S66 49c; DENO, CHARLOTTE
GOLDSBY, Crawford (a.k.a. Cherokee Bill) (1876-1896)
Goldsby had a touch of every color in him: white, black, and Hispanic, which meant that he belonged nowhere. Born at Fort Concho, Texas, he grew up quick, mean, and tall, once killing his brother-in-law after being told to feed the hogs. He then wandered off to Oklahoma, where in 1894 at Fort Gibson he shot and wounded Jake Lewis, a black man, following a dispute over a woman.
The law now took up the pursuit, and Goldsby, on the run, fell in with William and James Cook, leaders of a wild Oklahoma band of desperadoes. It would be William Cook who anointed young Goldsby with the moniker Cherokee Bill. It would also be these two men who led Goldsby into his next killing, as law officers in pursuit of the three lost a man to Cherokee Bill's deadly aim. The killing again sent Bill into hiding, the young gunman taking refuge in the home of his sister, Maud Brown. But that did not work either, because Cherokee Bill shot and killed her husband, reportedly when he (the husband) took a whip to her.
Back with the Cook brothers, young Goldsby and others in mid-1894 rode into Nowata, Oklahoma, stopped at the railroad station, killed the station agent, waited for the next train, and when it chugged in hammered on the express door until the express agent opened it. The agent took a bullet in the head, the brakeman took one in the leg, and Cherokee Bill left.
A short time later, Cherokee Bill, with Cook and other friends, attempted to rob a general store in Lenapah, Oklahoma. Bill killed an innocent bystander, then fled to the home of a Cherokee girl who, unknown to him, also happened to be the cousin of lawman Isaac Rogers. The lawman overpowered Goldsby, disarmed him, loaded him in a buggy, and hauled him to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where, on February 26, 1895, judge Isaac Parker tried him for the murder of the innocent bystander in Lenapah. Parker sentenced him to die on June 25, 1895. Goldsby's attorney, however, won repeated delays.
In the meantime, a jail trustee smuggled in a gun to Goldsby, and on July 26, Bill ordered a guard to open his door. Instead, the officer reached for his own weapon, and Cherokee Bill killed him. That slaying sent Goldsby back before judge Parker, who again sentenced him to death, this time on December 2, 1895. Appeals delayed this trip to the hangman also,
and the date was rescheduled for March 17, 1896. A subsequent appeal to the president went nowhere.
On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, Cherokee Bill sang ditties and whistled as he walked up the stairs, reportedly saying, as the knot was being adjusted around his neck, "This is about as good a day to die as any." He is buried at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.
.315-6 kO COOK, WILLIAM TUTTLE; PARKER, JUDGE ISAAC
GOOD, Milton Paul (a.k.a. E. Kyle) (1889-1960)
Milton Paul Good was a fine steer roper, but a dismal thief. He was also a murderer. Born near Tularosa in what was then Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, on March 17, 1889, he moved with his family back to Texas from whence they had earlier come. Milt's father, Isham J. Good, was once described by a Texas Ranger as a "notorious cow thief," while his uncle, John Good, had a somewhat deserved mankilling reputation. A cousin, Walter Good, ultimately would be gunned down in a New Mexico dispute involving the always interesting and sometimes controversial cowman Oliver Lee. So, as a bad hombre, Milt Good could be proud of his lineage.
Milt Good worked as a cowboy on various West Texas ranches and over time, by whatever means, established himself a small rancher, but a rancher in serious financial difficulty due to drought. Turning to rodeo, Milt Good in 1920 captured the title of "world champion steer roper" during a contest held at Shreveport, Louisiana.
Returning to West Texas with a pocketful of prize money, Milt started trading in cattle, only a few of which he had legitimate title to. The other livestock belonged to his neighbors.
On one occasion, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association inspectors W. D. Allison and H. L. Roberson caught him with 516 head of stolen livestock. They filed criminal charges.
Common sense now gave way to panic, and operating with one of the West's truly callused cow-country characters, Hillary U. Loftis, Good murdered the inspectors on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1923, at Seminole, Texas. The two dead men had planned on meeting with a grand jury the following day. After shotguns and .45 automatics were emptied into the bodies of the cattle inspectors, the killers fled, although they later surrendered. Following a scandalous and sensational public trial, the defendants were locked away in the state prison at Huntsville, Texas.
Two years later the prisoners, along with others, overran a guard and escaped. As fugitives, Good and Loftis went on a minor crime spree in the Northwest before splitting up in Oklahoma. Good subsequently was captured and was returned to the Texas prison. Once again he sought illegal liberation, this time through a tunnel. The authorities caught on to that one too.
Finally the governor pardoned him, and that was both good and bad news. He was at last out of prison, but on July 3, 1960, near Cotulla, Texas he was caught and crushed between the bumper of his vehicle and a pasture gate. The death was ruled an accident.
See c; LEE, OLIVER MILTON
GORDON, Jack (a.k.a. Peter Worthington) (1822-1864)
Peter Worthington was born and raised in Virginia or Maryland. At the age of 17 he headed for the Rocky Mountains after killing a man. During the Mexican War he served with Col. Alexander Doniphan, killed a man in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, and then joined an Apache tribe, killing and raiding his own people and taking an Apache wife. Soon afterward, he abandoned her and fled west to California, where he served with state rangers in pursuit of Joaquin Murrieta.
For the next few years he was suspected of ambushing isolated California travelers, killing them, and taking their goods and money. By 1864 he had teamed up with Confederate guerrillas, then he briefly mined and later butchered hogs near Tailholt, California. But he never stayed anywhere long, on one occasion returning to El Paso, Texas, where he killed a man on El Paso Street in front of Mayor Ben Dowell's saloon. Following that he returned to California, raised hogs on the side, clashed with a grizzly bear, and almost lost his life before teaming up once again with a band of highway robbers. In December 1864, he and Samuel Groupie, another hog raiser, shot it out at Tailholt, California. Gordon died of his wounds.
GRAND Lake Shootout
The Fourth of July celebration in 1883 at Grand Lake, Colorado, turned out to be dramatic beyond
expectations. The buildup had started three years earlier, in 1880, when Grand County voters moved the county seat from Hot Sulphur Springs to the community of Grand Lake. But Hot Sulphur Springs screamed foul, recounted the votes, and claimed vindication. The Colorado Supreme Court thought long and hard, and decided in May 1882 that Grand Lake was actually the county seat after all.
County judge John Gillis Mills, from Vermont, a self-proclaimed mining attorney who had allegedly killed two people earlier in Mississippi, had supported the Grand Lake move. He denounced the other commissioners for fraud, insisting they had stolen and revised relevant county records, particularly the vote count. During a following election, however, Edward P. Webber, a Chicago lawyer, campaigned for commissioner, won, and replaced Mills as the commission leader, although Mills remained on the board. Mills and Weber now began a personal vendetta against each other. Weber had the most commission support, so before long the other commissioners started meeting without the knowledge of Mills. However, Mills had strong backing in Undersheriff William Redman, who when peeved refused to allow the commissioners access to the courthouse.
Everything came to a head on July 4, 1883, when county commissioners E. P. Webber and Barney Day, plus commissioner and county clerk T. J. Dean, were walking toward town. They were ambushed by between three and five gunmen. Webber died instantly. Commissioner Dean took a bullet in the hip and the brain. Commissioner Day was also shot dead, but he fired one round before he died. His bullet killed John Gillis Mills. So four officials were now dying and dead in almost as many seconds.
Sheriff Royer began an immediate investigation but hit a stone wall everywhere he turned. Undersheriff Redman appeared to drop out of sight. Royer struggled for cooperation and assistance from the governor, and perhaps with good reason got little. Then on July 17, Royer committed suicide, a bullet to his head, leaving a note saying he had "killed Barney Day, my best friend-and I have decided to make short work of the whole mess."
In August, the tragedy reached closure when travelers found the body of Undersheriff William Redman near the Colorado-Utah border. His six-shooter, with one bullet missing, lay alongside.
The story, or perhaps the best estimate of what happened back on July 4, goes something like this. A group of men including lawmen Royer and Redman, Commissioner John Mills, and others met and concocted a plan to "scare" the other commissioners into resigning from office. It didn't work, and the scare got out of hand, perhaps when the approached commissioners became frightened and started shooting.
As for the county seat, following an election in 1888, Hot Sulphur Springs took back the title from Grand Lake. The seat has remained Hot Sulphur Springs ever since.
GRAVES, William (a.k.a. Whiskey Bill) (?-1864)
Not much is known about Graves except that he rode with Henry Plummer's band of Montana cutthroats. Plummer's escapades, of course, led to the rise of a Montana vigilante movement, which began thinning out the desperadoes. Graves therefore is best remembered for his manner of death. The vigilantes tied a rope to a tree limb, knotted the noose around his neck, then set him astraddle a horse behind a vigilante member. At a given signal, the vigilante shouted "So long, Bill," and galloped under the limb.
