Wild West Outlaws and Lawmen

John Ringo

Better known as Johnny Ringo, John Peters Ringo (May 3, 1850–July 13, 1882),  was a cowboy who became a legend mostly because of his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona. Ringo was occasionally erroneously referred to as "Ringgold" by the newspapers of the day, but this was clearly not his name, and there is no evidence that he deliberately used it.

The Clanton Gang was known commonly as "the cow-boys" around Tombstone, and Ringo himself was called "the King of the Cowboys".  However, there is no record that he ever actually had a single gunfight (he did shoot several unarmed men). Even his violent death may have been at his own hand.

Ringo was born in Greensfork, Indiana.  His family then moved from Wayne County, Indiana to Liberty, Missouri in 1856. He was a contemporary of Frank and Jesse James who lived nearby in Kearney, Missouri and a cousin of Cole Younger.


In 1858 the family moved to Gallatin, Missouri where they rented property from the father of John W. Sheets, who was to be the first "official" victim of the James Gang when they robbed the Davis County Savings Association in 1869.

On July 30, 1864, while the Ringo lost his father Martin to a horrible shotgun accident as the family traveled through Wyoming on their way to moving to California.  The family buried Martin on a hillside alongside the trail.

Author Louis L'Amour described John Ringo not as a "bad" man", but instead a surly, bad-tempered one who was worse when he was drinking.  He said his main claim to fame was shooting an unarmed man in an Arizona Territory saloon in 1879.

Mason County
By the mid-1870s, Ringo had migrated from San Jose, California to central Texas area around Mason County.  Here he befriended an ex-Texas Ranger named Scott Cooley, who was the adopted son of a local rancher named Tim Williamson. For years, relations between the American and German residents of the area had been tense as an extension of the Civil War.   Back then, most Americans supported the Confederates while the Germans were Union loyalists.

Trouble started when two American rustlers, Elijah and Pete Backus, were dragged from the Mason jail and lynched by a predominantly German mob. Full-blown war began on May 13, 1875, when Tim Williamson was arrested by a hostile posse and murdered by a German farmer named Peter Bader. Cooley and his friends, including Johnny Ringo, conducted a terror campaign against their rivals. Officially called the "Mason County War", locally it was called the "Hoodoo War". Cooley retaliated by killing the local German deputy sheriff, John Worley, by shooting him, scalping him, and tossing his body down a well on August 10, 1875.

After the killing of Cooley adherent Mose Beard, Ringo committed his first murder of note on September 25, 1875, when he shot down the man who lured Beard to his death, a man named James Cheyney, while he was washing his hands. Soon after this, Ringo and Scott Cooley mistook Charley Bader for his brother Pete and killed him. Jailed in Burnet, Texas, both men were broken out by their friends.

By November 1876, the Mason County War had petered out after costing a dozen or so lives, Scott Cooley was dead, and Johnny Ringo and his pal George Gladden were locked up once again. One of Ringo's cellmates was notorious killer John Wesley Hardin. Legend has it that Wes Hardin feared Ringo, due to Ringo's ruthlessness and unpredictable temper. While Gladden was sentenced to 99 years, Ringo appears to have been acquitted. Two years later, Ringo was noted as being a constable in Loyal Valley, Texas. Soon after this, he appeared in Arizona for the first time.

Tombstone
Ringo first turned up around Cochise County, Arizona in 1879 along with his friend Joe Hill, a comrade-in-arms from the Mason County War. For the most part, Johnny Ringo kept to himself, only mingling with the local outlaw element when it suited him. In December 1879, an intoxicated Ringo tried to kill Louis Hancock in a Safford, Arizona saloon when he refused a drink. Hancock survived his wound.

While in and around Tombstone, Arizona, Ringo mostly kept his mouth shut while others walked in fear of him. He probably participated in robberies and killings with the "cowboy" element, and rumor credited him with a high position in the outlaw chain of command, perhaps second only to Curly Bill Brocius.

Johnny Ringo did not openly confront the Earp faction until January 17, 1882, less than three months after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Ringo and Doc Holliday had a public disagreement that may have led to a gunfight. However, before the fight could happen, both were arrested by Tombstone chief of police James Flynn, and hauled before a judge for carrying weapons in town, and both were fined. This interruption of the quarrel was doubtless to the benefit of Ringo, who was merely a mean drunk, while Holliday was a genuinely dangerous man, both sober and drunk.

Two months later, Ringo was suspected by the Earps of taking part in the murder of Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882. Johnny Ringo was deputized by John Behan to apprehend the Earps at the beginning of the Earp Vendetta Ride. Within months, Ringo's best friends were dead or chased out of the area; many of them killed in the vendetta. However, by mid-April the Earps and their friends had apparently left the area, and fled to Colorado.

