The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters

by Leon Claire Metz

  .366- A50: ANDERSON, WILLIAM C.; JAMES BROTHERS; JAYHAWKERS; LANE, JAMES HENRY; YOUNGER BROTHERS

  QUEEN, Samuel Dawson (a.k.a. Kep) (1860-1888)

  Samuel "Kep" Queen was born in March 1860 on his family's horse farm at Queen Hill, in Williamson County, Texas. His first cousin, John Tolliver Barber, was born around 1860, probably in Pettytown, Caldwell County, Texas. Kep, of Indian heritage, had black hair and eyes. At a youthful age the two boys joined the Brackett Cornett/William Whitley gang of bank and train robbers. Its two best known robberies were a holdup of the Missouri Pacific at McNeil, Texas, in February 1887, and a train robbery at Flatonia that occurred shortly afterward. Cornett soon left the gang and was slain on February 12, 1888 in South Texas.

  John Barber and Bill Whitney ambushed Deputy Sheriff Bill Stanley near Florence, Texas, on August 6, 1887. The gang then fled to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where they hid briefly before teaming up with Kep Queen to rob the bank at Cisco, Texas, on February 15, 1888. That brought the Texas Rangers as well as a sheriff's posse in pursuit, so the two robbers parted company. A posse shot Whitney to death near Floresville, Texas, on September 25, 1888. Barber and Queen returned to Indian Territory, where the authorities killed Queen at Claremore, Oklahoma, on November 16, 1888. Another Oklahoma posse killed John Barber in December 1889.

  SSte CkO: QUEEN, VICTOR

  QUEEN, Victor (a.k.a. Vic) (1870-1904)

  Vic Queen, a brother to Samuel Dawson Queen, was born on his family's horse farm at Queen Hill, Williamson County, Texas about 1870. In 1890, the family moved to Eddy County, New Mexico. Queen, a medium-sized, lean man with a fondness for blustery speech, had a square head, dark hair, and mustache. In 1894, the authorities accused Vic of rustling cattle and defacing brands. He fled to Mexico, where the authorities arrested him on March 26, 1895; they jailed him in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Here he renewed his friendship with Martin Mrose who also had outstanding New Mexico cattle-theft warrants.

  Mrose bailed both himself and Queen out of jail, and they applied for Mexican citizenship. On June 29, 1895, Mrose crossed the Rio Grande for a promised El Paso, Texas, rendezvous with his wife, Helen Beulah Mrose, then living with El Paso attorney John Wesley Hardin. Law officers shot Mrose to death the moment he stepped onto U.S. soil.

  Queen now accused Hardin and others of outright murder but could do nothing about it. Instead he returned to Carlsbad, New Mexico, and surrendered, being released in April when no indictments came down. On December 13, 1904, parties unknown shot and killed Vic Queen in Central, New Mexico, a tiny community near Silver City. Vic is buried in the Silver City cemetery just a few yards from Catherine Antrim, the mother of Billy the Kid.

  .&+'e Leo: HARDIN, JOHN WESLEY; MILTON, JEFFERSON DAVIS; MROSE, MARTIN; QUEEN, SAMUEL DAWSON

  QUICK-DRAW Artist

  The term refers to someone very adept at getting his six-shooter out of its holster in a hurry, prepared to fire. Cowboys did not ordinarily possess this attribute, although professional gunmen and lawmen often did. Three fast-draw examples usually cited are Wild Bill Hickok, John Wesley Hardin, and Billy the Kid, but they also had their bad moments. A problem with the fast draw was that it tended to be more flashy than effective in terms of hitting a mark.

  QUICK on the Trigger

  In a literal sense, this meant anyone who could draw or quickly fire his revolver. But in a general sense-as it was most often used-the term referred to anyone with a violent temper, a person who was argumentative, an individual constantly on the prod, quick to take offense, and always ready to fight.

  RANGER'S Bible, the (a.k.a. List of Fugitives from justice; the Book; the Black Book)

  This refers to the rare 1878 Ligt of rrt. tree in Texas. The names numbered in the hundreds. The original book was a small, black, leather-bound volume issued to Texas Rangers in 1878. As various outlaws were captured or killed, their names were crossed out, while others were continuously written in. How many copies were originally published in 1878 is not known, but new additions came out in 1882, 1889, 1891 (an addendum), 1896, and 1900.

  Who wrote or compiled the original publication or any of its revisions is also not known.