.Sr'e aISO: PLUMMER, WILLIAM HENRY
GREATHOUSE, James (a.k.a. Whiskey Jim Greathouse) (?-1881)
Just how much liquor "Whiskey Jim" Greathouse could drink is undetermined, but that he would sell firewater to Indians, trade in stolen livestock, and associate with reprobates and rascals is beyond historical question. The origin of his backtrail is murky. Some speculate he was from Texas, specifically San Saba County; others theorize he may have come from Arkansas, because he was occasionally referred to as "Arkansas Jack." Of course it is not impossible that both guesses are correct. But by 1874, by whatever route, "Whiskey Jim" was in the vicinity of Fort Griffin, Texas, "already well known-but not favorably known-as a notorious whiskey peddler to the Indians." Prodded to move on by threats from Gen. Ranald S. MacKenzie, Greathouse inched a little farther west.
On the Staked Plains, Greathouse hunted buffalo and participated in the infamous buffalo-hunter skirmish with Comanches during February 1877 at Yellow House Canyon. Later during July he may have been part of a group campaigning with Capt.
Nicholas Nolan, an adventure that almost ended in disaster from thirst and starvation.
Two years later (1879), "Whiskey Jim" Greathouse had established a rather large ranch in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, reasonably near the mining boom town of White Oaks. There he and a partner operated a store and stopover for travelers between Las Vegas and White Oaks, and it was there also that he gave a "wink and nod" to outlaws who not too secretly dealt in cattle with questionable titles. It was at this ranch of dubious reputation that during November 1880 possemen surrounded the Greathouse main building and held Greathouse as a semihostage until negotiations broke down, resulting in the death of Jim Carlyle. Greathouse's buildings were burned in retaliation.
Afterward, "Whiskey Jim" traveled as far north and west as Socorro, New Mexico. With friends Jim Finley and Jim Kay, Greathouse rustled cattle from Socorro County rancher and a genuine hard case, Joel Fowler, in December 1881. On the trail, Fowler and his foreman, Jim Ike, came upon the trio of thieves who had already sold the steers at Georgetown and were on their return trip. Feigning to be running from the law, Fowler put the outlaws at ease, then blasted "Whiskey Jim" with a charge of buckshot before turning the other barrel on Finley. He too died. Jim Ike, in the ensuing seconds, killed Jim Kay. "Whiskey Jim" Greathouse, without doubt, in death left behind an indisputable Western legacy. Too bad it was not a reputable one.
See BELL, JAMES W.; FOWLER, JOEL A.; LINCOLN COUNTY WAR
GRIMES, Albert Calvin (1855-1908)
Al Grimes is usually overlooked, possibly because his older brother, a former Texas Ranger, Ahijah W. "High" Grimes, has received numerous historical mentions for his role as the Williamson County deputy sheriff who was gunned down by the Sam Bass gang during the furious shootout at Round Rock, Texas.
The law enforcement career of Albert Grimes began at Coleman, Texas, where he enlisted as a private in Company C, Frontier Battalion, of the Texas Rangers on September 1, 1877. In the Texas Panhandle, Grimes made a name for himself tracking fugitives throughout the area, as well as in the isolated reaches of eastern New Mexico. His faithful dedica tion to service resulted in promotion to lieutenant; Grimes's courage was never questioned. On March 26, 1884, he shot and killed a bank robber at Wichita Falls, Texas. Later, in southern Texas, he fought desperadoes and cattle rustlers, again achieving a degree of law enforcement fame. On January 17, 1887, near Cotulla, he and fellow Texas Ranger Walter Durbin, while on a stakeout, shot and killed a man wanted for the murder of Sheriff McKinney in La Salle County.
Grimes saw service as a mounted patrol inspector along the Rio Grande. Still later, with a well-earned no-nonsense reputation, he efficiently guarded Bexar County prisoners at San Antonio. He died in San Antonio of natural causes.
See akO BASS, SAM
GROUNDS, William A. (a.k.a. Billy the Kid Grounds; Arthur Boucher) (1862-1882)
Born in central Texas and more than likely involved in a blood-letting altercation with Sam Good, young Grounds fled to southwestern New Mexico Territory, frequently drifting into and then out of the roughand-tumble mining camp of Shakespeare, a favorite hangout for a whole cast of nefarious characters who would earn or steal their individualized places in the history books.