On July 14, 1882, Johnny Ringo was found dead at the bottom of a large tree in West Turkey Creek Valley with a bullet hole in his right temple and an exit at the back of his head. His body had apparently been there overnight since the previous day (when a shot had been heard from the general area by a country resident), and his boots were found tied to the saddle of his horse, which was captured two miles away. A coroner's inquest officially ruled his death a suicide.

Johnny Ringo is buried near the same spot where his body was found, on the West Turkey Creek Canyon, near the base of the tree in which he was found, which still grows. The grave is located on private land presently, and permission is needed to view the site.

Theories of Ringo's Death

---- Ringo killed himself. Tombstone was declining and many of his friends and way-of-life were gone.  He was depressed by the recent deaths of his outlaw friends and rejection by some family members.  After a period of binge drinking, Ringo was preparing to camp in an isolated spot, far from the city. He tied his boots to his saddle, a common practice in Arizona to keep the scorpions out of them, but the horse managed to get loose from his picket and run off. Ringo tied pieces of his undershirt to his feet to protect them (these were found on his body and noted by the inquest), and crawled into the fork of a large tree to spend the night. As evening came on, despondent over his overall state, now in Apache country without horse, fire, drink, or even boots -- Ringo shot himself. The single shot was heard by a resident down the valley. Ringo's revolver, one round expended, was found hanging from a finger of his hand, the next day.

---- Wyatt Earp killed Ringo. Wyatt and Doc returned to Arizona and met up with some friends (Charlie Smith, Johnny Green, Fred Dodge, John Meagher, and possibly Lou Cooley) at Hooker's Ranch. They found Ringo camped about three miles from where he was found. Ringo grabbed his guns and ran up the canyon. He shot at the posse once, and then Wyatt shot him through the head with a rifle.

---- Lou Cooley killed Ringo. Same story as above, only Cooley fired the fatal shot.

---- Doc Holliday killed Ringo. Ringo and Wyatt Earp were supposed to duel one day. Doc stepped in for his friend Wyatt, because he hated Ringo with a passion and shot him through the head. This theory has been popularized by the movie "Tombstone". Doc, however, was fighting a court case in Colorado at the time of Ringo's death, though records are unclear as to exactly where he was physically on the day Ringo was found dead.

---- Buckskin Frank Leslie killed Ringo. Leslie found Ringo drunk and asleep at a tree. Hoping to curry a favor with Earp supporters in office, he shot Ringo through the head. Billy Claiborne believed Leslie killed Ringo and ended up shooting it out with him. Claiborne was shot through the right side, the bullet exiting out his back, and died hours later. His last words were supposedly "Frank Leslie killed John Ringo. I saw him do it."

---- Johnny O'Rourke killed Ringo. O'Rourke was in debt to Wyatt Earp for saving him from the lynch mob. Ringo was supposedly the ringleader of the mob. O'Rourke crept up and shot Ringo through the head. Ringo's friend Pony Deal believed O'Rourke had killed him, and he killed O'Rourke shortly afterward.

