers Herff Carnes, J. C. White, and Milam Wright were detailed to the scene to prevent loss of life as well as to prevent rioting and the destruction of property. In enforcing the law, those three men went up against 300 strikers and the strikers backed down.
After an eight-year stint with the Texas Rangers, during which he earned a distinguished law enforcement reputation, Herff Carnes joined the U.S. Mounted Customs Service and quickly became immersed in an extremely dangerous encounter and a very public controversy. Pascual Orozco, a general in the Mexican revolutionary forces, was arrested by U.S. Justice Department federal agents on June 27, 1915 at Newman, New Mexico, 20 miles northeast
of El Paso, Texas. Agents had earlier raided a warehouse and recovered 14 machine guns, 500 rifles, and 100,000 rounds of ammunition. Orozco was charged with Neutrality Act violations and posted a $7,500 bond. Three days later, the agents made another raid and recovered 346 rifles and 46,000 rounds of ammunition. The border area surged with rumor, innuendo, and conspiratorial gossip; the international line became a powder keg. Orozco jumped bail and with four friends fled east into the rugged and barely populated stretches of unfenced ranch country of West Texas.
After they butchered a calf belonging to rancher Dick Love, the bandits' trail was picked up by pursuing possemen, one of whom was Herff Carnes. On August 30, 1915, the posse caught up with Orozco at his camp near High Lonesome Mountain, nine miles from the Mexican border. The battle-or as some later claimed, the ambush-was over in a few minutes. Orozco and his four partners were dead. The 11-man posse was indicted for murder, but a Culberson County jury found the defendants not guilty.
At twilight on December 1, 1932, attempting to arrest suspected liquor smugglers crossing the Rio Grande downstream from Ysleta, Texas, U.S. Mounted Customs Inspector Herff A. Carnes was gunned down in an ambush. On December 3, at an El Paso hospital, the seasoned 53-year-old lawman died of his wounds.
See kc ALLISON, WILLIAM DAVIS; HUGHES, JOHN REYNOLDS
CARSON, Joe (1837-1880)
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Joe Carson had ambled his way through northern Texas and reportedly hunted for gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains before finally settling at East Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, in 1879. There, due to the exceptionally corrupt city and county administration, he teamed up with the di
sreputable Hyman G. Neill, better known as "Hoodoo Brown," a leader of the legendary Dodge City Gang. Neill appointed Joe Carson as city marshal and Dave Mather, better known as "Mysterious Dave," as his chief deputy.
On January 22, 1880, Joe Carson and a parttime police buddy, Jack Lyons (later shot and killed at Rincon, New Mexico), attempted to quiet four cowboys. Thomas Jefferson House (also known as Tom Henry), a 22-year-old Texan, seemed to be the leader of the heavily armed men. They may have been in the general area planning a raid on unattended livestock, as some residents suspected, but that night Tom and his pals, John Dorsey, Anthony Lowe, and "Big" Bill Randall, seemed to be relishing the saloons.
All four entered Close and Patterson's Saloon but failed to check their six-shooters. When 43-year-old Joe Carson stepped inside and attempted to disarm the party, the shooting started, most of it into the body of Carson. As he fell, Carson returned the fire. By some accounts, as many as 40 rounds altogether were expended.
Carson died with nine bullets in his body. "Big" Bill Randall was killed. Anthony Lowe had been shot through the middle and was unable for the moment either to run or die. Tom House and John Dorsey were both wounded but managed to flee.
A posse later surrounded the two wounded desperadoes at a farm house near Mora, New Mexico, and accepted their surrender. Returned to the vicinity of Las Vegas, and in the company of the wounded Anthony Lowe, who was removed from his jail cell, all three were led to the infamous "hanging windmill." As ropes were being placed around their necks, Joe Carson's widow-with a rifle in her hands-opened fire on the trio. Not to be outdone by a member of the fairer sex, the mob also opened fire. Joe Carson's killers died in the fusillade.
S66 MATHER, DAVID
CARVER, William Richard (a.k.a. News Carver; George W. Franks) (1868-1901)
Will carver was born in Wilson County, Texas, and as a young man worked as a cowboy on the Sixes Ranch in Sutton County, working with Sam and Tom Ketchum, and with Ben and George Kilpatrick. He grew up to become a gun-carrying member of the "old" as well as the "new" Black Jack Ketchum gang, a difference being that the difficult Tom Ketchum (Old Black Jack) tended to alienate his followers, whereas his brother Sam Ketchum (New Black Jack) had more personality. Both the old and the new Black Jack Ketchum gangs operated in Texas and New Mexico; the Wild Bunch in Montana and Wyoming provided a conduit whereby disgruntled members could shift back and forth between the two groups. Butch Cassidy, for instance, rode briefly with
The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters Page 9