Paul Colt's Blog, page 48
September 17, 2016
Cowboy Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Quietly doing what’s needed is counter-cultural in our look-at-me, selfie-world of social media. OK you’re reading this on social media. Point taken. Guilty as charged. But we are still left with the question: What’s cool about doing what you are supposed to do if nobody notices?
People do notice what we do. It may not be under the bright light of media celebrity, but the people around you know what you do. In fact your actions say more about you than anything you could put into words. Your life is a body of work. It accumulates in something we call reputation. It’s what you are known for. It’s who you are as a person. It’s how you will be remembered; and in life’s final reckoning, it’s the only thing you get to take with you.
Throughout these posts we pose the question: Where do young people go to learn these values? Often we are left to suggest that it is up to us to make a little of the cowboy code rub off on the young by living the code ourselves. Said another way we set an example by what we do. We may not do it consciously, but maybe we should. Our actions do speak louder than words.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
4. Cowboys Respect Authority
5. Cowboy Actions Speak Louder Than Words
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
People do notice what we do. It may not be under the bright light of media celebrity, but the people around you know what you do. In fact your actions say more about you than anything you could put into words. Your life is a body of work. It accumulates in something we call reputation. It’s what you are known for. It’s who you are as a person. It’s how you will be remembered; and in life’s final reckoning, it’s the only thing you get to take with you.
Throughout these posts we pose the question: Where do young people go to learn these values? Often we are left to suggest that it is up to us to make a little of the cowboy code rub off on the young by living the code ourselves. Said another way we set an example by what we do. We may not do it consciously, but maybe we should. Our actions do speak louder than words.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
4. Cowboys Respect Authority
5. Cowboy Actions Speak Louder Than Words
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
September 10, 2016
Cowboys Respect Authority
Cowboys respect authority. Seems simple enough. Organized human activities generally place someone in charge. As I remember learning this as a kid, authority figures were easy to identify. Parents, teachers, pastors, scout leaders, coaches, the police, we experienced them all. We recognized political leaders and business leaders as authority figures even if we didn’t interact with them. They all set out expectations for us to follow. We were expected to do as we were told, because people in authority were deserving of respect and obedience. When we did as we were told, we were good. When we didn’t, we were rightfully in trouble. Then we grew-up.
Things seem more complicated today. Maybe it’s because we’re older and see things differently than we did as youngsters; or maybe some things have changed fundamentally. I don’t know which it is. All I know is that in this day and age it can be difficult to respect authority; either because we don’t agree with what that authority expects of us; or because the person in authority is somehow less deserving of our respect. I suspect it is some of all of the above.
If we struggle with balancing respect for legitimate authority in our lives as adults, how do we teach young people that value? We see individuals who stand for or symbolize authority all around us. Some are deserving of respect. Others are not. Culturally respect for authority is not something we celebrate. Respect for authority is the province of daily life, an expectation that largely goes unnoticed, unless some act of disrespect or disobedience draws attention to it.
Once again we find the need to ask; where do young people learn respect for authority? Who are the heroes who help us advance the value? Maybe we are left to make that bit of the cowboy code rub off on our young folks by teaching them the value at a young age. That starts with parents; but altogether too many of our young people find themselves in family situations where these values are challenged. That leaves it to all of us to set an example.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
4. Cowboys Respect Authority
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
Things seem more complicated today. Maybe it’s because we’re older and see things differently than we did as youngsters; or maybe some things have changed fundamentally. I don’t know which it is. All I know is that in this day and age it can be difficult to respect authority; either because we don’t agree with what that authority expects of us; or because the person in authority is somehow less deserving of our respect. I suspect it is some of all of the above.
If we struggle with balancing respect for legitimate authority in our lives as adults, how do we teach young people that value? We see individuals who stand for or symbolize authority all around us. Some are deserving of respect. Others are not. Culturally respect for authority is not something we celebrate. Respect for authority is the province of daily life, an expectation that largely goes unnoticed, unless some act of disrespect or disobedience draws attention to it.
Once again we find the need to ask; where do young people learn respect for authority? Who are the heroes who help us advance the value? Maybe we are left to make that bit of the cowboy code rub off on our young folks by teaching them the value at a young age. That starts with parents; but altogether too many of our young people find themselves in family situations where these values are challenged. That leaves it to all of us to set an example.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
4. Cowboys Respect Authority
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
September 3, 2016
Cowboys Play by the Rules
Today media and popular culture bombard us with examples of people looking out for number one. People trying to get an edge. Behaviors run the gamut from athletes using performance enhancing drugs, to inside-traders cheating the market on Wall Street, to fraudulent marketing scams or cheating on exams. Those who engage in these behaviors excuse them in the misguided belief: The end somehow justifies the means. The idea that a person is responsible for self-discipline in abiding by rules seems idealistic and naive. Rules are made to be broken. Fair play is for losers. Nice guys finish last.
Once again we find the need to ask; where do our young people learn the value of playing by the rules? Their heroes tend to be those society holds up to celebrity. Who are the heroes they are given to admire as persons of integrity? Maybe we should make sure a bit of the cowboy code rubs off on them by helping them find heroes whose integrity they can admire. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a coach. Maybe it’s you. Integrity is its own reward, if you practice it.
The first three values in my cowboy code describe a person of integrity. You can find people of integrity in our culture today; but you have to look for them. Few of them are stars or popular idols. Those who are enjoy their celebrity from some other achievement in athletics, entertainment or professional excellence. Integrity is incidental to celebrity. We don’t celebrate integrity in ordinary walks of life, it’s expected. When it comes to human behavior, reward something and you get more of it. Ignore something and it’s not important.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
Once again we find the need to ask; where do our young people learn the value of playing by the rules? Their heroes tend to be those society holds up to celebrity. Who are the heroes they are given to admire as persons of integrity? Maybe we should make sure a bit of the cowboy code rubs off on them by helping them find heroes whose integrity they can admire. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a coach. Maybe it’s you. Integrity is its own reward, if you practice it.
The first three values in my cowboy code describe a person of integrity. You can find people of integrity in our culture today; but you have to look for them. Few of them are stars or popular idols. Those who are enjoy their celebrity from some other achievement in athletics, entertainment or professional excellence. Integrity is incidental to celebrity. We don’t celebrate integrity in ordinary walks of life, it’s expected. When it comes to human behavior, reward something and you get more of it. Ignore something and it’s not important.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
3. Cowboys Play by the Rules
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
August 27, 2016
A Cowboy's Word is His Bond
A Cowboy’s word is a bond. Think about that in the context of today’s culture. How often do we look up to our idols, icons and leaders only to find they say one thing and do another? It is yet another form of cultural deceit. ‘I tell you what I think I should; or what I think you want to hear’; but that doesn’t necessarily translate into what I do. Until I get caught. If I get caught, I apologize, cry, blame somebody or something else, beg forgiveness, claim I made a mistake. The mistake of course is getting caught.
We see this sort of behavior time and again from celebrities, politicians, athletes and all manner of media figures. What are young people learning from idols, icons and leaders who engage in such behavior? Words don’t matter? Deceit and hypocrisy are acceptable as long as you get away with it? Where are the heroes who say what they mean and mean what they say? Where do we find stand-up role models who look you in the eye, shake your hand and give you a word you can take to the bank? Imagine a world with a little more of that. We’d all be better off . . . well maybe not trial lawyers.
Instinctively we still admire that brand of heroism we call trustworthiness when we encounter it. We just don’t encounter it as often as we once did. Neither do our young people. Where do they learn the value of making their word matter? Maybe we should let a bit of the cowboy code rub off on them by making our word a bond.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
We see this sort of behavior time and again from celebrities, politicians, athletes and all manner of media figures. What are young people learning from idols, icons and leaders who engage in such behavior? Words don’t matter? Deceit and hypocrisy are acceptable as long as you get away with it? Where are the heroes who say what they mean and mean what they say? Where do we find stand-up role models who look you in the eye, shake your hand and give you a word you can take to the bank? Imagine a world with a little more of that. We’d all be better off . . . well maybe not trial lawyers.
Instinctively we still admire that brand of heroism we call trustworthiness when we encounter it. We just don’t encounter it as often as we once did. Neither do our young people. Where do they learn the value of making their word matter? Maybe we should let a bit of the cowboy code rub off on them by making our word a bond.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us show it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth
2. A Cowboy’s Word is His Bond
RETURN TO FACEBOOK TO COMMENT
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
August 20, 2016
Cowboys Tell the Truth
Truthfulness is basic to honesty, yet we live in a society where truthfulness is often in short supply. We have institutionalized deceit in our culture. From the highest offices in the land to our mass media and social media, lying is an accepted form of discourse. If there is no penalty for lying what does that say about the value of honesty in our society? To an impressionable observer like a young person, it appears honesty is for suckers.
How are young people to learn the value of telling the truth when pop-culture, political correctness and ‘the-end-justifies-the-means’ ethics all condone parsing words, shading meaning, spinning wrongs, twisting truth and ignoring inconvenient fact? It starts with parents who expect kids to tell the truth and have the courage to expose deceit wherever they find it. That’s a tough assignment these days when so much of the society and mass media that inundate our kids is predicated on deceit.
It helps if kids have heroes and role-models who reinforce the value of honesty. For many of us who grew up in the fifties and sixties our heroes were cowboys. They practiced a code of conduct that became quintessentially American. We revered and respected heroes who stood for honorable values.
Who are the heroes our young people look up to today? Rock stars? Super star athletes? Cartoon characters? The video game actors under their thumbs? What code of conduct do these ‘role models’ stand for? Chances are when you catalog a kid’s heroes today, you won’t find a cowboy among them.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us find it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth.
COMMENT BELOW OR RETURN TO FACEBOOK
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
How are young people to learn the value of telling the truth when pop-culture, political correctness and ‘the-end-justifies-the-means’ ethics all condone parsing words, shading meaning, spinning wrongs, twisting truth and ignoring inconvenient fact? It starts with parents who expect kids to tell the truth and have the courage to expose deceit wherever they find it. That’s a tough assignment these days when so much of the society and mass media that inundate our kids is predicated on deceit.
It helps if kids have heroes and role-models who reinforce the value of honesty. For many of us who grew up in the fifties and sixties our heroes were cowboys. They practiced a code of conduct that became quintessentially American. We revered and respected heroes who stood for honorable values.
Who are the heroes our young people look up to today? Rock stars? Super star athletes? Cartoon characters? The video game actors under their thumbs? What code of conduct do these ‘role models’ stand for? Chances are when you catalog a kid’s heroes today, you won’t find a cowboy among them.
Popular culture comes and popular culture goes, but the cowboy way of doing things never goes out of style. There’s a little cowboy in all of us. The Cowboy Code helps us find it.
1. Cowboys Tell the Truth.
COMMENT BELOW OR RETURN TO FACEBOOK
Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
Paul https://www.flickr.com/photos/fiddler...
August 14, 2016
A Cowboy Code
The origin of this series is a talk I gave to the graduating class of a program for at-risk middle school kids. The program taught the kids life lessons built around learning equine skills and studying the Code of the West. The program director thought being a western writer qualified me to talk about the Cowboy Code. Little did she know . . . actually, little did I know. I thought I knew something about the Cowboy Code, so I agreed.
I started organizing my thoughts, as historical fiction writers do, with a little research. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there isn’t one Cowboy Code, there are lots of them. Like many of you, growing up my heroes rode horses. They had names like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lone Ranger and more. It turns out many of those heroes had their own version of the Cowboy Code. The more I looked, the more codes I found.
Each code comprised a list of ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. While they had similarities, they were all different. That bothered me at first. How can you have a different code for every cowboy and still call it a Cowboy Code? It had to be the similarities. The similarities must be the code individuals live, each in their own way.
Ten things also struck me as a lot. Surely you could summarize the common elements in the various lists into some more economical number than ten. I took six of the codes and lined them up side by side. The common elements in the six codes summarized into . . . ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. So much for economy. Moses ended up with ten too. I guess they’re all important.
The cowboy way of doing things offers all of us values we can use to navigate the cultural turbulence we live in today. You don’t have to be a cowboy to benefit from the Cowboy Code. Those who learn the code and live it find there’s a little cowboy in all of us. Cowboys aren’t defined by boots and hats, or horses and cattle. The things that make a cowboy come from the heart. With that in mind let’s use this next series of posts to look at the values that make up a cowboy way of doing things. If you’ve got a young person you’d like to share these musings with, feel free. They don’t have to be at-risk kids to benefit from positive life lessons.
TO COMMENT BELOW or Return to Facebook
Ride easy,
Paul
I started organizing my thoughts, as historical fiction writers do, with a little research. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there isn’t one Cowboy Code, there are lots of them. Like many of you, growing up my heroes rode horses. They had names like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lone Ranger and more. It turns out many of those heroes had their own version of the Cowboy Code. The more I looked, the more codes I found.
