THE GOOD:
Tom Smith
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| Marshall Tom Smith |
People imagine the Old West was a free-for-all when it came to
guns, but towns like Abilene, Kansas had extremely strict rules regarding
firearms. And the man who enforced these laws was Marshal Tom Smith. Legend
says he was involved in the accidental death of a teen, turned in his
badge and headed west. During his travels, Smith cleaned up towns like Kit
Carson, Colorado and Bear River City, Wyoming, but he really came to fame when
he showed up in Abilene.
The town was full of rowdy Texas
cowboys who enjoyed games like “Harass the Citizen” and “Burn Down the Jail.”
Wanting to curb these cattle-punching criminals, Abilene officials hired
Smith and let him loose on the cowpokes.
Astride his horse
Silverheels, Smith enforced the town’s most unpopular law: No guns inside
city limits. Quite a few people were upset with this regulation, and on two
separate occasions, burly cowboys challenged Marshall Smith to take
their pistols. Smith was only too happy to oblige. When pistol-packing thugs
got tough, Smith just knocked them out cold.
Despite his pugilistic prowess,
Smith couldn’t box his way out of every situation. On November 2, 1870, he
armed himself and went after wanted murderer Andrew McConnell. When he showed
up at McConnell’s house, the suspect shot the marshal in the chest. As Smith
fired back, another crook named Moses Miles rushed Smith and almost completely
decapitated him with an axe.
The killers were caught and sent
to prison. Smith was buried in the local cemetery, leaving the town without a
lawman—until a man named Wild Bill Hickock rode into town.
THE BAD:
Orrin Porter Rockwell
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| Orrin Porter Rockwell |
They called him the "Destroying Angel" and said he
murdered 100 men. His real name was Orrin Porter Rockwell, and while the body
count was probably lower, the man definitely knew how to fill a few graves.
Born in Massachusetts, Rockwell wound up in Missouri where he became one of the
first Mormon converts and founder Joseph Smith’s personal bodyguard. Rockwell
was what you might call a “prayer warrior,” and when Gov. Lilburn Boggs ordered
all Mormons out of Missouri, Rockwell allegedly tried to show him the light—the
one at the end of the tunnel.
Rockwell
was jailed for his attempted “evangelism” but was released after a year behind
bars. As soon as his boots stepped on free soil, he hightailed it to Nauvoo,
Illinois, where things took a Biblical turn. Like a scene ripped out of the Old
Testament, Joseph Smith gave Rockwell a special blessing, claiming no one could
harm the gunman so long as he never cut his hair. Just like Samson, this
Latter-day Saint disobeyed his boss—but only once, supposedly to fashion his
fur into a wig for a woman who’d lost her hair.
While
Rockwell had a soft side, he wasn’t afraid to kill in the name of the Lord.
After Smith’s arrest and assassination in 1844, Rockwell took revenge on Frank
Worrell, the militiaman who was supposed to guard the prophet. And when Brigham
Young moved the church to Salt Lake City, Rockwell was appointed the town’s
marshal.
In 1857,
President James Buchannan tried to forcibly replace Young as Utah’s governor
with a non-Mormon. Infuriated, American Moses ordered Rockwell to torment
incoming troops. Rockwell killed two men who were trying to supply them.
Strangely, it took 20 years for anyone to charge the gunman, but by then, it
didn’t matter. The Destroying Angel died an old man in his bed.
THE STRANGE:
Ned Christie
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| Ned Christie |
People said Ned Christie was a shapeshifter, able to morph into an owl or hog when enemies
approached. That would’ve been a good trick, since Ned Christie had a lot of
enemies. For five years, this giant fought the best lawmen in the Indian
Territory, and each time, he outwitted, outgunned, or outran his foes.
His life
as a fugitive started in 1887 when Deputy US Marshal Dan Maples was gunned
down. Authorities arrested a man who claimed Christie was the killer. Ned was a member of the Cherokee
National Council and had been in town on tribal business when Maples was shot.
When he learned he was a suspect, Christie refused to turn himself in.
He
skipped town and hunkered down inside his home. With friends and relatives
acting as sentries, the Cherokee held off lawman after lawman, including the
legendary Bass Reeves, until
1889, when they set his cabin on fire.
Though
the flames blinded his right eye, Christie
escaped into the hills, where he built his Cherokee castle. It was a fort
inside a heavy wooden wall with sand filling the gap. And for good measure,
Christie built the thing on a cliff inside a natural rock barrier.
Christie
defended his fortress for three years until Deputy Marshal Paden Tolbert showed
up with 25 men, a load of explosives, and an Army cannon. Over the next few
days, lawmen fired 38 cannonballs and 2,000 bullets before rushing the cabin
with an improvised wooden shield and several sticks of dynamite. The fort
exploded, forcing Christie to make a run for it. With a pistol in each hand, he
charged the posse like Butch and Sundance but was cut down.
As Christie’s
corpse made its way to Fort Smith, crowds gathered to get a look at the famous
outlaw. Ned’s body was even propped up for photos at the Fort Smith courthouse.
Then in the early 1900s, a witness came forward and testified that someone else
had shot Dan Maples. Ned Christie was an innocent man.
Until Next time
Take Care
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