the Ketchum group as he waited for things to cool off up north.
Will Carver, as his friends called him, married Viana Byler, the 17-year-old daughter of Jake, in early 1892, but within months she died during pregnancy. It wasn't long before he took up with Laura Bullion, who was related in some way to his former wife's family. As for Sam Ketchum, he and Will Carver once operated a gambling house in San Angelo, Texas. During this period, Carver killed a man named Oliver C. Thornton.
During July 1899, the Black Jack gang held up a train near Folsom in New Mexico's northeast corner. The outlaws escaped with considerable money, eventually killing two lawmen who had pursued them into Turkey Creek Canyon, near Cimarron. Will Carver left the area, settling in with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch in time to rob the First National Bank at Winnemucca, Nevada, on September 19, 1900. From there, Carver-taking Laura Bullion with him-went to Fort Worth with the Wild Bunch. There, on November 21, he posed with Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and two others for a famous photo displayed prominently in the photographer's outdoor window. Carver is standing on the left, in the derby hat. He was the first person in that photo to be recognized. Around this time, on December 1, 1900, Carver married Callie May Hunt, also known as Lillie Davis, who worked in a San Antonio brothel as one of Fannie Porter's girls. As for Laura, she took Lillie's place in the brothel.
The gang split up shortly afterward, Cassidy and Sundance going to South America and Carver rejoining the Black Jack Ketchum gang in the Southwest. Although never indicted, Will Carver is believed by some authorities to have been one of the slayers in 1896 of U.S. Deputy Marshal George Scarborough, killed at Triangle Springs in Triangle Canyon (later called Outlaw Canyon), approximately 20 miles southwest of San Simon, Arizona.
Will Carver drifted back to Texas, where he and George Kilpatrick (probably a brother to Ben Kilpatrick, the Tall Texan) entered Sonora, Texas, and while casing a bank, sought grain for their horses. Word reached Sheriff Elijah S. "Lige" Bryant on April 2, 1901, that these might be the men responsible for Thornton's slaying. The sheriff and four deputies stepped into the grain store, called on the two desperadoes to surrender, and the shooting started. One bullet hit Carver in his gun hand, and after that the killing was easy. Both men were shot to pieces, although Kilpatrick, with 14 wounds, survived and was released. Their horses were sold to pay for Carver's funeral; he was buried in the local Sonora cemetery.
-366 CASSIDY, BUTCH; KETCHUM, SAMUEL W.; KETCHUM, TOM; LAY, WILLIAM ELLSWORTH; SCARBOROUGH, GEORGE ADOLPHUS; SUNDANCE KID; TURKEY CREEK CANYON, BATTLE OF; WILD BUNCH
CASH, Edward (1873-1894)
Ed Cash wasn't your typical gunfighter, and in fact he probably wasn't a gunfighter at all. But his neighbors in this southeastern part of Coryell County, Texas, considered him difficult, mean at times, a person who took your cattle secretly, one at a time, and then dared you to do something about it. But even timid people who look the other way when someone walks off with their cows will sooner or later take a stand.
When Ed's neighbors decided they had enough, they picked an interesting night to take action. Cash's wife was giving birth, and on hand was a doctor, plus a couple of local women, all of whom must have looked aghast on April 9, 1894, when seven masked men came knocking on the door. They subdued Cash, led him outside to a large oak tree, put a noose around his neck, threw the rope over a stout limb, and pulled him up. When satisfied that he was dead, each man put a bullet in him, and then they went home. The crime was never solved, but the livestock thefts stopped, and perhaps that was sufficient.
CASSIDY, Butch (a.k.a. Parker, Robert Leroy) (1866-1937)
Robert Leroy Parker was born in Beaver, Utah, on April 13, 1866, the oldest of 13 children in a Mormon family. In 1878, the group moved to Circleville, Utah, and ranched. Young Parker came into contact with a cowboy named Mike Cassidy. Just where Cassidy came from and what happened to him isn't known, but he obviously threw a wide loop, especially around the necks of cattle that did not belong to him. Parker admired Cassidy enough to adopt his name, and since Parker often worked as a butcher, the name Butch also came naturally. Butch Cassidy thus became a household name somewhere around 1890, a name destined to echo down the smoky corridors of the Wild West.
