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.

Very interesting. Thanks for the story.

Master Chief, I love history and whenever I spot one of your posts I perk up. Every time you type I learn something. Keep it up and thanks.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Many, many years ago, Disney did a series for their TV show about John Slaughter.......

The theme went, "Texas John Slaughter made 'em do what they outta, cause if they didn't, they died".......Tom Tryon was the main character and they made a bunch of shows. This would have been in the late '50s or early '60s. So yes, I familiar......

Yes, I'm that old..........

I've got property in Douglas and am going to retire there in a few years, and I've yet to make it to the Slaughter ranch! It is on my list of things to do while I'm vacationing out there.

The Slaughter Ranch is on my Zona Zone to do list. Will be down there when it cools off some, probably Thanksgiving.
Another interesting open to the public Arizona ranch is the Empire Ranch.
Will do a thread, before I'm dead!

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

I grew up in Cochise county, went to high school in Douglas. Used to hunt deer a few miles north of his ranch. Lots of history there. Mining towns, Apache raids, murderers, cattle thieves, Mexican raiders, outlaws, you name it. AZ and NM didn't even become states until 1912. Texas was pretty tame compared to the mining towns in AZ and NM around 1880. All the lawmen moved there because there just wasn't enough people left that needed killing anywhere else. That's the reason the Earp bros. showed up in Tombstone in 1879 which is also in Cochise county.

__________________
That's just somebody talkin.

Tom Tryon was also a book author. That upset some of his fellow actors and producers and they told him to choose between acting and writing.

I never understood the problem.

I just recently read a book about "Texas John" Slaughter by William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone. It's titled , Texas John Slaughter: Deadly Day in Tombstone.

The story is purely fictional, although the author states that it is "loosely based on the life" of Slaughter.

I picked it up purely for entertainment...in other words, "mental chewing gum." It was perfect for that...a fun read. He was quite an individual.

__________________
Pack light and cinch tight.

I read a book about him a couple of years ago... That Wicked Little Gringo (The Story of John Slaughter) by Ben Traywick. I met Traywick in Tombstone in 2011... he was somewhat of a historian there, although he looked like he was in ill-health when I met him. Bought the book directly from him.

I'm with L Pete, I remember the Disney show coverage of him. Good show about a genuine Hombre. As a side note, about the same time they did a couple of shows about Elfego Baca, another SW lawman.

__________________
Keep Shootin' and check 6

The title of the book he wrote was "Harvest Home" and he also stared in the movie with Betty Davis. I had never heard about his colleagues objections before. Evidently he didn't pay a great deal of attention to them,

It was a very disturbing story and Betty Davis put some real evil in the movie. It demonstrates the potential problems one may encounter by moving into a tight knit little farming community in New England.

__________________
Real men love cats!

Its kinda embarassing to admit to but--i first learned of Texas John Slaughter--which was a Comic Book series. About 5 years after discovering the "Comic Book Character" I did a wee book report on him when I was in the 8th grade. He sure was a character--and IMO--in the exact same mold as Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett are made from.

If you ever get to Tombstone, the old Cochise County courthouse is now a museum. They have a display of some of John Slaughter's guns and other equipment he used whe he was the Sheriff of that county. Also there is a court document from when he was charged with some type of lower level firearms crime, I can't remember if it was for carrying a gun in town or what. It shows he paid a fine for his misdeed. A good book on his life is "The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter", by Allen Erwin. I bought a copy at theTombstone library while there on one of my annual rides several years ago. He was a complete western pioneer in every sense; cattleman, rancher, Sheriff, gunfighter, and a dedicated family man.

__________________
Tom
"Panem et Circenses"

[QUOTE=thomasinaz;138116546]If you ever get to Tombstone, the old Cochise County courthouse is now a museum. They have a display of some of John Slaughter's guns and other equipment he used whe he was the Sheriff of that county. Also there is a court document from when he was charged with some type of lower level firearms crime, I can't remember if it was for carrying a gun in town or what. It shows he paid a fine for his misdeed. A good book on his life is "The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter", by Allen Erwin. I bought a copy at theTombstone library while there on one of my annual rides several years ago. He was a complete western pioneer in every sense; cattleman, rancher, Sheriff, gunfighter, and a dedicated family man.[/QUOte}


Do you recall the guns? I think he wore a Colt SAA with 4.75-inch barrel and white handle on the Disney series. I think he wore a crossdraw holster. Does anyone recall if that's correct?

If I remember correctly, John Slaughter normally carried a shotgun and was not reluctant to use it. He was a tough, hard nosed character of the old west. Another cut from the same cloth as Charles Goodnight.
Butch

John Slaughter carried a pearl handled .44 ( undisclosed whether it was Colt or S&W ) and his favorite, a double- barrel 10 ga, sawed-off shotgun.

I read that he had many guns and much of them were given to him as gifts and he also gave away many guns to people as gifts. One of his favorites that he said was quite accurate, was a 45-85 Marlin lever action rifle.

There was a Single Action Army with what looked like a 5 1/2 inch barrel, and pearl type grips. The barrel was longer than the ejector shroud, by what looked like an inch or two. There was also a double barrel shotgun, probably a 10 ga, which had lots of age showing. His handcuffs were there also.

__________________
Tom
"Panem et Circenses"

Thanks for this and I sure will check into that book. Also, ive been to Tombstone--but that was circa 82-83? I remember a place kinda across the street from the Corral--was serving real Sarspirillas--I had two and made myself sick from all the sweetness in it.Was worth it though. :-))

Never had the cowboy soda pop.
There's a little restaurant up where Main Street circles back to the highway.
I did have a Chihuahua style taco there. It was made with a thick fried cornbread style of tortilla.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER