Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for the legendary law and order stories of
the wild West. This podcast features of 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 (00:27):
We want to welcome everybody who's now joining us. We
have a lot of new followers and listeners, and we
thank you for that. Today we're talking about Turkey Creek
Jock Johnson. You might remember him in the movie Tombstone.
It's a pretty accurate depiction of a historian wrote about
Wyatt Earp, the Ok Corral and Doc Holiday. Remember it's
only the historians views we have. It's about as accurate
(00:49):
as we can gat. But the movie did a good
job and they mentioned Turkey Creek Jack Johnson if you
remember when he came out of the bar after a shootout,
actually a shootout after the came out of the bar.
And then they also joined Wyatt Earp as a member
of the posse during the Erp Vendetta ride against the cowboys.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So who was.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson. Well, Johnson was not to be
a former bookkeeper and lawyer coming from Missouri, Wyatt believed
that Johnson's real name was John Blunt, but there's no
evidence to support it. It is known that in eighteen
eighty one, he was about thirty four years of age.
He and his brothers are alleged to have fled Missouri
after being involved in a violent street clash in the
(01:29):
mining town of Webb City, Missouri. It opposed brother Bud Blunt,
a known drunkard who had killed a man a tip
top Arizona in eighteen eighty one, was sent to Yuma Prison.
If you're not familiar, the Yuma a Territorial Prison is
a former prison located in Uma, Arizona. It opened at
eighteen seventy six and shut down about thirty some years
(01:51):
later in nineteen oh nine. Now it as one of
the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register
of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National hareriag Tig area.
You can see pictures of it. You can go online
you can see the picture's main gate to the Yuma
Territorial Prison. It's actually a pretty cool looking prison. Opened
while Arizona was still a US territory. The prison accepted
(02:12):
its first inmate on July first, eighteen seventy six. For
the next thirty years, it had three thousand prisoners, including
twenty nine women, serving sentences there for crimes ranging from.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Murder to polygamy.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
That's everybody. The prison was under continuous construction, with labor
provided by the prisoners. Back to our story, Johnson was
not actually a gunman, though in the traditional sense, but
was inaccurately portrayed as such in Stuart Lake's mostly fictional book.
RB claimed to use him as an informer on the Cowboys,
but he was involved in two gunfights. Reportedly in November sixth,
(02:46):
eighteen seventy two in Kansas Town, Marshall Johnson.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Killed MJ.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Fitzparent Fitzpatrick, who in a drunken quarrel had killed Judge
George Halliday. The same man named John Johnson was pompably
Tombstone according to the eighteen eighty census, and may have
ridden with Wyatt Earth, indicating Turkey Creek. Jack Johnson and
John Johnson the Marshall are likely one and the same,
so Turkey Creek could have been the Marshal of Newton
(03:14):
counsas Newton, Kansas, Turkey Creek supposedly spend some time in
Deadwood in the Dakota Territory in eighteen seventy six. He
said to participate in a gunfight there where he calmly
and slowly used two pistol shots to kill two men
in a distance of about thirty yards after allegations of
cheating were charged following a game of poker. They were
both trying to kill them with multiple pistol shots. Their
(03:36):
mistake was trying to use a quick draw while moving
towards Johnson. Their spray of shots went wild. Johnson simply
turned sideways to make himself a smaller target, raised his
opposite arms he used as a gun rest, and took
a beat on each man, killing them with one shot apiece.
It is debated as whether this actually occurred, but aren't
most of the stories in the wild West debated, but
(03:56):
town historians and modern day event and actors stated publicly
that there were not one, but two separate stories published
about this particular gunfight in the Deadwood Town newspaper in
the days following its currens. This is one way they
tried to validate the accuracy of a story. Tricky Creek
is believed it had later spent time in Dodge City, Kansas,
Little is known about exactly when he met Wydrup. Could
(04:18):
have been during Wyatt's buffalo Huntington days buffalo hunting days
in Deadwood, or during the time that they were both
in Dodge City. He is believed to have first ventured
into Arizona Territory while working in a cattle drive alongside
Sherman McMasters, Curly Bill Brochius, and Pony Deal in eighteen
seventy eight. Brocious and Deal had only recently left the
(04:40):
Murphy Dole in faction, having both taken part in the
Lincoln County War opposite Billy the Kid and his regulators,
which we'll be looking at in the future. By the way,
Charles Pony Deal Ray was an old West outlaw in
the New Mexico territory, and he was accused by Wyderup
of having taken part in an attempt to kill his brother Virgil.
Deal was not tried to lack of evidence. Writer Flood
(05:03):
John Flood that is and has unpublished nineteen twenty six
manuscriptive White Biography, said that Johnson was an old friend
of the IRPs when they came to Tombstone, and this
fits with the facts of Johnson's presence on the train
to protect Virgil as he left Tombstone for the last
time as a posseman in the IRB posse which protected
Virgil on the train. Johnson was co indicted in absentia
(05:24):
with Doc Holliday, WIEB Warren IRB, and Sherman McMasters and
the killing of Frank Stillwell if you remember that story
from our previous podcast. Johnson returned with the others to
Tombstone in a Frey Tane that night and the next
day now drawn by Texas. Jack Vermilion, which we'll be
looking at him too, wrote out in the earth Bendetta
Ride of eighteen eighty two, by which time he was
(05:46):
a wanted man in the territory for the killing of Stillwell.