Cassidy raced horses, and then graduated to working in the mines around Telluride, Colorado, and then to developing an inner circle of outlaw comrades known today as the Wild Bunch. Matt Warner and Tom McCarty had been Cassidy's primary stalwarts, but as they dropped by the wayside, others took their place-such as Henry "Bub" Meeks; Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid); Harvey Logan, often known as Kid Curry, the most dangerous manslayer in the group; William Ellsworth Lay, the amicable one of the bunch, known as Elza, probably because of that middle name; and George Sutherland Curry, usually called Flat Nose Curry, because of a flat portion (due to lack of cartilage) of his broken nose.
On June 22, 1889, Cassidy and a couple associates struck the Telluride bank and fled to Brown's Park, then over to Robbers Roost, and from there to the Hole-in-the-Wall. One crime followed another, of course, and in due time he was caught. On July 15, 1894, Butch Cassidy entered the Wyoming State Penitentiary at Laramie. He did not leave until January 19, 1896. On August 13, he and several confederates walked into the Montpelier, Idaho, bank, put on their masks, and robbed it. Afterward, they hardly stopped running until they reached Brown's Park, from there they went on to the Roost. It was somewhere around this time that the Wild Bunch came into existence, the name probably stemming from the gang's wild antics when it rode into various towns for fun and relaxation. On June 24, 1897, the gang robbed the bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
Following that escapade, Cassidy traveled, especially in New Mexico, in his spare time hitting banks as well as trains. At Tipton, Wyoming, his gang stopped the Union Pacific out of Omaha, and then on September 19 it robbed the First National Bank at Winnemucca, Nevada. By now the Pinkertons were after them, so the fall of 1900 seemed like a good time to pack up and go to Fort Worth, Texas, for relaxation. Here (or in San Antonio) Harry Longabaugh met Etta Place, a lady of many loves and occupations; "Etta Place" may or may not have been her real name. Also in Fort Worth, five of the outlaws, buying the best in spiffy suits and derby hats, posed for photographs in the studio of John Swartz. Evidently, John liked the photo too, since he posted it in a window for advertising purposes. Fred Dodge, a passing Pinkerton detective, recognized one of the "gentlemen." The police now had a picture of everybody who was any body in the Wild Bunch: Harry Longabaugh, Will Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, Harvey Logan, and Butch Cassidy. Butch, Sundance, and Etta-apparently unaware they had been identified-extended their vacation to New York City, made plans for sailing to South America, and then headed west for one last robbery-a big one. They hit the Caret Fy of the Great Northern Railroad near Wagner, Montana, on July 3, 1901. Some reports say the gang took $40,000 when it left. By the end of the year Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh, and Etta Place were either in Argentina, living in the Cholila Valley, or soon would be. Harvey Logan appears to have joined them later. Meanwhile, during the next couple of years, a series of Argentine banks went down.
By late 1907, Harry and Butch had reached San Vicente, Bolivia, where, after a few mining robberies, their luck ran out. In November 1907, sometime between the 5th and the 8th, they shot it out with a Bolivian army patrol. Some accounts suggest that when down to their last two bullets, Cassidy shot Sundance in the head and then took his own life. Their bodies were dumped into unidentified graves. Other accounts suggest that Cassidy lived and returned to the United States.
.See tYISo BROWN'S PARK; CARVER, WILLIAM RICHARD; CURRY, GEORGE SUTHERLAND; HOLE-INTHE-WALL; KILPATRICK, BENJAMIN ARNOLD; LAY, WILLIAM ELLSWORTH; LOGAN, HARVEY; ROBBERS ROOST; SUNDANCE KID
CATTLE Rustling
The Old West has numerous staples: gunfighters, cattle towns, High Noons, outlaw gangs, Indians, gamblers, shady ladies, heroic sheriffs and city marshals, ranchers, cowboys, cattlemen, and cattle rustlers.
Cattle rustling commenced primarily after the Civil War, and it substantially ended with the advent of barbed wire and the railroads. Texas was the hardest hit with regard to widespread cattle theft, if for no other reason than the fact that its vast expanse of grasslands offered almost unlimited opportunities. Furthermore, the Mexican border from Arizona across New Mexico and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico provided quick exits for cattle from one nation to another.
Most cattle thieves were out-of-work cowboys who took advantage of the winter months, when few line riders could be found. Branded cattle were generally disposed of quickly, usually to slaughterhouses that
were not picky about ownership. Livestock theft peaked during the late 1870s and 1880, after which it was reduced by the advent of fencing, plus the employment of range detectives and brand inspectors by cattle associations and corporate ranchers. The Texas Rangers also added strong law enforcement resources to the suppression of cattle theft.
