He was born in Fannin County, later Collin County, Texas, but when he was 16 the family moved to Goliad. There the authorities arrested him for theft. He got two years, but the governor shortened it to four months. He drifted over to the Nueces Strip, then to Pendencia, Texas, where he reportedly vanquished the local rustlers, settled on his own land, hired desperate men as cowhands, rustled cattle to stock the ranch, and posted a sign along one route, saying, "This is King Fisher's Road. Take the other one."
Although Fisher reportedly killed seven men, his most famous shootout occurred with Fisher's own querao. at the Pendencia Ranch. Some accounts say the men were stealing from him, others that the j wanted better pay. Whatever, King cracked one man across the head with a branding iron, killing him, then shot and killed three more before they could jump off a fence.
Over time, Fisher was indicted for various murders and had classic confrontations with Texas Ranger chieftains Leander McNelly and Capt. Lee Hall. For a while the rangers confined Fisher inside the Bat Cave Jail in San Antonio. Lee Hall alone processed over 20 indictments against Fisher, but he gave up when six juries in a row failed to convict. By then Fisher had become his own worst enemy, shooting himself in the leg by accident in 1879.
King became a deputy sheriff of Uvalde County, then in 1884 decided to campaign for the office. By now he was practically legitimate; he was in Austin seeking information on the unlawful act of fence cutting. There he bumped into an old friend, Ben Thompson, who had just arrived from San Antonio after killing Jack Harris, proprietor of the Vaudeville Variety Theater. After drinking too much, and for whatever reason, the two men returned to San Antonio and walked into the Vaudeville Variety Theater, where Ben picked up where he had left off, threatening now to shoot some of the staff. Fisher backed away, saying something about avoiding trouble, but it was too late. Thompson was shot nine times; Fisher took 13 bullets in the head and body. He died immediately-simply because he was there.
.S66 (4ko. THOMPSON, BEN
FORD, Robert and Charles (1861-1892); (1857-1884)
Bob Ford owes his small niche in history to the poem and the song about "the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard, and laid Jesse James in his grave." It isn't certain where Ford was born or grew up, although some accounts credit Ray County, Missouri. Like so many frontier figures, he led a nondescript life, a difference being that he became famous by way of a singular, notorious act of murder-the slaying of outlaw Jesse James.
By 1879, Bob Ford and his brother Charles had become new recruits to the James gang, learning the outlaw trade through the experience of train and bank robberies. By some accounts, Bob usually held the horses. On September 7, 1881, the James gang halted the St. Louis Express near Blue Cut, Missouri. When the cache turned out to be less than expected, the outlaws pistol-whipped the express car messenger, then handed the conductor two silver dollars and rode off.
Back home in Kansas City, Jesse moved from Ninth Street to Troost Avenue. By the end of the year he was living near the outskirts of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he adopted the alias of Tom Howard. His wife, Zee (who went by the alias "Josie"), apparently hoped he would settle down and give more "traditional" guidance to the two children, Jesse Edward and Mary.
Jesse's remaining associates were for the most part recent converts, people like the brothers Charlie and Bob Ford, gunmen lacking a sense of solidarity, people for whom the word loyalty had no strong meaning. True, Dick Liddil had been around for a while, and he seemed reliable. Then, in January 1882, Dick Liddil and Wood Hite-cousins of Jesse's-decided to hide out temporarily at the home of Bob Ford's widowed sister, Martha Bolton. While the three men-Bob Ford, Hite, and Liddil-sat at her table, however, Hite and Liddil started arguing, then drew their weapons and commenced shooting. Neither man seemed to be getting high marks for accuracy; as gunsmoke filled the room, Liddil received only a slight wound and Hite a bullet in the right arm. Ford, who was uninvolved, apparently liked Liddil more-perhaps because Liddil had been romancing Martha-so he calmly drew his revolver and fired one round, the bullet striking Hite in the head and killing him instantly. Ford then loaded the body on a mule and buried it in the woods a mile or so from the house.