At Shakespeare, "Billy the Kid" Grounds associated with such notables as "Curly Bill" Brocius, Joe Hill (Olney), John Peters Ringo, Sandy King, Johnny Barnes, William Rogers "Russian Bill" Tettenborn, Frank and Tom McLaury, "Slim Jim" Crane, the Clantons, Charles "Pony Deal" Ray, Billy Leonard, and Jimmy Hughes, but most notably with Zwingle (Zwing) Richard Hunt, from the Lone Star state.
In letters to his mother back in Dripping Springs, Texas, Grounds boasted of involvement in a "shooting scrape" and of buying a horse from the notorious (at least locally) Johnny Ringo. He left out any references or assertions regarding his participation in rustling livestock, robbing Mexican smugglers, or the time he and his cohorts stripped a Mexican church of its valuables.
Rambunctious raids and indiscreet shenanigans aside, it took a more murderous crime to write Grounds's name onto the Who's Who of western badmen and into the tally book of Boot Hill burials. On March 25, 1882, civil engineer M. R. Peel was killed while sitting in his office at the Tombstone Mill
and Mining Company near Charleston, Arizona. The crime was thought to have been a bungled robbery rather than an assassination. Investigators were stymied, but suspicion soon fell on Zwing Hunt and his sidekick "Billy the Kid" Grounds.
When information was received in Tombstone that Grounds and Hunt were at John Chandler's ranch a few miles out of town, deputy sheriff E. A. Harley handed Deputy Billy Breakenridge the task of making arrests and enforcing livestock-rustling warrants. The deputy rounded up jailer Hugh Allen and a posse that included John Gillespie.
On the morning of March 29, 1882, the lawmen secreted themselves around the ranch house and hollered for the inhabitants to surrender. Several innocents emerged from the house, and then the shooting started. During the gun battle, Grounds was mortally wounded by a blast (he died the next day) from Breakenridge's shotgun, and Hunt was severely wounded. Gillespie was killed, and posse members Hugh Allen and Jack Young were wounded. Later, Zwing Hunt, with the help of his brother, fled the Tombstone hospital in which he was being confined.
See (9&
0: BREAKENRIDGE, WILLIAM M.; HUNT, ZWINGLE RICHARD
GUNFIGHT at Ingalls, Oklahoma
Ingalls, Oklahoma, a tiny community east of Stillwater, wasn't much of a town, and it doesn't occupy much space on today's maps either, but on September 1, 1893, the greatest outlaw/lawman gun battle in Western history took place inside it.
One might have assumed that the day of the Wild West was about over. The Daltons had recently gone down; the James gang was no longer in business; Wild Bill Hickok was dead; Billy the Kid was dead; and John Wesley Hardin was in prison. Yet tough remnants survived, among them William "Bill" Doolin, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, and Charley Pierce, who were still loose and runningand rapidly finding most communities closed to them. These former cowboys, now whiskey-smuggling, night-riding graduates of terror, killing, and robbery, had become Oklahombres, along the way shedding old comrades through death or prison but picking up new, little-known converts such as Jack Blake, better known as "Tulsa Jack," George Weightman, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, and William Marion Dalton, a Dalton brother.
The opposition consisted of men who wore badges, stalwart lawmen like U.S. Marshal Evett Nix. Nix wanted to obliterate or jail this "last of the outlaws," and for the task he had assembled seasoned lawmen: Chris Madsen, Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman, Lafe Shadley, Jim Masterson, Dick Speed, H. A. "Hi" Thompson, John Hixon, and Tom Hueston.
Why the outlaws chose Ingalls, Oklahoma, for a rendezvous will likely never be known for certain, except that it was remote and rugged, an obscure land-rush community. So after dark on August 31, two wagons, looking like ordinary "Sooner" wagons-a single driver in front, lawmen (altogether 13) in the interior-rolled into town, one from Stillwater, Texas, and the other from Guthrie, Oklahoma. The plan was to reach town before midnight and to hang around and collar the outlaws after they had gone to bed. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all they had. No contingency plans existed, perhaps because the town was so new, the population so rowdy and unsettled. So when the Guthrie wagon did not arrive until well after midnight, the arrest plans were put off until the following morning, September 1. The lawmen even sent for 11 additional associates but didn't wait for them to arrive.
The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters Page 22