Each code comprised a list of ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. While they had similarities, they were all different. That bothered me at first. How can you have a different code for every cowboy and still call it a Cowboy Code? It had to be the similarities. The similarities must be the code individuals live, each in their own way.
Ten things also struck me as a lot. Surely you could summarize the common elements in the various lists into some more economical number than ten. I took six of the codes and lined them up side by side. The common elements in the six codes summarized into . . . ten things that make up a cowboy way of doing things. So much for economy. Moses ended up with ten too. I guess they’re all important.
The cowboy way of doing things offers all of us values we can use to navigate the cultural turbulence we live in today. You don’t have to be a cowboy to benefit from the Cowboy Code. Those who learn the code and live it find there’s a little cowboy in all of us. Cowboys aren’t defined by boots and hats, or horses and cattle. The things that make a cowboy come from the heart. With that in mind let’s use this next series of posts to look at the values that make up a cowboy way of doing things. If you’ve got a young person you’d like to share these musings with, feel free. They don’t have to be at-risk kids to benefit from positive life lessons.
TO COMMENT BELOW or Return to Facebook
Ride easy,
Paul
August 7, 2016
Champion's War
Nate Champion was one tough hombre as portrayed in the 2002 made-for-TV movie The Johnson County War. The cattle baron assassins barged into Champion’s small cabin in November 1891. They’d seriously misestimated Nate Champion. The erstwhile victim pulled a gun and shot the hired assassins into hasty retreat.
Law enforcement subsequently caught one of the cattle baron’s hired guns who identified other members of the group before two witnesses. Johnson County authorities filed attempted murder charges against the assassins. If so much as one of the hired guns talked, the cattle baron’s complicity would be exposed. In December, the two witnesses to the confession of the accused's identity were killed. If the big ranchers behind the Wyoming Cattle Growers Association thought that put an end to the matter, they once again misestimated Nate Champion.
By February 1892 Johnson County prosecutors had assembled a strong case against Wyoming Stock Growers Association Detective, Joe Elliot. Nate Champion was the star witness at Elliot’s preliminary hearing. The cattle barons knew if Elliot went to trial, their involvement would surely come out. They determined to put an end to the business once and for all.
By March, the Cattle Growers quietly assembled a small army of over fifty men including more than twenty professional gunmen. In April they left Cheyenne by private train bound for Casper Wyoming. At Casper they switched to horseback for the ride to Champion’s ranch. They surrounded the ranch April 9th and laid siege to it. Champion fought their superior force for hours. Finally his assailants set fire to the cabin. Champion made a run for it and was gunned down.
The raiders withdrew to the nearby T.A. Ranch. Word of Champion’s plight spread through the county. A large posse, eventually numbering several hundred surrounded the cattle baron forces. A standoff ensued that lasted three days.
Governor Amos Barber, a supporter of the Cattle Growers Association and fully apprised of the intended assault on Johnson County, prevailed on President Benjamin Harrison to call out the army. Soldiers from Fort McKinney relieved the cattle barons and their mercenaries. They were placed under the protective custody of Governor Amos Barber. Under the Governor’s protection none of the big ranchers or their minions ever came to trial.
In the end, money, political power and journalistic corruption overthrew justice to protect those criminally guilty of committing Johnson County War crimes. Sound familiar?
Ride easy,
Paul
Law enforcement subsequently caught one of the cattle baron’s hired guns who identified other members of the group before two witnesses. Johnson County authorities filed attempted murder charges against the assassins. If so much as one of the hired guns talked, the cattle baron’s complicity would be exposed. In December, the two witnesses to the confession of the accused's identity were killed. If the big ranchers behind the Wyoming Cattle Growers Association thought that put an end to the matter, they once again misestimated Nate Champion.
By February 1892 Johnson County prosecutors had assembled a strong case against Wyoming Stock Growers Association Detective, Joe Elliot. Nate Champion was the star witness at Elliot’s preliminary hearing. The cattle barons knew if Elliot went to trial, their involvement would surely come out. They determined to put an end to the business once and for all.
By March, the Cattle Growers quietly assembled a small army of over fifty men including more than twenty professional gunmen. In April they left Cheyenne by private train bound for Casper Wyoming. At Casper they switched to horseback for the ride to Champion’s ranch. They surrounded the ranch April 9th and laid siege to it. Champion fought their superior force for hours. Finally his assailants set fire to the cabin. Champion made a run for it and was gunned down.
The raiders withdrew to the nearby T.A. Ranch. Word of Champion’s plight spread through the county. A large posse, eventually numbering several hundred surrounded the cattle baron forces. A standoff ensued that lasted three days.
Governor Amos Barber, a supporter of the Cattle Growers Association and fully apprised of the intended assault on Johnson County, prevailed on President Benjamin Harrison to call out the army. Soldiers from Fort McKinney relieved the cattle barons and their mercenaries. They were placed under the protective custody of Governor Amos Barber. Under the Governor’s protection none of the big ranchers or their minions ever came to trial.
In the end, money, political power and journalistic corruption overthrew justice to protect those criminally guilty of committing Johnson County War crimes. Sound familiar?
Ride easy,
Paul
July 31, 2016
War in Johnson County
The Johnson County War was a classic range war between large cattle barons and small ranching interests. The big ranchers hired an army to settle their side of it. They could afford it. At the time Wyoming, Cheyenne in particular was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country based on the population of ‘Cattle-is-King’ millionaires. All that wealth explains why, like the Lincoln County War before it, the Johnson County War had deep dirty roots in politics, power and greed.
On the surface the war was a dispute between the cattle barons who made up the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and small rancher and homesteaders. The small ranchers and homesteaders rightfully carved their existence out of public land, land the cattle barons deemed to hold for their exclusive grazing rights.
The cattle business was highly lucrative as the nineteenth century turned its page to the 1880’s. The promise of wealth attracted capital to cattle ranching. Herds swelled in size, straining the grassland to support them and ultimately resulting in an overabundant beef supply. Prices fell. The big ranchers responded by stocking even bigger herds, compounding the problem. The cattle barons concluded there could be only one answer to their troubles. The small ranchers and homesteaders had to go.
With all their wealth and power it should come as no surprise the cattle barons controlled more than a few Wyoming newspapers as well as legislative interests in the state capital. The latter enacted a ‘maverick law’ declaring the Cattle Growers Association owner of all unbranded cattle and calves. Small ranchers and homesteaders who might claim a maverick or their own unbranded calves thus became rustlers. Stock Growers Association Detectives and local law enforcement were empowered to take it from there.
One little problem remained. The cases brought against those accused of ‘rustling’ tended to be baseless allegation, circumstantial and weak. Johnson County courts threw them out one after another. ‘Corruption’ news editors cried. Johnson County is run by rustlers with no interest in enforcing the law.
Unable to obtain their desired results behind a thin veneer of law, the cattle barons turned to more persuasive measures, converting stock detectives and former law enforcement officers into assassins. They soon made a target of Nate Champion, a feisty small rancher from Johnson County.
Next Week: Champion’s War
Ride easy,
Paul
On the surface the war was a dispute between the cattle barons who made up the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and small rancher and homesteaders. The small ranchers and homesteaders rightfully carved their existence out of public land, land the cattle barons deemed to hold for their exclusive grazing rights.
The cattle business was highly lucrative as the nineteenth century turned its page to the 1880’s. The promise of wealth attracted capital to cattle ranching. Herds swelled in size, straining the grassland to support them and ultimately resulting in an overabundant beef supply. Prices fell. The big ranchers responded by stocking even bigger herds, compounding the problem. The cattle barons concluded there could be only one answer to their troubles. The small ranchers and homesteaders had to go.
With all their wealth and power it should come as no surprise the cattle barons controlled more than a few Wyoming newspapers as well as legislative interests in the state capital. The latter enacted a ‘maverick law’ declaring the Cattle Growers Association owner of all unbranded cattle and calves. Small ranchers and homesteaders who might claim a maverick or their own unbranded calves thus became rustlers. Stock Growers Association Detectives and local law enforcement were empowered to take it from there.
One little problem remained. The cases brought against those accused of ‘rustling’ tended to be baseless allegation, circumstantial and weak. Johnson County courts threw them out one after another. ‘Corruption’ news editors cried. Johnson County is run by rustlers with no interest in enforcing the law.
Unable to obtain their desired results behind a thin veneer of law, the cattle barons turned to more persuasive measures, converting stock detectives and former law enforcement officers into assassins. They soon made a target of Nate Champion, a feisty small rancher from Johnson County.