Robert Ford, who shot Jesse James in 1882 (Author's Collection)
Rather than face Jesse after killing his cousin, Liddil decided it was safer to give himself up to the law. On January 24, 1882, he surrendered to Sheriff James Timberlake of Clay County, Missouri. At roughly the same time, Bob Ford-apparently with the blessings of his brother Charlie-contacted Henry Craig, the Kansas City police commissioner. On February 22, Craig arranged a meeting between Ford and Governor Thomas H. Crittenden in Kansas City. The governor promised Bob and Charlie Ford a dead-or-live reward of $10,000 for Jesse James. In the meantime, Jesse, Zee, and Charlie Ford had been evaluating a large farm at Franklin, Nebraska, where Jesse contemplated settling down. Bob joined the group on their return home.
The Ford brothers and Jesse James finished their breakfast in Jesse's house at St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1882. The three men then strolled into the living room, where Jesse reportedly removed his gunbelt, placed a chair under a picture with the caption "God Bless Our Home," and stepped up on the chair in order to straighten the picture and dust it. His head then hit the wall as Bob Ford fired a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson.
On April 17, 1882, a grand jury indicted the Ford brothers for murder, Bob in the first degree and Charlie with aiding and abetting. They pled guilty and were sentenced to be hanged, the sentence being set aside that same afternoon when Governor Crittenden provided the promised amnesty. Whether they received all, part, or none of the $10,000 reward is unclear.
A distraught Charles Ford, tormented by conscience, committed suicide by gunfire near his home in Richmond, Missouri, on May 6, 1884. As for Bob Ford, he married Nellie Waterson, a chorus girl, and spent considerable time on tour. During the first half of his stopovers, he told the audience how and why he killed Jesse James. During the second half of the presentation, the audience usually booed him off the
stage. Bob also traveled with P. T. Barnum for awhile and apparently accumulated sufficient funds to open a saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico. It flopped. He then moved to Creede, Colorado, where he opened a tent saloon but drank too much of his own product. On June 8, 1892, he accused Edward Capeheart O'Kelley of stealing his diamond ring. O'Kelley raged that he did not; to punctuate his point and accentuate his integrity he walked into Bob Ford's saloon with a shotgun and killed him.
See- Co: JAMES BROTHERS
FORT Griffin, Texas, Vigilantes
Texas had several vigilante movements, most in cattle country as warnings to stock thieves. For instance, in 1887, three horse thieves were hanged from a tree limb in Grayson County. A note pinned to one body read, "Cattle Thieves Doom."
However, the West Texas civilian community of Fort Griffin, known as "the Flats," probably held the state record in terms of lynchings. A reporter for the q in April 1876 described one lynching as "So far, so good," and noted that this positive action of the vigilantes "has the well wishes of every lover of tranquility."
Another column that same month, with a dateline of Fort Griffin, noted that horse thief number five had been lynched, with an afterthought, "Shall horse thieves rule the country?"
The Fort Griffin vigilantes, however, put themselves out of business when John M. Larn was elected sheriff of Shackelford County that same month. Larn was popular, an excellent sheriff, but a man who couldn't stay away from cattle belonging to other people. The vigilantes forced his resignation and tried to warn him. He ignored those efforts and was soon locked in the county seat jail at Albany, Texas, where on the night of June 27, 1877, the vigilantes, who allegedly included some of Larn's in-law relatives, walked into the cells after midnight and shot him to death. Cattle rustling at this point slacked off in Shackelford County, and there is no further record of vigilante action.
.S66 0Zo. CRUGER, WILLIAM R.; LARN, JOHN
FORT Sumner, New Mexico
Fort Sumner is best known as the burial place of Billy the Kid, but the California Column (troops from California who rode east to New Mexico to fight in the Civil War) established it in 1862 as a post for the Union at Bosque Redondo, on the east bank of New Mexico's Pecos River. Kit Carson later brought in 7,000 Navajos as well as hundreds of Apaches. Except for the cemetery, the post was abandoned in 1868 and then purchased by Lucien Maxwell, by then the second-largest individual landowner in the United States. His son, Pete Maxwell, lived in the community of Fort Sumner, and it was at Pete's house that Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid at practically the stroke of midnight on July 14, 1881.
Fort Sumner today is a tiny community living primarily off the tourist trade. The pleasant-looking cemetery holds the remains of numerous historic figures, although the graves of Billy the Kid, plus his two partners, Tom O'Folliard and Charles Bowdre, lie side by side and are the most visited. The stone says "PALS."
