THE STORY OF LONG HAIR JIM

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for the legendary law and order stories of
the wild West. This podcast features a forensic psychologists that
looks at the history of the most infamous and famous
outlaws and cowboys of the wild West. So sit back,
Parker and take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Today we're talking about Big Gem aka Long Hair Jim
aka Timothy court Right. He was a sheriff in Fort Worth,
Texas from eighteen seventy six to eighteen seventy nine. So
let's find out a little bit about his early life
before we get started. For like our podcast, make sure
to share and subscribe, which really would appreciate it. Court
Wright was born in Sangaman County, Illinois, in the spring

(00:50):
of eighteen forty eight, the son of Daniel court Right,
and he had four older sisters and one younger brother.
He was reported to have practice shooting frequently. Allegedly, he
lied about his age and enlisted in the Union Army
during the American Civil War. He served under General Joan
John Logan, from whom he once took a bullet. He
was rootless and traveled around often. He finally settled in

(01:13):
Fort Worth in North Texas. While there he was the
various times a jailer, city marshal, deputy sheriff, private detective,
and racketeer. He ended up marrying Sarah Weeks, then taught
her to shoot. They held shooting exhibitions for which they
charged admission, and later performed as part of Buffalo Bill's
Wild West show core Right. As his wife arrived in

(01:34):
Fort Worth in eighteen seventy six, he ran for office
as the first selected city marshal against four other men
and won by three votes. He liked to wear his
hair long and wore two revolvers with their butts facing outward.
He became known for his long hair and his reputation
for using his badge as a convenience. As marshall, he
was in charge of keeping the peace in the notorious
Hell's half Acre, the town's red light district. You could

(01:56):
call it at that time a very dangerous place, with
their altercations between unruly drunks and lawmen being very common,
and very few people dared to cross long haired Jim,
and he killed several who did. On August twenty fifth,
eighteen seventy seven, Deputy Marshall Columbus Fitzgerald was shot and
killed while attempting to break up a street fight. Long

(02:18):
Haired Jim shot and killed the suspect that same night.
During his tenures fort Worth Marshall, it was reported that
he killed at least four other men during altercations and shootouts.
It was general believe that he murdered several unwilling business
owners who were not paid to his protection racket. Most
met as demand to avoid the risk of becoming the
target of his anger and gun. Some who declined were killed,

(02:41):
and those who survived usually made the payments demanded. He
served as fort worths Marshall until eighteen seventy nine, when
he lost his third election. He left his family behind,
moved to New Mexico and obtained appointment as the Marshal
of Lake Valley. After that, as a hired gun for
a mining operation. Some time later, while working as a
ranch forman, he and his friend Jim mccantyre shot and

(03:04):
killed two squatters who refused to leave the ranch. In
eighteen eighty three, his former Civil War commander John Logan
was interested in purchasing the American Valley Cattle Company, New Mexico,
maintaining he was concerned about ongoing cattle wrestling that was
decimating HER's US Marshall Morrison invited his deputies court Right

(03:25):
and McIntyre to help secure the land, but the current owner,
John Casey, and his partners Moore and Atkinson, had bigger ambitions.
They wanted an ownership of an additional thirty four hundred acres.
They had already forced about ninety residents of the small
community off their land, but Alexis Grosstet and Robert Elsinger,
partners in a ranch at Gallows Springs, were resistant to
more threats. They claimed their land under preemption rights that

(03:47):
guaranteed sellers the right to file a patent on unsurveyed land.
Both had brought their families onto the land and made
it evident they intended to stay. Casey accused him of
being squatters and was determined to victim. Casey's partner W. C. Moore,
had a dark past. He was hired by DT Beals
and Baits, owners of the Lex Ranch and the Tanxas Panhandle.

(04:09):
He started in eighteen seventy seven, but during eighteen eighty
one they discovered that he was siphoning off a good
portion of the stock for his own herd, and they
fired him. Moore sold his Adobe's Walls ranch for seventy
five thousand equivalent to about two million today, to buy
a one third interest in Cases American Valley Cattle Company.
Long Hair Jim may have initially believed he was only

(04:31):
hired to pursue cattle rustlers. He was told by Moore
that they were pursuing a former employee of Cases named D. L. Gilmore.
Moore led the posse directly to the ranch, and the
next day they looked for Gilmore's cowboys, ending the day
at a line cabin about eight miles from Grosstet and
Elsinger's homes. The next day, Moore took five of the
posse rode towards their home. Moore told the potty that