Next Week: Champion’s War
Ride easy,
Paul
July 26, 2016
Pleasant Valley War
Near as I can tell, the Pleasant Valley War comes with the least notoriety of the major conflicts. I sort of stumbled on a reference to it and did a little curiosity research. Like the other 19th century western wars the Pleasant Valley war was anything but pleasant. It was part family feud, part cowman-sheep herder range war and part gang war between rival rustling factions. It went on for the best part of a decade between 1882 and 1892 with dead bodies strewn across the foothills of the White Mountains in Arizona.
It all started as a property dispute over water and grazing rights between cattlemen and sheep herders. The cattle ranching Graham family took offense to the presence of sheep on public grazing land. The Tewksbury clan, cattle ranchers themselves, sided with the sheep men over a longstanding dispute with the Grahams thought to involve charges of rustling.
Things turned ugly in early 1887 when Tom Graham killed a sheep herder tending a flock in territory forbidden to sheep. The killing touched off a tit for tat shooting spree that ultimately left nineteen confirmed dead and many more unconfirmed.
In August, 1887 Ed Tewksbury gunned down William Graham. Graham lived long enough to name his assailant. In reprisal the Graham clan, bolstered by members of the Blevins family attacked the Tewksbury family cabin, killing John Tewksbury and a family friend.
Where you might ask was law enforcement while all this going on? As is often true in old western wars law enforcement played a part on one side or the other. Following the Tewksbury cabin shoot out, Holbrook Arizona Sheriff, Commodore Perry Owens tracked suspected shooter Andy Blevins to his family cabin in September. Owens, a competent gun hand called the boys out. They elected to make fight of it, resulting in the deaths of Andy Blevins, fifteen year old brother Sam and family friend Mose Roberts. Brother John, though wounded, survived to fight yet another day.
Later that month a posse led by Prescott Sheriff William Mulvenon that included Tewksbury partisans, caught up with John Graham, his brother Tom and Charles Blevins. Not surprisingly the encounter turned into a shootout, killing John Graham and Blevins. Tom Graham managed to escape. The Pleasant Valley war ended when Tom Graham was killed in 1892. He identified his murder as Ed Tewksbury. Tewksbury was tried for murder; but walked on a procedural technicality. When all the gun smoke cleared you might ask what was accomplished by so much violence and bloodshed. Not much. They just ran out of combatants.
Next week: War in Johnson County
Ride easy,
Paul
It all started as a property dispute over water and grazing rights between cattlemen and sheep herders. The cattle ranching Graham family took offense to the presence of sheep on public grazing land. The Tewksbury clan, cattle ranchers themselves, sided with the sheep men over a longstanding dispute with the Grahams thought to involve charges of rustling.
Things turned ugly in early 1887 when Tom Graham killed a sheep herder tending a flock in territory forbidden to sheep. The killing touched off a tit for tat shooting spree that ultimately left nineteen confirmed dead and many more unconfirmed.
In August, 1887 Ed Tewksbury gunned down William Graham. Graham lived long enough to name his assailant. In reprisal the Graham clan, bolstered by members of the Blevins family attacked the Tewksbury family cabin, killing John Tewksbury and a family friend.
Where you might ask was law enforcement while all this going on? As is often true in old western wars law enforcement played a part on one side or the other. Following the Tewksbury cabin shoot out, Holbrook Arizona Sheriff, Commodore Perry Owens tracked suspected shooter Andy Blevins to his family cabin in September. Owens, a competent gun hand called the boys out. They elected to make fight of it, resulting in the deaths of Andy Blevins, fifteen year old brother Sam and family friend Mose Roberts. Brother John, though wounded, survived to fight yet another day.
Later that month a posse led by Prescott Sheriff William Mulvenon that included Tewksbury partisans, caught up with John Graham, his brother Tom and Charles Blevins. Not surprisingly the encounter turned into a shootout, killing John Graham and Blevins. Tom Graham managed to escape. The Pleasant Valley war ended when Tom Graham was killed in 1892. He identified his murder as Ed Tewksbury. Tewksbury was tried for murder; but walked on a procedural technicality. When all the gun smoke cleared you might ask what was accomplished by so much violence and bloodshed. Not much. They just ran out of combatants.
Next week: War in Johnson County
Ride easy,
Paul
July 17, 2016
War in Lincoln
By 1878 the lines were drawn. The Tunstall, McSween and Chisum faction stood in opposition to Dolan, his Seven Rivers rustlers and his powerful political allies in Santa Fe. Tunstall’s mercantile and bank combination threw the House into a desperate cash crunch. Dolan had a belly full of the uppity Englishman.