Westward Expansion Daily Life on the Frontier History >> Westward Expansion The daily life of people living on the frontier was filled with hard work and difficulties. Once a farmer cleared the land, built a cabin and a barn, and planted his crops, he still had a lot of chores that needed to be done each day. In order to survive, the entire family needed to work. Each day, the settlers would wake up with the sunlight and work until sundown. Homesteader NE 1866 by Unknown Hard Work One of the first things a farmer needed to do was to build a barn and a cabin. The barn was important to keep the animals safe from wolves and other predators and also to store farming tools and grain. Typically the barn and the cabin were made from logs in a fashion that didn't need any nails. Planting the seed on a big farm took a lot of work. First the farmer would need to plow up the field with a large plow pulled by a horse or oxen. Next, he would scatter the seed throughout the field, and finally he would use the oxen to drag dirt over the tops of the seeds. Frontier Women Women had their jobs and worked hard too. In many cases they helped the farmer in the fields during planting and harvesting times. Other tasks often included: Making soap from lye, water, and ashes from the fireplace Spinning wool into yarn or flax into thread Tending a garden so the family had a variety of vegetables Sewing and repairing the family's clothes Children's Chores As soon as the children could help, they were put to work, even children as young as four or five years old. They helped by getting water from the nearby stream, watching the fire to make sure it didn't go out, keeping the chickens and the cows from eating the crops, milking the dairy cow in the morning, and churning cream into butter. When children grew older they took on more difficult tasks. Older boys often worked the farm or chopped wood. Older daughters often helped to care for their younger siblings. Education Some settler children went to a local one-room schoolhouse. Usually they had only one teacher that taught all of the grades. They learned the basics such as reading, writing, math, spelling, and history. When writing, they used slates instead of paper. Slates were like small chalkboards they could hold in their hands. The children usually went to school in the winter and summer, but stayed home to help on the farm during the planting and harvesting seasons of spring and autumn. Entertainment Although the pioneers worked most of the time, they would occasionally get together for a dance or a picnic. Sometimes people would gather together to help with a big job such as building a neighbor's barn. Once the barn was finished they would have a dance. They played fiddles and accordions for music. Children had fun playing games outdoors and swimming. They didn't get a lot of store bought toys so they had to make their own. Girls would learn to practice their sewing by making their own dolls to play with. Bad Weather The life of a pioneer was heavily dependent upon the weather. A drought could kill the crops and wipe out an entire year's worth of work. Wildfires could be even worse as they could destroy everything including the settler's crops, barn, and home. As if that wasn't enough, settlers had to worry about insects eating their crops and tornados destroying their homes. It wasn't an easy life. Interesting Facts about Daily Life on the Frontier In 1837, John Deere invented the steel plow. This plow could cut right through thick soil without the dirt sticking to it. It made life much easier on pioneer farmers. Native Americans often helped the settlers, teaching them how to plant crops and about the local herbs they could use for medicine. Settlers didn't have running water or bathrooms. They had outhouses where they used leaves or dried cornhusks for toilet paper. In the southwest, many settlers made homes from adobe bricks like the Native Americans. In areas of the Great Plains where trees were scarce, they made sod homes from blocks of dirt and grass.

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American West Cowboys History >> Westward Expansion Arizona Cowboy by Frederic Remington Cowboys played an important role in the settling of the west. Ranching was a big industry and cowboys helped to run the ranches. They herded cattle, repaired fences and buildings, and took care of the horses. The Cattle Drive Cowboys often worked on cattle drives. This was when a large herd of cattle was moved from the ranch to a market place where they could be sold. A lot of the original cattle drives went from Texas to the railroads in Kansas. Cattle drives were tough work. Cowboys would get up early in the morning and "guide" the herd to the next stopping point for the night. The senior riders got to be at the front of the herd. The junior cowboys had to stay at the back where it was dusty from the large herd. There were usually around a dozen cowboys for a good size herd of 3000 cattle. There was also a trail boss, camp cook, and wrangler. The wrangler was usually a junior cowboy who kept track of the extra horses. The Roundup Each spring and fall the cowboys would work on the "roundup". This was when the cowboys would bring in all the cattle from the open range. Cattle would roam freely much of the year and then the cowboys would need to bring them in. In order to tell what cattle belonged to their ranch, the cattle would have a special mark burned into them called a "brand". Cowboys on a cattle drive Cowboy Herding Cattle from the National Park Service Horse and Saddle The most important possession of any cowboy was his horse and saddle. The saddles were often custom made and, next to his horse, was probably the most valuable item a cowboy owned. Horses were so important that horse stealing was considered a hanging offense! Clothing Cowboys wore special clothing that helped them with their jobs. They wore large 10-gallon hats to protect them from the sun and the rain. They wore special cowboy boots with pointed toes that helped them to slip in and out of the stirrups when riding a horse. This was especially important if they fell so they wouldn't get dragged by their horse. Many cowboys wore chaps on the outsides of their legs to help protect from sharp bushes and cacti that their horse may rub up against. Another important piece of clothing was the bandana which could be used to protect them from the dust kicked up by cattle. Cowboy Code The cowboys of the Old West had an unwritten code that they lived by. The code included such rules as being courteous, always saying "howdy", don't wave at a man on a horse (you should nod), never ride another man's horse without his permission, always help someone in need, and never put on another man's hat. Rodeo The rodeo became a sports competition with events based around the daily jobs of a cowboy. Events include calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding, bareback bronco riding, and barrel racing. Interesting Facts about Cowboys When living on a ranch, cowboys lived in a bunkhouse with a lot of other cowboys. Cowboys often sang songs at night for entertainment and to soothe the cattle. Some of the songs they sang included "In the Sweet By and By" and "The Texas Lullaby". Other names for cowboys include cowpunchers, cowpokes, buckaroos, and cowhands. A new person to the Old West was called a tenderfoot, pilgrim, or greenhorn. The harmonica was a popular musical instrument to cowboys because it is so small and easy to carry. The average cowboy in the Old West made between $25 and $40 a month.

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