  The outlaws were listed randomly by county along with physical descriptions, ages, and crimes committed, the last ranging from murder and attempted murder to theft of livestock, infanticide, adultery, gambling, assault, rape, swindling, incest, and so forth. Many descriptions were specific, such as "glib with his tongue," "fleshy," "likes draw poker," and "white, very talkative and well educated."

  Over time these fugitive books disappeared, with the exception of one owned by Sgt. James B. Gillett. Sergeant Gillett carried an 1878 edition in his saddlebag, making notes, scratching out names, and adding new ones. His copy was fortunately preserved. Entitled FF.qitives /rNorr7 it was republished in 1997 by the State House Press in Austin, Texas.

  .366 1So; GILLETT, JAMES BUCHANAN; TEXAS RANGERS

  RAY, Charles T. (a.k.a. Pony Deal; Pony Diehl) (1849-1887?)

  This desperado was far better known throughout Arizona Territory as "Pony Deal" or "Pony Diehl" than he ever was by his real name. He was born at Rock Island, Illinois. He does not come into historical focus, however, until around January 1876, when he surfaced in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a member of the John Kinney gang. Ray was one of a group that murdered two Eighth Cavalry soldiers and wounded several others by firing through windows during a dance.

  Ray fled to Tombstone, Arizona, and was on the scene when Curly Bill Brocius accidently killed Marshal Fred White. Ray in particular hung around with Sherman McMasters, and he was suspected of robbing stages, some in cahoots with McMasters. Nevertheless, Pony Diehl proved to be a shadowy figure, allegedly breaking jails both in Texas and Arizona. He was one of numerous folks who never believed John Ringo committed suicide. Ray suspected John O'Rourke of the shooting, and he killed O'Rourke in retaliation.

  Pony Diehl thereafter drifted around, spent time in El Paso, rustled cattle again for John Kinney, and was sentenced to five years in the territorial prison at Santa Fe. He escaped on February 20, 1885, but had only four days of freedom before being recaptured. The authorities released him on March 14, 1887; all efforts to trace his life after that have come to naught.

  BROCIUS, WILLIAM; KINNEY, JOHN; MCMASTERS, SHERMAN W.; RINGO, JOHN PETERS

  RAY, Ned (?-1894)

  As a desperado, Ned Ray remained mostly in the shadows, joining the Henry Plummer gang in Montana but (either intentionally or unintentionally) keeping a low profile. He once claimed to have escaped from San Quentin Prison, taking delight in showing friends a knot on his foot where he had been wounded. Ray is best remembered as one of two men captured with Plummer, all three being hanged by vigilantes from a single scaffold on January 10, 1894. Before he took the drop, Ray managed to free one hand and insert it between his neck and the rope-so he strangled instead of dying instantly of a broken neck.

  S66 -21So: PLUMMER, WILLIAM HENRY

  RAYNER, Hamilton (a.k.a. Ham Raynor) (?-1932)

  Hamilton Rayner, a lawman, had been born in Texas, probably El Paso, his father being judge Kenneth Rayner, solicitor of the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C. His older brother, William, was a deputy U.S. revenue collector working out of Dallas.

  Rayner likely had never heard of Hunnewell, Kansas, until the spring of 1883. By then the recently created town was overflowing with Texas cowboys and ranchers. The long trail drives had ended for the year, the livestock had been sold, and there was nothing left to do but hoop, holler, and gamble until returning to Texas. Since the town needed a marshal, it picked Joe Forsythe of Dallas, and Forsythe reached out to El Paso, Texas, for his chief deputy, Hamilton Rayner. Thus during the forthcoming Hunnewell showdown, it would be Texan lawmen trying to control Texas cowboys. This brought Forsythe into conflict with the Hunnewell town fathers, who were encouraging the Texans to spend their money on sin, and then risking Forsythe's being shot when the Texans became too rowdy. As a result, in December 1
883, Forsythe resigned in disgust as city marshal and returned to Dallas. Hamilton Rayner took his place as city marshal.

  Rayner then telegraphed El Paso and talked former Texas Ranger Ed Scotten into becoming his

  assistant. Along about this same time, Raynor also fell in love with a raven-haired saloon girl. The memoirs of one local resident described her as "a peach," but "not the kind [of peach] to lead cowboys to a prayer meeting."

  By August the rowdiness had steadily gotten worse. With the atmosphere sticky, the cowboys had less and less to do, and more and more time in which to do it. They took solace in gambling, drinking, and arguing, and twice Rayner had called for assistance from Sheriff Frank Henderson, at nearby Wellington. Twice the sheriff had caught a train and arrived in town with a posse. But by then things had gotten quiet.