.Sr'E BILLY THE KID; BOWDRE, CHARLES; GARRETT, PATRICK FLOYD JARVIS, LINCOLN COUNTY WAR
FOUNTAIN, Albert Jennings (1838-1896)
Some authorities cite Canada as the birthplace of Albert J. Fountain, but more solid evidence suggests Staten Island in New York on October 23, 1838. During his early years he traveled in Canton and Calcutta, and as a reporter for the Sac-m errto L_Trrioro he visited Nicaragua to write a story on the Walker filibustering expedition. He gained admittance to the bar in San Francisco, and during the Civil War he joined the First California Volunteer Infantry. He rode east to New Mexico with Carleton's California Column, and along the way fought a two-day battle at Apache Pass with Cochise and his Chiricahua Apaches. As part of the Union army, he helped occupy El Paso, then decided to remain. Perhaps in El Paso, Texas, but probably in Mesilla, New Mexico, he fell in love with 14-year-old Mariana Perez and married her on October 27, 1862. They would have 12 children.
In El Paso, Texas, Fountain worked as a lawyer, but he was also a spellbinding speaker, an organizer of amateur theatricals, a resourceful coordinator. He was a brave, fascinating individual, a radical Republican who was also at times a tiresome windbag. In El Paso, Fountain became a district surveyor and a collector of internal revenue. He was elected to the Texas state senate from El Paso, became Speaker of the House, and organizer and head of the El Paso Salt Ring, a group of men laying claim to the salt flats 90 miles east of El Paso. By 1869, however, he had become an organizer of the Anti-Salt Ring, and this caused trouble with his former El Paso cohorts.
Albert Jennings Fountain (Robert G. McCubbin Collection)
On December 7, 1870, Fountain wandered into El Paso's Ben Dowell Saloon and encountered one of his former "salt" friends, Benjamin F. Williams. Williams opened fire with a derringer, hitting Fountain twice, while Fountain rained blows on him with his walking stick.
Williams, his weapon empty, dashed next door to get his shotgun. Fountain walked two blocks to get his rifle, on the way pausing to tell judge Gaylord Judd Clarke what had happened. Clarke enlisted state policeman Albert French to assist in an arrest, but as they reached the saloon, Williams killed Clarke with the shotgun. From down the street, Fountain fired a rifle round into Williams, and French finished the job with a couple of revolver shots to the head.
Fountain now underwent a storm of charges, ranging from fraudulent election practices to theft in office. Although acquitted, he stepped aside from Texas politics and moved with his family to Mesilla, New Mexico. There he became editor and publisher of the Mesaaa Valley rederjerederet„ as well as district attorney for the Third Judicial District. He also became a powerful voice against rustlers, making accusations in particular against Dog Canyon rancher Oliver Lee, who lived near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
In late March 1896, Fountain and his eight-yearold son Henry traveled by buggy from Mesilla to Lincoln, New Mexico, where Fountain obtained several cattle-rustling indictments against Oliver Lee, plus cowboys Jim Gilliland and William McNew. However, during their return home on April 1, 1896, Albert J. Fountain and Henry disappeared from the face of the earth, somewhere between Tularosa and Mesilla, New Mexico, most likely within a couple miles of today's White Sands Missile Range headquarters complex. Their bodies have never been found, and the question of who killed them still remains New Mexico's greatest murder mystery.
.366 Ck(_' EL PASO SALT WAR; GARRETT, PATRICK FLOYD JARVIS; LEE, OLIVER MILTON
FOWLER, Joel A. (1849-1884)
Leaving a respected family in Indiana, Joel Fowler in his mid-twenties relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, where he lived with his uncle. There Fowler met a charming young Texas belle. They married, but if rumors are true, the bride proved unfaithful. Joel Fowler shot and killed her paramour.
Fowler vanished for parts unknown, eventually alighting in Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, in 1879. Opening a saloon and dance hall, Joel married one of his employees. Later the pair moved to Santa Fe, where on February 27, 1880, Joel loaded up on bad whiskey. He treed practically the entire town with a shotgun until being overpowered and transported to jail. After being released, he moved to White Oaks, a mining camp in Lincoln County, where on May 31, 1880, he encountered two miners, Virgil Cullom and Joe Askew, both of whom were drunkenly shooting up the town. A group of timid citizens who thought they ought to do something fired an ineffective volley at the two men. Joe was
wounded, but a besotted Cullom foolishly attempted to save his pal. At that moment, Fowler fatally shot Cullom.
