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Short Stuff: Johnny Ringo · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff Josh, Chuck, Jerry, Infra,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Dave and we are quick on the draw. You're on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: short stuff, pew.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: That's not lasers, though you can.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Draw a lasers consola.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, good point. But not in the Old West unless
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: it's Westworld, I guess, because we're talking about the Old West,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: and we're talking about a lesser known Old West gun
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: slinger by the name of Johnny Ringo.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not Johnny Angel. Johnny Ringo, although you can substitute
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: his name for that for Johnny Angel in the song
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: if you sing it in your head.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I bet you could.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: He is. He was at the time very well known.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: He was an outlaw. He was one of those cowboys
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: he was. He was a highed gun. He was a mercenary,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: which I guess is a higher gun. He also ran
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: gangs that were known to murder and that kind of stuff.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: But he wasn't like a bank robber. He wasn't a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: train robber even. He just seems to have been a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: guy who just kind of made his way from town
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to town, ended up in kind of famous situations, and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: did nefarious things here there, just enough to make a
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: name for himself.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was born in May eighteen fifty in what
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: is now Greens Fork, Indiana, shout out to greens Forks
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: and eventually got tangled up. Like you said, he sort
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: of found himself getting tangled up with various more famous
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: people that included early on the younger Brothers who were
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: led by Jesse James and Frank James, the bank robbing group.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But he was had a pretty awful incident happened to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: him that when he was a teenager that seemed like
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: it really kind of shaped the rest of his life,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and how could it not.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, his parents and his brothers and sister were all
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on the trail to move from Missouri to California, and
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: part way through Martin Ringo was I'm not sure what
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: he was doing with his rifle or shotgun. I saw both,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: but it went off when it happened to be pointing
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: up at his head from his chin, and he died instantly,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: obviously in a very gruesome way, right in front of Johnny.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And you can basically explain the rest of Johnny Ringo's
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: life from that incident, because it doesn't matter was eighteen fifty,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: ten fifty, twenty fifty If his son sees his dad
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: die in that manner that's going to shape your life
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: pretty much single handedly.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, he was obviously traumatized. They had to,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you know, they were moving, like you said, to California,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: so they just had to kind of keep going. They
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: buried him along the road, kept that wagon train going.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And by that age he was he was a pretty
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: good shot himself. He was pretty good with a quick draw,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: good with a rifle. They landed in San Jose, his
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: mom and his brothers and sisters, and he was there
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: till about eighteen seventy when he moved to Mason County, Texas,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: where he kind of fell in with a bad gang
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: of cattle rustlers.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it almost seems like so he was twenty then.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: It seems like he just basically moved to Texas to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: look for trouble and he found it very quickly. There
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: was a Texas ranger, well a former Texas ranger turned
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: outlaw named Scott Cooley, and they just kind of hit
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: it off pretty quickly. They became friends. And this is
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: where Johnny Ringo really kind of started to become known
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: as a like an outlaw gun slinger.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, because Mason County. You know, if you've
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: ever seen like the Three Amigos, you know had Germans
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: in it, and you kind of don't really think about
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the Old West having like, you know, British people and
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: German people, but they did. In fact, Mason County was
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: mainly colonized by German and British descended cattle people, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: the tensions between them were pretty rough. Between those groups,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: they were often accusing one of her stealing their stock
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and taking their cows and rustling horses. And then in
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: eighteen seventy five it really sort of launched when a
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: couple of the Brits, including a guy named Tim Williamson,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: were pulled out of jail by these Germans and killed
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: in retaliation for a cattle theft.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they were being transported by a deputy sheriff
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: named John Worley, and these Germans assumed Germans who killed
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Tim Williamson and took some other guys and hung them
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and shot them. Scott Cooley, who was friends with Tim
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Williamson and some of the other guys, he assumed that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: John Worley had allowed this to happen, that he was
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: basically in on it. So this kicked off what became
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: known as the Mason County War or the Hoodoo War.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: And the first victim in this war, after Williamson, was
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: John Worley, who was killed by Scott Cooley, who not
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: only killed them but scalped him on August tenth, eighteen
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: seventy five.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: That feels like maybe a time for a break, I think, so,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: all right, we'll be right back with Moron Johnny Ringo
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: right after this.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Stopped.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: All right, so when we left you, the Hoodoo War
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: had kicked off, John Morley had been killed and scalped.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: This is eighteen seventy five, and Ringo was a part
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of this war. And you know, it seems like he
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: was sort of just a sideman, supporting his buddy Coolie
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: and whatever he wanted. He was friends with the guys
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: in his gang. He was part of the gang essentially.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And when a guy named Moses Baird, he was a
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: part of the gang, was killed in that Hoodo War.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: About a month later, in September of that year, Ringo
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: went on the attack big time. Shot two of the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: guys that he suspected was involved in the murder, a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: guy named Dave dool and another guy named James Cheney
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: went to their houses and shot him, and he actually
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: went to jail for this one, but because it was
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the Old West, he escaped not too long after, right.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So, I mean like he's really starting to build on
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: his legend as a black hat outlaw. Right. He spends
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the next few years moving around looking for new cattle wars,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: New Mexico, Arizona, Texas. He was known to do things
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: like he pistol whipped and then shot a man who
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: he offered a drink to and the guy refused. He
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: murdered another man that he saw harassing a woman, robbed
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: a poker game that he had just left because the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: players wouldn't loan him any money so he could stay
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in and keep playing. But his his I guess the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: if anybody has heard of Johnny Go it's because of
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: he crossed paths. It's his association with the guys from
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the Ok Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Doc Holiday and Wyatt
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: are in Virgil or you can't forget Virgil.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you've seen the movie Tombstone, you
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: were probably yelling, like, guys, we've heard of Ringo. He
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: was in the movie.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: It was Michael Bean, right, Yeah, John Connor's dead.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. So Ringo didn't like these guys. He
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: didn't like Holiday and IRP either, IRP. And eventually they
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: did like a real Old West sort of high noon
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: showdown in the middle of the town streets and it
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: was pistols were going to be drawn, for sure, but
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: a local constable came in intervened and nothing happened at
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: that point. But that was about a year before Johnny
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Ringo would be found dead against a tree.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I have never understood what that I'm your
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: huckleberry meant, So I looked it up. Do you know
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: what it means?
