The Big Fight - True West Magazine
Once Texas Rangers authorized by the state government to rid the Canadian River Valley of cattle rustling, and led by the killer of Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, by 1886 the cowboys of the local LS Ranch are considered by the Tascosa locals as just another batch of "barroom gladiators," troublemakers that like to drink, brawl, and are quick to slap leather when not given their proper due from a group of small ranchers and rustlers known as "The Syndicate." One of the most troublesome LS riders is a cowboy named Ed King, and when he begins courting a Dunn & Jenkins Saloon girl named Sally Emory that has recently broken up with Syndicate member, bartender Lamar Albert "Lem" Woodruff a fuse is lit that will result in multiple deaths. Not leaving the situation alone, in the days preceding the weekend's regularly scheduled town dance, King and buddies from the LS Ranch make a point of taunting Oldham, calling the man "Pretty Lem," forcing Oldham to call King "Daddy," and even slapping the bartender in the face.
Drinking In Tascosa
Two in the morning wild, tiring of the dance, Ed King, King's buddy, John Gottlieb Lang, and two other LS cowboys, Frank Valley and Fred Chilton, grab their mounts and ride off to have a drink at the Equity Bar. Passing the Exchange Hotel on their way to the Equity, just off her shift at Dunn & Jenkins, Sally Emory calls out to King, who dismounts and with his girlfriend now in tow, heads up the street to Sally's place as Valley and Chilton hand the reins of their mounts to Lang to tie-up (along with King's horse) as the men enter the Equity. Seconds later the street explodes with violence as King and Emory approach Dunn & Jenkins on the southeast corner of Tascosa's plaza. "Ed King," a voice calls out from the darkness of the saloon, and as the cowboy turns to see who has hailed him, he is shot in the face by a "Syndicate" gunman. Crashing to the ground with blood streaming out of his mouth as Sally runs home at full speed, Woodruff comes out of the saloon, puts a Winchester against King's neck and pulls the trigger before retreating back into the bar. The murder of his friend witnessed from just up the street, Lang rushes into the Equity and calls out to Chilton and Valley, "Boys, they've killed Ed! Come on!" Declaration heard, the two cowboys join Lang and sprint across the street to a cramped yard behind the Dunn & Jenkins saloon (inside, along with Woodruff, are "Syndicate" leader, Jesse Jenkins, and gunmen "Squirrel-Eye" Charlie Emory, "Poker" Tom Emory, John "The Catfish Kid" Gough, and Louis "The Animal" Bousman) where a number of men are in the process of exiting the drinking establishment.
Lang
Guns blazing, Valley begins firing on the men with both of his revolvers, scoring two hits on Woodruff (one to the killer bartender's belly and one to his groin that put Woodruff on the ground where he kicks shut the backdoor to the saloon) and one that takes a chunk of flesh out of Charlie Emory's leg. His gunfire however makes him target #1 for the saloon shooters, and after Valley puts several shots through the now closed door, he follows his rounds into the saloon and is greeted with a lethal rifle round to the head through his left eye. At almost the same moment, the next door owner of the North Star restaurant, Jesse Sheets (spending a late night at his business to keep an eye on an employee he believes is robbing him), pokes his head out of his establishment to see what all the nearby ruckus is about. A big mistake with so much lead flying about, targeting movement, Chilton puts a fatal rifle round in Sheets' face, and a second later he is killed from a slug to the chest that comes from someone shooting from behind a woodpile behind the saloon. Dying, he hands his pistol to Lang who continues the fight as he retreats down Spring Street with bullets striking all around him as he makes for the Equity Bar, where he finds reinforcements in the form of Sheriff James East and his deputy, Charlie Pierce. Reversing direction, the trio head back towards the Dunn & Jenkins saloon, where they fire on a shadowy figure they drop into the wood pile to much groaning and choking, "The Catfish Kid." Fight over, as the men police the saloon carnage, "The Catfish Kid" crawls quietly off into Tascosa's darkness, having successfully faked being hit during the gun battle.
Lawman East
Four dead and two men seriously wounded in a short matter of minutes, in the aftermath of the shootout 50 LS cowboys "volunteer" to ride into town and burn Tascosa down while killing every "Syndicate" gunman they can find, but they are dissuaded from their plans for retribution by the ranch's foreman, Jordan McAllister, and its owner, William McDole "Alphabet" Lee, and East keeping on eye on things while closing down all the saloons in town. Bodies all buried the next day in the town's Boot Hill (aghast that her husband might be buried next two one of his killers, Sarah Sheets has her husband buried in a different part of the cemetery, before reburying the unlucky restaurateur in Roswell, New Mexico in 1928), the three dead LS cowboys all go into the ground beneath markers that read "Ill met by the Moonlight." Trying to find out "who had kicked the lid off Hell," local Justice of the Peace, Edwin C. Godwin-Austin assembles a coroner's jury that brings murder charges against Woodruff (who is not expected to live, but does), Bousman, Charlie Emory, and "The Catfish Kid." The men's first trial ends in a hung jury, while the second is even better for the men of the Syndicate," with all the combatants acquitted of the charges they are facing (after another Tascosa killing, "The Catfish Kid will die in prison in 1890, Charlie Emory will pass away in 1897, his brother Tom leaves in 1914, Woodruff moves to Hot Springs, Arkansas and dies there in 1902, and Louis "The Animal" lives in Oklahoma until passing in 1942)
The Dead LS Cowboys - King, Valley & Chilton
Suffering only a hole through his coat sleeve despite the numerous bullets sent his way, Lang goes on from the gunfight to become the Town Sheriff of Amarillo before moving to Oregon to be with his family. With Oregon as his base, Lang participates in Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, then as an Oregon volunteer (Company E of the Oregon Volunteers), in 1898, he is off to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War (where he takes part in actions at Tondo, Malolos, and Malobon). War over, he returns to Oregon and opens up a wood cabin saloon, runs the Haines Hotel and Livery Stable, marries Ella Stiltz in 1914, and as a Democrat, represents his district in the state legislature, spends time as the mayor of Haines in 1935, and owns a gold mine named the Western Union in the town of Rock Creek. Wanderlust never quite cured despite his life successes, he continues to prospect for gold at various times from 1900 to 1930. He dies in Haines on April 4, 1942 at the age of 80 and is buried beside his wife in the town cemetery.
Lang
As for Tascosa, while there will be more violent flareups for the town, it's fate is sealed when the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad decides to bypass the wild city and a number of local cattle ranches go bankrupt during the "Big Die-up" cattle killing blizzards of 1886-1887. Once the capital of ten Texas Panhandle counties, the place is now a ghost town of dust, wind, and a few ruined stone and adobe buildings.
Tascosa
Gunfight - True West Illustration
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