The Life and Sad Ending of Johnny Ringo - Legendary Outlaw of the Old West

the life and sad ending of johnny ringo legendary outlaw of the old west those that have heard of johnny ringo know him as the fascinating figure that he was he was a gentleman gunman who could spout shakespeare and who many writers romanticized as one of the deadliest gunfighters of the old west and to this day only adding to the mystique of johnny ringo is the fact that mystery surrounds his own death a death as legendary as his mythic life johnny ringo was born on may 3rd 1850 to martin and mary peters ringo in washington indiana he was the first child of a large family of five children and was related to both the infamous younger and james brothers at 14 his family left for san jose california but while crossing the country by wagon his father was killed in a tragic accident still the family was resilient like most frontier folk and made it to san jose after a year-long stay at the youngers home but johnny ringo's adolescent years between 1864 and 1870 are not well documented though there is an unsubstantiated claim that he was a drunkard and juvenile delinquent that left his family and san jose itself in 1869. however the san jose directory and federal california census both of 1870 place him in san jose and working as a farmer additionally his sisters later reported that he left san jose as part of a harvesting team sometime between 1870 and early 1871. according to some accounts ringo's delinquency came later when he was charged for discharging his firearm in a public square in bernard texas then came the infamous hoodoo war and the outlaw legend of johnny ringo only grew from there in september 1875 johnny ringo got caught up in the hoodoo war a blood feud that had started over cattle ownership between germans living in mason county texas and american-born residents of neighboring counties ringo's involvement was not over cattle but was instead the direct result of the slaying of moses baird and the serious wounding of george gladden both of whom were his close friends and had themselves gotten caught up in the bloodshed baird and gladden had been tricked by local gambler james chaney into riding into mason only to be ambushed in an attack orchestrated by mason county sheriff john clark on september 25th johnny ringo joined another seven men to avenge baird's death when the men rode into mason ringo and a man named bill williams separated from the party and headed for cheney's home there they shot the gambler dead without warning ringo and williams then made for the home of another alleged collaborator in the ambush named dave dool when they arrived they shouted for duel to come outside but when he came to his front door armed with a gun which scared ringo and williams off both men then rode back to their party and publicly bragged over breakfast about killing cheney according to a texas ranger report either williams or ringo allegedly said that they had made beef of cheney and if someone did not bury him he would stink more killing followed four days later when other members of the party cut down three men however arrest warrants were not issued against ringo for killing cheney instead he was arrested twice in december for other charges the first arrest was for disturbing the peace in april when he fired his pistol in the middle of burnet but he was soon released after the 150 bond was posted the second charge was far more serious for johnny ringo he and former texas ranger scott cooley were imprisoned for threatening to kill the burnett county sheriff and his deputy authorities were worried that their friends might try to bust them loose from prison and thus had them transferred to a prison in austin on their way ringo received a bit of notoriety exemplified by the austin statesman which reported on january 4th 1876 that ringo is said to have taken an active part in the mason county war but rinko's name was misspelled as ring gold in the newspapers which accounts for confusion over the outlaws identity sense the spelling may have arisen from translations in german newspapers as official records confirm his name was indeed john ringo either way the who do war was now over though tensions remained in mason county for a few more years it wasn't long before ringo and cooley were moved once again first back to burnet before being granted their request to stand trial in lampasas county although they were both convicted and imprisoned for making threats against law enforcement they appealed the sentence but they did not want to wait until 1877 to have their case heard luckily their cohorts agreed and broke them out of prison in may 1876 cooley however reportedly died a month later despite the media painting ringo as a notorious outlaw on the run he only evaded capture for a few months before once again being sent to prison in austin surprisingly his earlier appeal still went through and the charges were reversed however they were soon overshadowed by a charge of murder his slaying of cheney had finally caught up with him but this also came to naught when no witnesses were willing to testify against him thus johnny ringo was released in may 1978 settling in loyal valley mason county a short time after in november ringo went from outlaw to being offered a position as constable for precinct number four at loyal valley throughout 1979 and 1980 johnny ringo continued causing mayhem wherever he went including shooting one man for wanting to drink beer instead of whiskey and holding a poker game at gunpoint in order to pocket the 500 held by the players in 1881 he was brought to tombstone arizona to stand trial for the poker game incident but was more concerned about a rumor that he was involved in a recent stage robbery he blamed legendary local lawman wyatt earp and his gun-fighting friend doc holliday for the rumor and all three men had a showdown on the streets of tombstone as tensions increased the men started reaching for their sidearms when a constable grabbed ringo from behind and diffused the conflict nevertheless the altercation made johnny ringo take a personal interest in the long-standing feud between the herbs and the infamous clanton outlaws while spending time in jail in 1882 he learned that erp and his posse were planning to arrest the clantons in charleston so ringo organized for his bond to be quickly processed and on released immediately set off for charleston to warn the clantons but herb's brother james sauringo leave tombstone and was aware of his plan he wrote an affidavit calling ringo an escaped prisoner intending to thwart the arrest of a u.s marshal because of the affidavit a second posse led by j.h jackson pursued ringo however they were interrupted by like clanton and ringo was informed of the warrant for his arrest johnny ringo then went back to tombstone where he was placed on trial but once again witnesses refused to testify and ringo was set free from there the situation in tombstone only grew worse morgan erp was shot dead by an unknown assailant in march 1882. many believed ringo was the culprit but records from the time dispute this furthermore testimony in the tombstone epitaph stated ringo wanted no more part in the feud meanwhile erp and his posse had more troubles when they were accused of killing outlaw frank stillwell and thus fled tombstone the next day sheriff john behind gathered men which included ringo to capture the herp posse by then erp and his party had killed a mexican named florentino cruz who some believe was indian charlie one of the killers responsible for morgan erp's death back in tombstone it was reported that erp had shot dead curly bill brocius in the wet stone mountains and because brochus was the most notorious outlaw in the area his death overshadowed erp's killing of stillwell and cruz in any event in april 1882 erp and his men fled arizona a month later johnny ringo himself also left tombstone exonerated from all indictments amid the back and forth swarm of lawmen and criminals in the area but despite his good fortune johnny ringo was found dead just two months later much speculation surrounds the july 13 1882 death of johnny ringo many believe he committed suicide the facts seem to support it but many people point to some inconsistencies in the way the body was found that may suggest foul play sightings in tombstone and the nearby town of galeyville state that ringo looked depressed and was drinking heavily before his death the last time he was seen was around july 11th which is roughly when he left galeyville three days later he was discovered with his back to a tree clutching a 45 caliber colt in his right hand apparently dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound it seemed pretty cut and dry but some people both at the time and in recent years since have looked at the evidence and believe instead that johnny ringo was murdered speculation revolves around the number of cartridges found in his gun possible lack of powder burns on his hands the position of his hat on his head and admissions from his contemporaries including wyatt earp to his murder but all these lines of inquiry are flimsy at best jack burroughs the author of the 1987 biography john ringo the gunfighter who never was and david johnson in his book john ringo king of the cowboys have weighed the evidence and concluded that johnny ringo most likely committed suicide an unusual end for a legendary outlaw of the old west goodbye johnny ringo

Channel: Most Actor & Actress Hollywood

Views: 737,141

Rating: 4.6697688 out of 5

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Id: 60JGOZbIizM

Length: 12min 52sec (772 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021