John Ringo, King of the Cowboys: His Life and Times from the Hoo Doo War to Tombstone, Second Edition

Chapter 19. “the sympathy of the border people seems to be with them”

190 19 C H A P T E R “the sympathy of the border people seems to be with them” ONCE AGAIN, RINGO faced serious charges in Arizona. Newspapers in the territory “were now calling him ‘Ringold’” just as some had in Texas years earlier. One biographer theorizes, “either the person who reported the robbery account to the newspaper knew of Ringo’s Texas past or someone at the newspaper was aware of it.”1 Ringo was better known among the cattlemen of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. But in the fall of 1881 he was not well known in Tombstone, which he rarely visited. When he was arraigned for the robbery, he was asked if John Ringgold was his true name and he denied it.2 It is hardly likely such an error would have occurred if he was a “crime lord” as suggested .3 Ringo apparently returned to New Mexico after the robbery. Dave Estes was arrested and brought before Justice of the Peace G. W. Ellingsworth for a hearing. The Star reports that Estes “robbed a game of about four hundred dollars” and “confiscated a valuable horse.” The charges were quickly dismissed. His honor ruled in the examination of the witnesses that they could not testify to the taking of the money ordered by the bandits to be left on the table, unless they of their own knowledge knew whom a “the sympathy of the border people seems to be with them” 191 particular parcel of money belonged. This could not be proven, as all the occupants of the room were commanded to absquatulate [leave] instantly, leaving Estes and his “pard” to take and divide.4 Other events soon took center stage. As day broke on August 13, a party of Anglos driving a herd of cattle to Tombstone was ambushed in Guadalupe Canyon. Five of the men were killed, among them Newman H. Clanton. Authors point to the killing of these men as proof they were cattle thieves. Without documentation one states they “were caught with a herd of rustled cattle in Guadalupe Canyon” and wiped out.5 Another adds, “It is likely the Clanton group was a mixture of rustlers and honest cattlemen.”6 None of these writers sources their conclusions, although the incident is one of the best-documented events in the region’s history. E. L. Ferguson, alias Pete Spence. Courtesy author’s collection. 192 JOHN RINGO, KING OF THE COWBOYS Meanwhile, in New Mexico Territory, Jim Crane had second thoughts about being on the run. Once, gunman Buckskin Frank Leslie had sought him out under the guise of arresting him. Leslie had learned that Crane was in the habit of taking his noon meal at the Gray ranch. John Pleasant Gray recalled a confrontation between the men at the Gray ranch. Leslie “came out and reported his mission was to arrest Jim Crane and take him to Tombstone on the charge of stage robbing.” Gray objected to an ambush being sprung at his ranch because he “did not think he would be able to arrest Jim without killing.” As Gray told the story, his warning proved unnecessary: Jim Crane rode up at his usual time on a fine saddle mule, unmistakably a refugee from some army post. And as dinner was ready I asked both [Crane and Leslie] in to the meal. It happened we three were alone, except for our old cook, Moody. Jim Crane packed his carbine—a short, Sharp’s rifle—into the cook tent and sat down on Leslie’s right with the gun across his lap and the muzzle in Frank’s direction. I don’t think any one of us relished that meal much, and I know I should have preferred to be elsewhere. Leslie departed peacefully after whispering to Gray, “Tell Jim if they want him someone else will have to serve the warrant.”7 Who sent Leslie remains unknown. Leslie was a simply a bartender at the Oriental Saloon, not a lawman. Crane realized, though, that he was marked for death and became nervous. He was now convinced his best option was to surrender to the authorities, “thinking that he had a good chance for a light sentence.”8 That would be better than being constantly on the qui vive with the likes of Frank Leslie gunning for him. Gray does not speculate about who sent Leslie, but there...