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Check Signed by John Slaughter, Texas Ranger Indian Fighter

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:425.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 USD
Check Signed by John Slaughter, Texas Ranger Indian Fighter

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
3" x 8.5", San Bernardino, AZ, 8 Jan. 1913, on Bank of Douglas (AZ). To Hilario Galilondo (or Gabilondo?) for a substantial amount ($2000), possibly for land or stock.

John Horton Slaughter was born in Louisiana in 1841, and joined the Texas Rangers just prior to the Civil War. In March 1862 he joined the Confederate Army, but was sent home in 1864 because of illness. When he recovered, he served with the Third Frontier Division of the Texas State Troops where he earned his reputation as a fearless fighter.

He married in 1871, about the time he and his brothers started cattle ranching. They also started transporting cattle to Mexico, California, Kansas and New Mexico. Deciding Texas was becoming too crowded, he started looking for land in New Mexico and Arizona. He grazed cattle in New Mexico, but eventually settled in Arizona, sending for his wife and four children to join him in 1876. His wife, Eliza, died of smallpox in Tucson in 1877.

Shortly after this, Slaughter met a family named Howell in New Mexico when he returned for his cattle. Against her parents' wishes, he married 16-year-old Viola in 1878 and convinced all of them to move to Arizona, settling first near Tombstone before purchasing a ranch near Douglas in 1884.

It has been said that Slaughter became addicted to gambling while on cattle drives in California. Whether true or not, it became a dominant activity in his life. Many conflicts came over card games and incidents of cheating, including the oft-told story of this shooting Barney Gallagher. Viola apparently threatened to leave him more than once after he would disappear for days while involved in gambling binges.

Slaughter was elected sheriff of Cochise County in 1886. The area was a haven for rustlers and other thieves. The diminutive, steely-eyed sheriff is credited with "civilizing" the area, usually riding alone in pursuit of lawbreakers, and not returning until the "problem" was solved.

He retired to the Douglas ranch, becoming quite wealthy by 1920. After the murder of one of his foremen, as it turned out by one of John and Viola's adopted children, they left the ranch and moved to the town of Douglas, where John, in declining health for some time, died in 1922. 

The Thomas Minckler Collection of Western Americana

Condition: Cancelled and one fold, otherwise fine.