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I've never seen too, believe it or not all the
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: way through.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I haven't either. I just know that that Val Kilmer
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: says that.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, anyway, that's a hole for me, for sure.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: He says I'm your huckleberry. And what I guess that
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: was the old timey way at the time was saying like,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I'm the man for the job. I can do this,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: And I guess he was saying, I'm the man who
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: can kill you essentially or take you down, or at
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: least gunfight you. Okay, So at any rate, he didn't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: fight at Doc Holliday in Wyatt or he wasn't there
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: at the famous gunfight at the Ok Carral. Apparently he
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: was out of town that day, and I'm sure he
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was quite upset when he came back to town and
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: found out what had happened, because he definitely would have
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: been on the side of the other guys. And like
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: you said, all that happened about a year before. He
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: was found dead just outside a tombstone, up against a
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: tree on July fourteenth, eighteen eighty two. He had a
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: single gunshot wound to his head and a cold forty
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: five revolver in his hand, so it seemed like it
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: was probably a pretty clear cut case of suicide. He'd
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: been known to have been deep in the drink at
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the time, was very depressed, and he'd given an interview
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper just before his death that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: he said that he was going to be run down
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: or killed at some point, and a local historian named
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Bob Bo's Bell, so that he certainly sounded down in
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the interview, So you could make a pretty good case
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: that it was suicide.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, other people say it was probably you know,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: in the movie at least it was Val Kilmer. It
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: was Doc Holiday, and that historian Bell was like, you know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: everyone thought pretty much that this is a suicide until
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: that movie came out. There were of course whispers that
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it could have been Holiday and erb in the gang,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: but it was really that movie that kind of solidified
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: it in the minds of people, because you know, it
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: was a big Hollywood movie.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's some problems with that one. Doc Holiday
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: was almost certain li in Pueblo County, Colorado, a few
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: days before Ringo's death and after because he had to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: appear in court and he's on the record as having
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: been there. It's a fifteen hundred mile trip in three
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: days that I guess you could make, But that seems
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: like a lot of trouble to go out of your
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: way when Doc Holladay could have just killed them basically
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: at any time. And then Wyatt Earp he did claim
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: credit for him, right.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he for sure did. But this seems to be
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: one of those things where and I think this kind
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: of happened a lot in the Old West, where it
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: was a badge of honor and you could claim that
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: you murdered someone when you didn't at all, and that
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: seems like it had some pretty big holes, Like the
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: account of his killing wasn't it didn't line up with
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: like how the body was found. And he also recanted
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: later and was like, you know, I didn't really kill
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: that guy.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And there was another piece of evidence that just
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: kind of at least it's circumstantial, that was written later
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: by Doc Holliday's common law wife, Big Nose, Kate Cummings,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: And not only does it kind of support the idea
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that he died by suicide, it also really paints him
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: as a tragic figure. If you'll indulge me, will you chuck? Yes?
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Kate Cummings wrote, Ringo was a fine man anyway you
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: look at him physically, intellectually, morally. He was six feet tall,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: rather slim and build, although broad shouldered, medium fair is
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to complexion, with gray blue eyes and light brown hair. Kay,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: so far, so good. His face was somewhat long, Okay.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: He was what might be called an attractive man. So
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: she described him physically as basically handsome, and then she
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: says his attitude toward all women was gentlemanly. He must
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: have been a gentleman born. Sometimes I noticed something wistful
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: about him as if his thoughts were far away on
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: something sad, and he would say, oh well and sigh.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Then he would smile. But his smiles were always sad.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: There was something in his life that only he himself
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: knew about. He was always neat, clean, well dressed, show
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: that he took good care of himself. He never boasted
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: of his deeds, good or bad, a trade I have
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: always liked and men. John was a loyal friend, and
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: he was noble for he never fought anyone except face
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: to face. Every time I think of him, my eyes
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: fill with tears.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean that sounds like a guy who was
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: haunted by seeing his father blow his own head off
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: by accident.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I think it says a lot that that
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: was Doc Holliday, his sworn enemy's wife who wrote that
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: about him.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: So that's Johnny Ringo. Kind of a murder mystery, but
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: not necessarily and anyway you slice it, one of the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: unsung outlaw bandits of the Old West. Attractive Chuck said,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: that's right, which means short stuff is out.
• 12:49
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• 12:52
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