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

Chapter 26. “bitter and conspiratorial silence”

268 26 C H A P T E R “bitter and conspiratorial silence” OVER THE PAST FIFTY YEARS, interest in John Ringo has blossomed. As it did, some writers, armed with predetermined agendas, questioned John Ringo’s character based on his relations with his immediate family and speculation by distant family members. The resulting controversy is largely due to several men. One of these was a distant relative, Charles Ringo. Charles informed one Ringo biographer that John’s sisters denied him entry to their home in 1881.1 In the same letter Charles contradicted himself: “In 1881 he [John Ringo] came home and went back to sell his cattle and then come back.” Although neither version is necessarily more believable, the biographer accepted the former. A second writer accepts the first account but offers neither footnotes nor sources and his information cannot be independently confirmed.2 In contrast, one detailed biography states, “In actuality, the Ringo sisters were not ‘shamed and disgraced by their gunman-outlaw brother’ during his life.”3 Confronted by two versions, neither more readily correct than the other, the sources and contemporary documentation must be examined to formulate the most plausible theory. “bitter and conspiratorial silence” 269 Concerning Charles Ringo, friend, family member, and historian David Leer Ringo wrote that he was neither a genealogist nor a historian . “He loved a good story, whether factual or not.”4 Building on letters provided by Charles, one biographer was led to believe that John’s sisters never forgave his escapades.5 Mary Enna Ringo, portrayed as an “angry and sanctimonious spinster,” appears as the driving force among his sisters.6 “The bitter and conspiratorial silence endured.”7 It did not, however, endure more than a few days after Ringo’s death. On July 25, 1882, the Epitaph reported that it “yesterday received a letter from Miss Emma [sic: Enna] Ringo, sister of the late John Ringo, in which she says that John was born in Indiana, in 1850, and was thirty-two years old at the time of his death. Col. Younger was an uncle by marriage, and consequently Ringo was no relative of the Younger boys.”8 Clearly the “sanctimonious” Mary Enna Ringo linked John to the Ringo family 1928 Ringo family picture (left to right) George Keil, Mary Enna Ringo, Fanny Fern Ringo Jackson, Frank Ringo Jackson, Louise Elizabeth Keil Jackson, and Wilhelmina Cochrane Keil. Courtesy Frank Ringo Jackson Personal Collection. 270 JOHN RINGO, KING OF THE COWBOYS in San Jose. Obviously she had neither disowned him nor attempted to conceal their relationship. But if Charles Ringo erred, as he clearly did, where did he get his story? The answer to this question lies in the period after Mary Enna’s letter to the Epitaph. In later years, the Ringo family did lapse into silence. The question is why? According to Ringo’s biographer, Charles Ringo informed him in 1971 that Enna had destroyed everything she could find linking John to Texas and Arizona. The same author further references Charles’ alleged conversation with Frank Cushing, John Ringo’s nephew, in which Cushing, at Enna’s direction, threatened to take legal action against a Florida relative who wished to publish an article on John.9 The writer concluded that John’s sisters appeared “humorless and lacking in introspective powers.”10 In reality, John’s family knew little of his activities in Texas and Arizona beyond the fact that he was in the cattle business. Little, that is, until 1934, when the Ringo research group was being founded. One of the group’s earliest members was Minerva Letton, of Valrico, Florida. On September 15, 1934, Mrs. Letton wrote to David L. Ringo, “You ask me to write about ‘John Ringo of Tombstone.’ Do you know that Charles Ringo (of San Fran—and NJ) found him? I did not know a thing about ‘the big brave bandit’ until Charles wrote me all about him, and told me to read Walter Noble Burns’ book.”11 As David Ringo’s request, Mrs. Letton drafted a short monograph titled, “One Honorable Outlaw.” The article in its entirety reads: John Ringo of Tombstone Arizona was one of the greatest and most colorful outlaws of the Southwest. Numerous books written on that section call him “the honorable outlaw,” “the gentleman outlaw,” and the “intellectual outlaw.” So really “Cousin John” is not a bad fellow to read about. “Cousin John” . . . yes, his...