King Fisher
1854 - 1884
Life in Old Mexico leaves its stamp on many men. It did on King
Fisher, the good-looking, swaggering gunslinger who wore a big, black
mustache and good-natured smile. He had the elegance of a Mexican
gentleman, much the same as young Billy the Kid attained by living with
the Latins. His fine pearl-handled pistols and silver spurs with
bells made him quite a figure as his boots rang along the walks and his
silken tie fluttered over his shoulder. He often wore laced
shirts, garments which nobody dared remark about unless the comments
were complimentary. King Fisher rated with the best
gunfighters, with Ben Thompson and John Wesley Hardin, etcetera.
His gunhand moved with unseeing swiftness and ease, his hip aim was
deadly, even at some distance.
Fisher
spent most of his time below the border, and it was some amusement to
him to be set upon by bandidos and then whip out his guns and cut them
down, always leaving one or two to flee so they could spread news of
the dreadful American gunfighter. Many of the bandits took to
their heels when they saw the man with the gringo spurs and big pistols
and orange silk tie and red scarf at his waist.
Lawmen
spent much time and money trying to track down King but had no luck in
nailing him. He would slip away every time, out the back door
maybe, or be hiding behind some curtain with a gun on the back of the
bartender.
King
killed many border gunslingers; cut them down without giving them any
quarter whatever other than the chance to go for the gun.
Mexicans who saw him unlimber never tired of telling about the uncanny
swiftness of the gringo killer.
One night King came into a cantina where a find fandango was in
progress. He got liquored up and started to shoot up the
place. A bald-headed fellow told him to go some place else with
his shooting, whereupon King saw his sweaty bald- pate and shot at it
to see if the bullet would ricochet.
Then
the gunslinger settled down. He started to live a quiet life back
in Texas and added no more illegal dead men to his score of over
20. He took on a deputyship in Uvalde County and became a very
efficient and trustworthy lawman. He had to travel to Austin on
official business, to extradite a man, and here he met his old friend,
Ben Thompson, who was a renowned killer himself and who had once been
City Marshal of Austin. Ben suggested they have a few rounds of
drinks and then paint the town. When it was time for King to
return home to Uvalde, Ben decided to accompany him as far as San
Antonio. After reaching this destination, they continued to raise
hell and drink up the town. Ben suggested they attend a good
vaudeville show at the old Harris Theatre. (Ben had shot dead the
owner of this bar and theatre some months before this.) So away
they went to visit the Harris Theatre, in which they were suddenly
ambushed and both Fisher and Thompson slumped to the floor with their
guns half out of their concealment.
Fisher had lived by the gun as had Ben Thompson, a violent and
hectic life, and he had some 26 dead men to his score. King
Fisher was among one of the most deadly border gunfighters to have ever
lived and old-timers living along the Texas-Mexican line tell tales in
which his name appears time and again as they heard the same stories
told by their fathers who had seen the great gunfighter in action.
Calamity Jane | Clay Allison | Curly Bill | Dave Mather
Doc Holliday | Jesse James | Jim Courtright | Joaquin Murrietta
John Ringo | John Wesley Hardin | King Fisher | Luke Short
Old Man Clanton | Pat Garrett | Wild Bill Hickok | Wyatt Earp
OK Corral | Artist - Lea Franklin McCarty