  On August 9, everything came to a head. The Halsell brothers, who owned nearby ranches, were entertaining themselves at Pat Hanly's saloon. One of the girls there just happened to be the already mentioned love of Rayner's life, and it wasn't long before Marshal Rayner and Deputy Scotten strolled into the room. They complained of noise.

  The dispute carried over into a side alley, where Rayner and Scotten squared off against Oscar Halsell and Clem Barefoot, the latter two cattlemen being good friends. A short burst of profanity was followed by shooting.

  Barefoot shot Rayner in a leg below the knee and subsequently grazed him with several other rounds. One of Rayner's bullets struck Barefoot in the side. As for Halsell, he shot Ed Scotten in the neck, blowing out his spine.

  Halsell and Barefoot fled on foot, stopping a cowboy down by the river and taking his horse at gunpoint. After reaching Barefoot's camp, they saddled two horses and parted ways. The 27-year-old cowboy Clem Barefoot made it to camp and died there of his wounds. Halsell disappeared completely.

  As for Ed Scotten, for a while it seemed that he would live, but he lasted only long enough for his mother to reach him from El Paso. She took him back to El Paso and buried him in Concordia Cemetery on September 5, 1884.

  Hamilton Rayner survived and moved to New Orleans, where he became cashier for the North Central and South American Exposition of 1885. In 1902, he came to El Paso as a special railroad officer. Harry Halsell stayed on the run for two years. He finally turned himself in, was tried for murder, and was acquitted.

  S66 49o: RAYNER, WILLIAM R.

  RAYNER, William R. (a.k.a. Bill Raynor) (?-1885)

  Bill Rayner, a deputy U.S. revenue collector, not only dressed well but loved to gamble, specifically in El Paso's Gem Saloon. Rayner had already killed at least one man, John C. Morris, a gambler, on December 20, 1881, in Fort Worth, Texas. Now, on April 14, 1885, he and Charles "Buck" Linn, a jail guard and former Texas Ranger, started drinking early and didn't shut it down until about 11 P.M., when they wandered into El Paso's Gem Theater and Saloon, where Rayner began verbally abusing Cowboy Bob Rennick-whose nickname of "Cowboy" stemmed from a huge white hat he habitually wore. Rennick wasn't armed at the time, so he gritted his teeth and made no response. After insulting Rennick, Rayner wandered on his way, apparently assuming Rennick would shrug it off. He didn't. Rennick borrowed a six-shooter from faro dealer Robert Cahill, but he had no sooner stuck it in his pocket than Rayner learned of the transaction and started back up the street. Rennick shot Rayner in the stomach and shoulder in a saloon. Several friends, including Linn, quickly gathered Rayner up off the floor and carried him to a streetcar and then to his room, where two doctors worked over him for several days. Meanwhile, Bob Rennick fled south down El Paso Street and took refuge in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, across the Rio Grande.

  William Rayner (Author's Collection)

  Other friends steered a badly shaken Buck Linn outside the boarding house where Rayner lay slowly dying. They tried to reason with him, but the distraught Linn walked back to the Gem, firing a few rounds in the air, and then stepped inside the saloon. Since Rennick had fled, Linn shot a couple more rounds into the ceiling, then called on Bob Cahill to fight because, Cahill had caused Rayner's near death by lending a weapon to Rennick. The two men screamed back and forth at each other, then the shooting started once again. Within seconds Linn was sprawled on the floor about where Rayner had fallen. According to Dr. A. L. Justice, the same physician who had attended Rayner, Linn died almost instantly sometime between midnight and one. Cahill now quickly joined Rennick in Mexico, although both returned to El Paso within a few days. Cahill was charged with murder but was released under a $10 bond. As for Rayner, he stayed remarkably alert and did not die until June 7. Both burials took place in El Paso's Concordia Cemetery.

  As an aside, the famous lawman Wyatt Earp had been in town between trains, and he witnessed both gunfights. His written, sworn testimony was undoubtedly one reason why Cahill never went to trial.

  .366 EARP, WYATT BERRY STAPP; RAYNER, HAMILTON.

  REEVES, Bass (1840-1910)

  The early years of Bass Reeves are obscure. He was a black man who appears to have grown up in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), since he fluently spoke the languages of the Five Civilized Tribes. There is talk that he may have also been a slave of Col. George Reeves, which would explain the name. At any rate, he reportedly was 22 in 1863, when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, so he must have been around 34 in May 1875, when federal judge Isaac Parker appointed him as a U.S. deputy marshal, the first black man so honored. In those days, farmer Reeves could neither read nor write, but he was articulate, intelligent, and had the tracking instincts of a tiger.