(04:51):
their job was to get rid of the two squatters.
He said all six would fire into their bodies, so
all six would be equally guilty. They found the men,
took their whab and marched into a narrow ravine and
killed them both. Daniel McCallister, a deacon, had been until
a few days before the manager before the manager of
Casey's ranch. When he learned to the murders, he informed

(05:12):
the authorities, who promptly called for More and his fellow
posse members to be arrested. Long Haired Jim and mccantyre
initially acted as lawmen and arrested the others who had
taken part in the murders, but when the grand jury convened,
they learned that the two men had also taken part
more escaped to rest, and before Long Haired Jim and
McIntyre could be apprehended, they took off from Mexico on horseback,
finally end the up on June first and now Paso, Texas,

(05:34):
where they found safety among a number of former Texas
rangers who knew them.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Both.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Long Haired Jim sent for his wife and children, who
had been in La during this time. McIntyre also summoned
to his wife, and the two families headed to Fort Worth,
where they successfully fought extradition to New Mexico, claiming the
two men were actually Mexicans and they had been and
they had been performing their duties as lawmen. Now I
will tell you about the story about Luke, About Long

(06:01):
Haired Jim and Luke Short, who was Luke Short with
a gunfighter, gambler and a bar owner who had drifted
down to Fort Worth from Dodge City, Kansas. While in
Dodge City, Luke had dabbled in gambling and became friends
with several other noted Old West figures we've talked about
Bat Masterson, and Wyatt, who also become friends with Courtright
long Hair Jim. Long Hair Jim was running a protection

(06:24):
racket at the time, as a marshal needed to make
an example of Short, who had a sizable reputation of
a gunfighter, mostly due to an eighteen eighty one gunfight
with gunslinger Charlie Storms at the Oriental Saloon and Toombs
still remember that most of stereo historians believe the Long
Haired Jim offered protection to the White Elephant and the
Short informed him that he did not need his protection.

(06:45):
So at about eight pm on February eighth, eighteen eighty seven,
Long Haired Jim called out Luke Short, carrying a pair
of pistols and challenged him to come out of the
White Elephant, but a friend, Jake Johnson, managed to calm
one down and told him that they should talk about
the affair instead. In Luke's own accounts, both both men
walked up the street one block onto their were in
front of the bar and a brothel owner Ella Blackwell
Shooting Gallery. The two men facing one another three to

(07:07):
four feet apart. Words were passed, and evidently long Haired Jim,
who had been drinking considerably, had made some indication about
Short having a gun. Luke assured Long Hair he was
not armed, although he was. Long haired. Jim then said loudly,
don't you pull a gun on me. With that statement,
courtwright drew his pistol, and in that second Luke Short
produced his pistol and fired one shot, which took off

(07:27):
Long Haired Jim's thumb on a shooting hand. As long
Haired Jim shied attempted to shift his pistol to the
other hand, Luke Short fired four more shots, and Long
Haired Jim fell backward and died shortly thereafter the Short.
The showdown was also witnessed by fellow gunfighter Bat Masterson,
who was with Luke Short at the time. In nineteen
oh seven, Masterson published his own account of the events

(07:50):
that unfolded, in which he stated that it was long
Haired Jim who called for Luke Short to meet him
in the street for a confrontation. This is what Masterson said.
No time was wasted in the exchange of words. Once
the men faced each other, both drew their pistols at
the same time, but as usual, Luke Short spoke first,
and a bullet from a Colt's forty five caliber pistol

(08:11):
when crashing through Long Hair's body. The shock Caushims a
real backward and then he got another in still another,
and by the time his lifeless form had reached the floor,
Luke had succeeded in shooting him five times. Long Haired
Jim was shot three times, once in the thumb, once
on the right shoulder, and once in the harm. Investigations
on the gunfight concluded that it was long Haired Jim
who went for his pistol first, it was Luke Short

(08:33):
who ultimately outdrew and killed him. Short was tried for
the shooting, but it was rule justified self defense and
the charges were dismissed. Despite Long Haired Jim's reputation for
strong arming local businesses with his protection service, he did
reduce Fort Worth's murder rate by more than half the
previous level during his time there. As the Marshal, he
built a small force and included himself in two deputies,

(08:54):
which eventually grew into today's Fort Worth Police Force. There
you go, the story of Long Haired Jim