JOHN RINGO, KING OF THE COWBOYS: His Life and Times from the Hoo Doo War to Tombstone

Johnson, David

ISBN 10: 1574412434 / ISBN 13: 9781574412437

Published by University of North Texas Press, Denton, 2008

About this Item

Signed by David Johnson on the title page. The most complete biography to date of the notorious outlaw known for his involvement in the deadly Arizona Territory feud between the Earp brothers and the "Cowboy" faction. Foreword by Chuck Parsons. Number 6 in the A.C. Greene Series. Octavo: xiv, 366 pp. with textual photographs. Original brown cloth binding, with red-stamped titling. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 80476

Bibliographic Details

• Title: JOHN RINGO, KING OF THE COWBOYS: His Life and Times from the Hoo Doo War to Tombstone
• Publisher: University of North Texas Press, Denton
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574412434
• ISBN 13: 9781574412437
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Second Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Western Americana

About this title

Synopsis

Few names in the lore of western gunmen are as recognizable. Few lives of the most notorious are as little known. Romanticized and made legendary, John Ringo fought and killed for what he believed was right. As a teenager, Ringo was rushed into sudden adulthood when his father was killed tragically in the midst of the family's overland trek to California. As a young man he became embroiled in the blood feud turbulence of post-Reconstruction Texas.

The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War in Texas began as a war over range rights, but it swiftly deteriorated into blood vengeance and spiraled out of control as the body count rose. In this charnel house Ringo gained a reputation as a dangerous gunfighter and man killer. He was proclaimed throughout the state as a daring leader, a desperate man, and a champion of the feud. Following incarceration for his role in the feud, Ringo was elected as a lawman in Mason County, the epicenter of the feud’s origin.

The reputation he earned in Texas, further inflated by his willingness to shoot it out with Victorio’s raiders during a deadly confrontation in New Mexico, preceded him to Tombstone in territorial Arizona. Ringo became immersed in the area’s partisan politics and factionalized violence. A champion of the largely Democratic ranchers, Ringo would become known as a leader of one of these elements, the Cowboys. He ran at bloody, tragic odds with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, finally being part of the posse that hounded these fugitives from Arizona. In the end, Ringo died mysteriously in the Arizona desert, his death welcomed by some, mourned by others, wrongly claimed by a few. Initially published in 1996, John Ringo has been updated to a second edition with much new information researched and uncovered by David Johnson and other Ringo researchers.

About the Author

David Johnson has received degrees from Pennsylvania State University and Purdue University. He is the author of The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War, 1874-1902 , published by the University of North Texas Press. His 1996 edition of John Ringo was a finalist for best biography of the year by the Western Writers of America. Johnson has also edited two editions of The Life of Thomas W. Gamel , with a third revision currently underway.