While Fowler occasionally partook of drunken sprees, he had his sober moments. By 1881, Fowler had entered the ranching business in Socorro County and had become financially secure. But he hated theft. On one occasion, accompanied by a ranch employee, Fowler trailed three suspected rustlers. Catching up with the trio, Joel Fowler's shotgun killed "Whiskey Jim" Greathouse and a man named Forrest Neal. His partner shot and killed the third suspect, Jim Finley. Fowler later swore out warrants for C. E Blackington, the deceased men's boss. Blackington counter-sued, although the matter was amicably settled over drinks at a nearby saloon. Fowler was cleared during an inquest regarding the suspected rustlers' demise.
During an 1883 incident, Fowler allegedly killed "a gambler and bad man" commonly known as "Butcher Knife Bill" (William Childes) from Fort Griffin, Texas. During the melee, another desperado, "Pony" Neal, the brother of Forrest Neal, killed earlier by Fowler, hid out in a house and refused to surrender. In disgust, Fowler set the house on fire, asserting later that Pony had committed suicide.
Fowler sold his ranch soon afterward and promptly whooped it up in Socorro, New Mexico, discharging his six-shooter and making some townspeople dance. Others he ordered to stand on their head. In the middle of all this, Fowler stabbed James E. Cale, a drummer (salesman) by some accounts, and an Engle, New Mexico, saloon owner by others.
Arrested and jailed, Fowler waged an expensive legal defense but was nevertheless convicted of firstdegree murder and sentenced to death. Meanwhile, stories about Fowler's past crimes spread around the community, arousing local vigilantes who feared either an escape attempt or a rescue by cowboys from Texas hired by Fowler's uncle. So the townspeople took the law into their own hands. They lynched Joel Fowler on January 22, 1884.
FRAZI E R, Sam (1853-1 878)
Little is known regarding the origin or early life of Sam Frazier, other than that he was from North Carolina. He drifted to the Lone Star State, and at the age of 24 enlisted in Company C, Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers, at San Elizario, El Paso County, Texas, on November 21, 1877. There, along the Mexican border, it did not take him long to become a tough hombre and a remorseless enemy. He and several of his counterparts were often described as "hard-faced and battle scarred."
During outrages committed by both factions in what has generally became known as the "El Paso Salt War," Frazier was suspected of participating in the murder of two men named Durand and Iragoen. Later reports mention that Frazier acknowledged killing the two men for their money.
During a
nother incident, Frazier claimed he was shot while rifling a San Elizario house. He removed what appeared to be a spent pistol ball from his boot. Incensed Rangers shot and killed the suspect, in the process severely wounding his wife.
Throughout the riotous melee, Sam Frazier's violent behavior earned him the scorn of a Hispanic population on both sides of the Rio Grande. The bitter and sometimes violent Catholic priest Father Borrajo allegedly placed a reward of $1,000 for the heads of Frazier and another ranger. If so, there were no takers.
During the racial strife, Frazier's commander, J. C. Ford, passed over Frazier for promotion to first sergeant of the company. Simple jealousy now festered in Frazier's breast, as he became more and more insubordinately belligerent. He threatened Ford's life. When Ford, following orders, advised Frazier that he would have to leave his six-shooter in camp before venturing into town, Frazier declared that Company C was "not big enough to hold both of us." The Texas Rangers predicted trouble.
On January 31, 1878, as Frazier returned to camp and dismounted, Ford called out his name. When Frazier turned around, Ford fired one barrel of his shotgun. The buckshot knocked Frazier to the ground in a sitting position. The second blast missed Frazier completely. Frazier screamed at Ford to quit shooting, but Ford approached the wounded Frazier and emptied the contents of a six-shooter into his head.
A coroner's inquest cleared Ford of wrongdoing, indicating his actions were justified due to Frazier's earlier threats and dangerous disposition. Later, a respected historian remarked that other homicides might have taken place in El Paso County had not these rangers been mustered out of service.
See O. EL PASO SALT WAR
The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters Page 19