Slaughter
Texas John Slaughter vs The Jack Taylor Gang
By: Bob Boze Bell 09/25/2009
Aftermath: Odds & Ends
The Jack Taylor Gang robbed a train near Nogales prior to the shoot-out. Texas John Slaughter and lawman Jeff Milton had been tracking the gang for more than a year. The trail of bodies from the gang’s holdups included three train crew members and an engineer. After the shoot-out, Guadalupe Robles and Nieves Deron were both buried in Tombstone’s Boot Hill. Mexican police arrested Taylor in Sonora and killed Manuel Robles in the Sierra Madres.
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Slaughter held the sheriff’s office from 1886 to 1890; he was appointed a deputy sheriff in 1895 and held the commission until his death.
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A successful rancher, Slaughter owned the 65,000-acre San Bernardino spread stretching from Arizona to Mexico. His father-in-law managed it while Slaughter served as Cochise County sheriff. You can visit the Slaughter Ranch Museum in Douglas.
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In 1906 Slaughter won a seat in the territorial assembly, but he did not enjoy it and returned to his ranch after one uncomfortable term. He later became one of the founders of the Bank of Douglas. He died in his sleep, at age 80, on February 15, 1922.
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Recommended: The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter by Allen A. Erwin, published by Arthur Clark Co., and That Wicked Little Gringo by Ben T. Traywick, published by Red Marie’s Bookstore.
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