Remember that it was kind of a weird situation when
they were hunting for the cowboys. The law was a
little bit of corrupt. It was kind of a battle
between the corrupt lawmakers and then corrupt lawmakers.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So it was kind of a weird scenario all around.
After the IRB Vendetta Ride, Johnson escaped through Colorado then Texas.
According to the Flood Manuscript, Johnson died of turberculosis in
Salt Lake City eighteen eighty seven, survived there by his widow.
I want to take it back for a second and
look at the Irb Vendetta ride. We talked about it
(06:22):
in another podcast, which was the deadly search by a
federal posse led by Wyatt. Irb. He was a deputy
deputized US Marshal for a confederation of outlaw cowboys. That's
what they were going for. They believe that had ambushed his brother,
Virgil and Morgan. The two Arp brothers have been attacked
in retaliation for the deaths of the three cowboys in
the gunfight at the Ok Croach you probably already know.
(06:43):
From March twentieth to April fifteenth, so a little less
than a month, the federal posse searched southeast Coacheese County
in Arizona Territory for the men they believed were responsible
for the attacks on Virgil and Morgan. Several suspects have
been identified and were charged, but were soon released by
the court, owing and so cases to legal technicalities and
in others to the strength of alibis provided by cowboy confederates,
(07:05):
which what they were known to do. Wyatt hoped that
the legal system would bring the cowboys to justice. But
after suspects and both ambushes were freed, Wyatt took the
matters into his own hands, and hence you had the
famous Herb Vendetta ride and his posse. So Jack was
on that Turkey Creek was on that mission. The Flood
(07:30):
Manuscript biography states that Turkey Creek Johnson was also a
member of the Masonic Lodge in Salt Lake City. The
Masonic Lodge or the Freemasons or Masons, refers to a
fraternal organization that traces their origins to the local guills
of stone Masons from the end of the thirteenth century,
regulated the qualifications of stone Masons and their interaction with
authorities and clients. Freemasonry has been the subject of numerous
(07:53):
conspiracy theories throughout the years. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of
two groups. Regular Freemasonry insisted of all the scripture be
open in a working lodge and that every member professed
belief in a supreme being. And then this continental free
main scenery consisting of the jurisdictions that have removed some
or all of these restrictions. A little complicated, and kind
(08:14):
of that we digress too far, So let's bring it
back to the story, Turkey Creek Johnson has estimated his
age of death was about thirty five. This last information
has been used to estimate the birthday given above. However,
it is heavily suspect this Flood's information of the death
age of Vermilion was very wrong. That's pretty much the
end of our story about Turkey Creek Johnson. There wasn't
(08:35):
a whole lot about him, but I did think since
we were covering a lot of these characters from the
movie Tombstone, it'd be kind of nice to see the
backgrounds of all the major characters that we've had. Turkey
Creek Johnson in the movie was the guy who was
wearing the blue shirt. He kind of had a I
forgot what they call that type of hat. He had
(08:56):
the I know the exact name of the hat, but
it was shaped. It had the four dent military crown
with a hand shaped brim. The crown was about six
inches or so, the open four dent military it was.
The brim was about four inches, hand shaped and bent bound.
You can see the hat. It was actually kind of
(09:17):
a cool hat that they had. Again, that's our story
of Turkey Creek Johnson so he was real. He did
ride with the IRPs in retaliation or a vendetta for
killing one Earp and attack shooting another. That's it for now, folks,
It's time for the legendary law and order stories of
the wild West. This podcast features of 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 (00:27):
We want to welcome everybody who's now joining us. We
have a lot of new followers and listeners, and we
thank you for that. Today we're talking about Turkey Creek
Jock Johnson. You might remember him in the movie Tombstone.
It's a pretty accurate depiction of a historian wrote about
Wyatt Earp, the Ok Corral and Doc Holiday. Remember it's
only the historians views we have. It's about as accurate
(00:49):
as we can gat. But the movie did a good
job and they mentioned Turkey Creek Jack Johnson if you
remember when he came out of the bar after a shootout,
actually a shootout after the came out of the bar.
And then they also joined Wyatt Earp as a member
of the posse during the Erp Vendetta ride against the cowboys.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So who was.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson. Well, Johnson was not to be
a former bookkeeper and lawyer coming from Missouri, Wyatt believed
that Johnson's real name was John Blunt, but there's no
evidence to support it. It is known that in eighteen
eighty one, he was about thirty four years of age.
He and his brothers are alleged to have fled Missouri
after being involved in a violent street clash in the
(01:29):
mining town of Webb City, Missouri. It opposed brother Bud Blunt,
a known drunkard who had killed a man a tip
top Arizona in eighteen eighty one, was sent to Yuma Prison.
