Everybody's heard of Pat Garrett, Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp. But how many of you are familiar with one of the toughest lawmen of the west, John Horton Slaughter.

I had only heard the name, didn't know the history, until a couple of years ago. On one of our jaunts into little known places, the wife and I went the southern route from El Paso to Rodeo, NM, from there to Bisbee, AZ then to Douglas. From Douglas we drove thirty + miles of gravel road to the Slaughter Ranch. The homestead is still preserved as are many of the out buildings. The spring still feeds a manmade pool. The place is an oasis in the middle of a stark desert. Longhorn cattle still roam the ranch. Absolutely well worth the drive.

Two years later, we are exploring in the Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico, between there and the Tularosa Mountains and we run across a Historical Marker referencing a gun battle between some Slaughter cowboys and local ranchers. I'm thinking, wow, this guy really gets around because I knew he had been called Texas John. I had to learn more, this guy was a real badazz.

John Horton Slaughter was born and raised in Louisiana before the family moved to Texas in his early years. He was a Civil War vet, Confederate of course. After the war, he and his brother formed the San Antonio Ranch Company, which was really a cattle drive company. They made numerous drives to Kansas. He later became a Texas Ranger. He later travelled to NM where he purchased cattle and ran a ranching operation on the open range which led to range wars with other local outfits.

He then moved to Arizona where he bought the Benevides Ranch which lies in both the US and Mexico. Legend claims, Pancho Villa's troops running from Federalis fled on to his ranch. They were starving and slaughtered some of his cattle. His cowboys rode back to the ranch house and informed John. John didn't round up a bunch of hands, instead, the story goes that he strapped on his gun belt, grabbed a rifle, mounted up and rode for Villa's camp. He marched into Villa's tent, demanded payment for his cows. The story goes that he came home with a sacksful of gold coins.

Texas John was appointed to be Cochise County Sheriff because of the lawlessness of local gangs. He promptly cleaned them out. Texas John was a 5 foot 6 inch giant. Bad to the bone, knew no fear and never backed down from a fight. I've only briefly touched on his story here.