Tunstall bought the Flying H ranch as a land speculation in partial settlement of the former owner’s estate. He set up a small business raising horses to cover the carrying cost of the ranch. Dolan saw his opportunity. He dredged up (or manufactured) an old debt of the former owner and with the help of friends in Santa Fe, turned it into a court ordered lien on Tunstall’s Flying H stock. The lien wasn’t so much about the alleged debt or the stock, it was about serving the lien. Sheriff Brady dutifully served notice informing Tunstall he must turn over his stock until the debt could be satisfied. The Englishman was outraged.
Anticipating trouble with the Dolan faction, Tunstall and Chisum had taken the precaution of hiring a small force of competent gunmen. Tunstall rode out to his ranch and ordered his men to hide the horse herd. Sheriff Brady in turn deputized a posse of sordid reputations to round up the Flying H stock. The posse came upon Tunstall and his men with the herd. As expected by Dolan and Brady, a gun fight broke out in which Tunstall was killed. McSween, Chisum and their so called Regulators, declared it murder. Among the gunmen in the employ of John Tunstall was one William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid. Out of affection for Tunstall, the Kid vowed to kill every last man responsible for his murder. The war was on.
By various legal maneuvers, both sides armed themselves with law enforcement credentials of overlapping jurisdiction. As a result the war began with the opposing sides each claiming to represent legitimate law enforcement authority. The Regulators including the Kid favored a brand of law enforcement with fewer arrests than dead bodies. When they gunned down Sheriff Brady and one of his deputies while attempting to ‘arrest’ a third deputy, Dolan found himself on the losing end of the war.
Emboldened by success, the Regulators sought a showdown to end the war. They rode into Lincoln and occupied the McSween Home and the former Tunstall store. Dolan called in what remained of his men to a stand-off and turned to Santa Fe. The territorial governor requested military support to put down an insurrection in Lincoln. Cavalry supported by artillery laid siege to the McSween home and Tunstall store. The battle for Lincoln lasted five days. It ended in McSween’s death in a defeat that launched Billy the Kid’s outlaw career.
Next week: Pleasant Valley War
Ride easy,
Paul
Tunstall bought the Flying H ranch as a land speculation in partial settlement of the former owner’s estate. He set up a small business raising horses to cover the carrying cost of the ranch. Dolan saw his opportunity. He dredged up (or manufactured) an old debt of the former owner and with the help of friends in Santa Fe, turned it into a court ordered lien on Tunstall’s Flying H stock. The lien wasn’t so much about the alleged debt or the stock, it was about serving the lien. Sheriff Brady dutifully served notice informing Tunstall he must turn over his stock until the debt could be satisfied. The Englishman was outraged.
Anticipating trouble with the Dolan faction, Tunstall and Chisum had taken the precaution of hiring a small force of competent gunmen. Tunstall rode out to his ranch and ordered his men to hide the horse herd. Sheriff Brady in turn deputized a posse of sordid reputations to round up the Flying H stock. The posse came upon Tunstall and his men with the herd. As expected by Dolan and Brady, a gun fight broke out in which Tunstall was killed. McSween, Chisum and their so called Regulators, declared it murder. Among the gunmen in the employ of John Tunstall was one William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid. Out of affection for Tunstall, the Kid vowed to kill every last man responsible for his murder. The war was on.
By various legal maneuvers, both sides armed themselves with law enforcement credentials of overlapping jurisdiction. As a result the war began with the opposing sides each claiming to represent legitimate law enforcement authority. The Regulators including the Kid favored a brand of law enforcement with fewer arrests than dead bodies. When they gunned down Sheriff Brady and one of his deputies while attempting to ‘arrest’ a third deputy, Dolan found himself on the losing end of the war.
Emboldened by success, the Regulators sought a showdown to end the war. They rode into Lincoln and occupied the McSween Home and the former Tunstall store. Dolan called in what remained of his men to a stand-off and turned to Santa Fe. The territorial governor requested military support to put down an insurrection in Lincoln. Cavalry supported by artillery laid siege to the McSween home and Tunstall store. The battle for Lincoln lasted five days. It ended in McSween’s death in a defeat that launched Billy the Kid’s outlaw career.
Next week: Pleasant Valley War
Ride easy,
Paul