.3366 (4ko; CATTLE TOWN
CATTLE Town (a.k.a. cow town)
Western cattle towns are an intricate part of the lawman/outlaw/gunfighter story. All cattle towns, for the purposes of this encyclopedia, arose in the western United States. They were generally small, usually sat astride major cattle trails twisting north out of Texas, and they practically always had rail connections to eastern slaughterhouses.
Some of the better-known cow towns were Abilene, Dodge City, Ellsworth, Newton, Wichita, Kansas City, and Caldwell, these communities being fed by such Texas trails as the Goodnight-Loving, Chisholm, and Western. Trail drives usually lasted between two and three months, periods plagued by frequent bad weather, equally bad food, and unending monotony. The towns catered to the Texas cowboy, particularly in the late spring and summer, but had few facilities other than saloons, gambling houses, and brothels. The community administration was generally primitive; the towns wavered somewhere between resenting, even detesting the wild and frequently unrestrained cowboy, yet at the same time they were dependent upon him for a living. The cowboys, usually unmarried youths between 15 and 30 years of age, often hit the towns like thunderbolts. The cow-town boom times lasted from roughly 1867 to the early 1880s.
Because of large amounts of cash floating around, the presence of professional gamblers, and wild cowboys, many games and no few arguments were frequently resolved by way of the six-shooter. The towns therefore hired fast and deadly guns to keep the peace, and out of this arose the romanticized legend of the fast-drawing marshal, plus High Noons practically without end.
CHADBORN, Daniel Joseph (a.k.a. Buck) (1879-1966)
Although born in central Texas, Daniel J. "Buck" Chadborn made his historical mark in the Trans Pecos region, as well as in southern New Mexico, along the international border. Chadborn was one of the many overlooked transitional frontier personalities who lived through thrilling adventures during both the 19th and 20th centuries. As a youth, necessity forced him to travel by horseback; in later years, he traded leather reins for a steering wheel, chasing smugglers with an automobile.
Chadborn had married Nita Johnson, the daughter of Annie Frazer Johnson, who had in a second marriage tied the knot with the notorious southwestern gunman Barney Riggs. However, the Annie-Barney Riggs union ended in a bitter divorce, amidst accusations of physical violence. By marriage, Chadborn had been thrust into this uncomfortable situation. A court even named Chadborn as the trustee for Annie, designating that he would receive periodic cash payments from Barney Riggs on Annie's behalf. However, the court order created so much animosity between Buck and Barney that Chadborn finally went to the judge and declared, "I want out, and you get somebody else."
On April 7, 1902, Chadborn and Riggs met on a Fort Stockton, Texas, street, Chadborn seated in a buggy, Riggs standing on the sidewalk. During an exchange of heated words, Riggs gestured wildly in the face of the much younger and less worldly Chadborn. Exactly what the movement intended remains a mystery, but suddenly Riggs reached toward his back pocket. Chadborn interpreted the move as a reach for a six-shooter. Buck jerked his revolver from the buggy seat and shot the unarmed Barney Riggs in the chest. Barney staggered back, collapsed, and died. Buck was indicted by a grand jury for seconddegree murder. A change of venue subsequently shifted the trial to Alpine, Texas, where on October 14, 1903, a jury returned a verdict of "not guilty" following 15 minutes of deliberations.
After the shooting of Riggs, Buck operated a livery stable in El Paso, but by February 1909 he was in Columbus, New Mexico, in the cattle business and also working as a deputy sheriff. On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa made his famous predawn raid. During the ensuing battle and subsequent chase after the fleeing Villistas, Buck with other civilian residents engaged in "mop-up" operations, killing Mexican stragglers and taking prisoners. Buck's scorecard in this man-killing escapade is impossible to tally, although one of his cohorts reportedly killed 12 of Villa's raiders. A few months later, in his role
as a deputy sheriff, Buck participated in the legal hanging at Deming, New Mexico, of six Mexican prisoners convicted of taking part in Villa's crossborder incursion.
During 1921, Buck entered the U.S. Customs Service as a mounted patrol inspector, an assignment involving both equine and horseless-carriage operations. On the border, especially throughout the Prohibition era, Buck participated in numerous arrests, seizures, and an occasional car chase and shootout.
On his 62nd birthday Buck Chadborn retired from law enforcement. At Deming, New Mexico, on March 30, 1966, the 86-year-old ex-border lawman passed over to the other side.
S66 a&O: RIGGS, BARNEY
CHADWELL, William (a.k.a. William Stiles) (1857-1876)
This desperado, born in Missouri, rode with the James gang and participated in the Otterville, Missouri, train robbery of July 7, 1876. Chadwell then reportedly talked Jesse James into the Northfield, Minnesota, robbery of the First National Bank on September 7, 1876. It turned into a fiasco; the James boys barely escaped, and most of their associates were killed or captured.
Chadwell was one of the dead, his body being taken by Henry M. Wheeler, a young medical student who had fired the shot. When Wheeler later commenced his medical practice, Chadwell's skeleton went on display. It may or may not have been good for business, but it certainly became quite a conversation piece.
.See akrj JAMES BROTHERS
CHAPMAN, Huston Ingraham (1847-1879)
Huston Chapman was an attorney, not a gunman or outlaw, but guns and outlaws played a significant and terminal part in his life. He was born on April 28, 1847, in Burlington, Iowa, and a week later his family left for the Oregon Territory. As he grew older, he moved south to the California goldfields, then returned to become a founder of Portland, Oregon, as well as an Oregon legislator. He would become a U.S. attorney for Wisconsin and a prosecuting attorney for Michigan.
On May 19, 1860, he accidentally shot himself with a shotgun, losing his left arm. The injury spurred him to numerous achievements, his mushrooming law practice being the major result. By 1878, he had begun practice in Las Vegas, New Mexico; Mrs. Susan McSween became one of his clients. Her husband, Alexander McSween, also an attorney, had been slain during the Lincoln County War, and Mrs. McSween sought retribution.
Chapman told New Mexico governor Lew Wallace that he intended to file criminal proceedings against Col. Nathan Dudley, commander at Fort Stockton, for arson and murder. Other people would also be charged. On February 18, a year to the day after Englishman John Tunstall had been slain, his death setting off the Lincoln County War, Huston Chapman was in Lincoln on Susan McSween's legal behalf. Due to the effect of the cold weather on his severe neuralgia, he had bound his face with bandages. On the Lincoln streets that evening, however, as he sought a poultice to ease the pain, he encountered gunmen who days before had been enemies of each other but now seemed to be friends. They were James Dolan, Henry McCarty (Billy the Kid), Billy Mathews, Jesse Evans, William Campbell, and several others. All were drinking, carousing, looking for trouble, and Chapman wa
s it. Dolan and Campbell pulled six-shooters, blocked Chapman's path, taunted him, and then shot him to death. They stood so close that their gunpowder set his clothes afire. His death was hardly investigated. No serious arrests were made, and no one ever went to trial.
.Ses t+LCG-! BILLY THE KID; EVANS, JESSE J.; LINCOLN COUNTY WAR
CHAVEZ y Chavez, Jose (1851?-1923?)
Jose Chavez y Chavez was probably born in Ceboleta, New Mexico, and spent much of his life as a day laborer and desperado. San Patricio, New Mexico, residents elected him constable in 1874 and followed that by making him a justice of the peace. He became a sheriff's deputy in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Although he rode as one of the Lincoln County War "Regulators," Chavez does not come into historical focus until fleeing the burning McSween house in Lincoln, New Mexico, on July 19, 1878. While he certainly was an active participant in the Lincoln County War-he claimed to have fired one of the bullets into Sheriff Brady-very little is known regarding his activities.
A decade later he became a member of the littleknown Lax c1de Bwdidos (Society of Bandits) and s (White Caps), led by Jesus Silva-cruel and little-known organizations devoted as much to killing as to anything else. On October 22, 1892, the group lynched Patricio Maes at the behest of Silva, and in February 1893, it killed Silva's brother-in-law, Gabriel Sandoval, because Gabriel had asked too many questions about Maes. The (perhaps) insane Silva then murdered his own wife, because she also asked too many questions about her brother. He ordered Chavez and others to dig her grave. However, his gang, suspecting Silva might kill them next, shot Silva and buried him with his wife in the same hole. The authorities eventually got wise, of course, and arrested the gang, capturing Chavez at Socorro, New Mexico, on May 26, 1894. Following his second trial, a jury sentenced Chavez to hang on October 29, 1897. His attorney arranged a stay of execution, and on November 20, Governor Miguel Otero commuted the sentence to life in prison. Sometime afterward, a riot occurred in the Santa Fe territorial prison, and since Chavez assisted the guards, Governor George Curry pardoned him on January 11, 1909.
The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters Page 10