  A deputy marshal earned his living in fees and awards, getting a specified amount of money per mile traveled and arrest made. This arrangement gave incentive to Reeves; the 1880 census of Van Buren, Arkansas, listed him as having a wife and eight children. So it was fortunate that Uncle Sam paid its fees for outlaws whether alive or dead. In 1883, the government gave Bass a warrant for rancher Jim Webb, who had killed a preacher. Reeves quickly caught up with Webb, but during the shootout he killed Frank Smith, one of Webb's rustling friends. Webb surrendered, bailed himself out of jail, and then fled, only to be tracked down by Reeves and shot and killed during a running gun battle on June 15, 1884.

  A few months later Reeves was meandering down the so-called Seminole Whiskey Trail when he encountered three suspects, all named Brunter. Bass shot and killed two and captured the other. During the next two years, Bass arrested nearly 100 murderers, arsonists, and whiskey peddlers. A Fort Smith, Arkansas, newspaper printed the following on October 30, 1885:

  U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves came in on Monday evening last with 17 prisoners, among whom were Hens Posey and One Deldrick, charged with muu ,der, The others are John Robinson, assault with intent to kill; RobertJohnson, Wiley Kelly, Colbert Lasley and old man Cintop, karceny. The balance are all whiskey cases.

  However, on January 19, 1886, the government arrested Reeves for the slaying of his own cook. The trial began on October 12, 1887. Three days later a jury found him not guilty.

  Nearly two years later, in 1889, Reeves killed an outlaw leader named Tom Story, who had a long history of rustling, ending at the Delaware Crossing of the Red River. Ten years after that, a federal court transferred Bass to Muskogee, where he concentrated on black and Indian outlaws. On November 28, 1901, the quoted Reeves as having been a U.S. deputy marshal for 27 years and noted that he had arrested over 3,000 men and women, one of those his own son, jailed for murdering his wife. In May 1902 alone, he brought in 24 prisoners, charging them with instigating a race war.

  In November 1902, the month Oklahoma became a state, Bass Reeves retired from the federal marshals' service. With too much time on his hands, however, at the age of 67 he joined the Muskogee police force, retiring for good in 1909. He died on

  January 12, 1910, and is buried in the Old Union Agency Cemetery in Muskogee. Hundreds attended the funeral service.

  .S1'6 UkO: PARKER, JUDGE ISAAC

  REGULATOR-MODERATOR War

  This feud started in the pine
country of far East Texas, just north of the Mexican border. It essentially lasted from 1839 to 1844. Charles Jackson, a former Mississippi riverboat captain and Louisiana fugitive, and Charles Moorman organized the Shelby County Regulators; Edward Merchant, John Bradly, and Deputy Sheriff James Cravens put together the Moderators. Land swindles proved the root of the troubles, with the Regulators trying to regulate transactions and the Moderators trying to moderate the Regulators.

  Jackson originally organized the Regulators to prevent cattle theft. In 1840, Jackson shot a man named Joseph Goodbread at Shelbyville. When Jackson went to trial on July 12, 1841, the Regulators not only intimidated the court but burned a few houses in Shelbyville to demonstrate their power. Not long afterward Jackson and an innocent Dutchman named Lauer were assassinated, and Moorman replaced Jackson. The assassins were captured near Crockett, Texas, and following an October 1841 trial in Shelbyville, all were hanged, with the exception of one man.

  Private quarrels now erupted. A man named Stanfield accused an ex-Regulator named Hall of hog theft and shot him dead. County judges now began taking sides, becoming Regulators or Moderators, and of course freeing anyone who appeared before them who happened to be of their political persuasion. It became so confusing and so bloody that during the summer of 1844, the Moderators met at Bells Springs, Texas, and renamed themselves "the Reformers," although the term never stuck. Then they announced an intention to occupy Shelbyville.

  As for the Regulators they dreamed equally big, plotting to sign up everyone in Texas, and perhaps occupy the whole state. But after all that blustering, on July 24, 1844, both sides signed a truce. It lasted only sufficiently long for the ink to dry.

  Murder once more followed murder. Near Shelbyville, on August 2, about 225 Moderators attacked 62 Regulators during what the Regulators called the Church Hill Battle and the Moderators called Helen's Defeat, this latter title being a reference to Helen Daggett Moorman, who rode to spy on the enemy camp. When the smoke cleared, however, very few casualties lay on the ground. The battle proved nothing and decided nothing.