If you're not familiar, the Yuma a Territorial Prison is
a former prison located in Uma, Arizona. It opened at
eighteen seventy six and shut down about thirty some years
(01:51):
later in nineteen oh nine. Now it as one of
the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register
of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National hareriag Tig area.
You can see pictures of it. You can go online
you can see the picture's main gate to the Yuma
Territorial Prison. It's actually a pretty cool looking prison. Opened
while Arizona was still a US territory. The prison accepted
(02:12):
its first inmate on July first, eighteen seventy six. For
the next thirty years, it had three thousand prisoners, including
twenty nine women, serving sentences there for crimes ranging from.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Murder to polygamy.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
That's everybody. The prison was under continuous construction, with labor
provided by the prisoners. Back to our story, Johnson was
not actually a gunman, though in the traditional sense, but
was inaccurately portrayed as such in Stuart Lake's mostly fictional book.
RB claimed to use him as an informer on the Cowboys,
but he was involved in two gunfights. Reportedly in November sixth,
(02:46):
eighteen seventy two in Kansas Town, Marshall Johnson.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Killed MJ.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Fitzparent Fitzpatrick, who in a drunken quarrel had killed Judge
George Halliday. The same man named John Johnson was pompably
Tombstone according to the eighteen eighty census, and may have
ridden with Wyatt Earth, indicating Turkey Creek. Jack Johnson and
John Johnson the Marshall are likely one and the same,
so Turkey Creek could have been the Marshal of Newton
(03:14):
counsas Newton, Kansas, Turkey Creek supposedly spend some time in
Deadwood in the Dakota Territory in eighteen seventy six. He
said to participate in a gunfight there where he calmly
and slowly used two pistol shots to kill two men
in a distance of about thirty yards after allegations of
cheating were charged following a game of poker. They were
both trying to kill them with multiple pistol shots. Their
(03:36):
mistake was trying to use a quick draw while moving
towards Johnson. Their spray of shots went wild. Johnson simply
turned sideways to make himself a smaller target, raised his
opposite arms he used as a gun rest, and took
a beat on each man, killing them with one shot apiece.
It is debated as whether this actually occurred, but aren't
most of the stories in the wild West debated, but
(03:56):
town historians and modern day event and actors stated publicly
that there were not one, but two separate stories published
about this particular gunfight in the Deadwood Town newspaper in
the days following its currens. This is one way they
tried to validate the accuracy of a story. Tricky Creek
is believed it had later spent time in Dodge City, Kansas,
Little is known about exactly when he met Wydrup. Could
(04:18):
have been during Wyatt's buffalo Huntington days buffalo hunting days
in Deadwood, or during the time that they were both
in Dodge City. He is believed to have first ventured
into Arizona Territory while working in a cattle drive alongside
Sherman McMasters, Curly Bill Brochius, and Pony Deal in eighteen
seventy eight. Brocious and Deal had only recently left the
(04:40):
Murphy Dole in faction, having both taken part in the
Lincoln County War opposite Billy the Kid and his regulators,
which we'll be looking at in the future. By the way,
Charles Pony Deal Ray was an old West outlaw in
the New Mexico territory, and he was accused by Wyderup
of having taken part in an attempt to kill his brother Virgil.
Deal was not tried to lack of evidence. Writer Flood
(05:03):
John Flood that is and has unpublished nineteen twenty six
manuscriptive White Biography, said that Johnson was an old friend
of the IRPs when they came to Tombstone, and this
fits with the facts of Johnson's presence on the train
to protect Virgil as he left Tombstone for the last
time as a posseman in the IRB posse which protected
Virgil on the train. Johnson was co indicted in absentia
(05:24):
with Doc Holliday, WIEB Warren IRB, and Sherman McMasters and
the killing of Frank Stillwell if you remember that story
from our previous podcast. Johnson returned with the others to
Tombstone in a Frey Tane that night and the next
day now drawn by Texas. Jack Vermilion, which we'll be
looking at him too, wrote out in the earth Bendetta
Ride of eighteen eighty two, by which time he was
(05:46):
a wanted man in the territory for the killing of Stillwell.
Remember that it was kind of a weird situation when
they were hunting for the cowboys. The law was a
little bit of corrupt. It was kind of a battle
between the corrupt lawmakers and then corrupt lawmakers.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So it was kind of a weird scenario all around.
After the IRB Vendetta Ride, Johnson escaped through Colorado then Texas.
According to the Flood Manuscript, Johnson died of turberculosis in
Salt Lake City eighteen eighty seven, survived there by his widow.
I want to take it back for a second and
look at the Irb Vendetta ride. We talked about it
(06:22):
in another podcast, which was the deadly search by a
federal posse led by Wyatt. Irb. He was a deputy
deputized US Marshal for a confederation of outlaw cowboys. That's
what they were going for. They believe that had ambushed his brother,
Virgil and Morgan. The two Arp brothers have been attacked
in retaliation for the deaths of the three cowboys in
the gunfight at the Ok Croach you probably already know.
(06:43):
From March twentieth to April fifteenth, so a little less
than a month, the federal posse searched southeast Coacheese County
in Arizona Territory for the men they believed were responsible
for the attacks on Virgil and Morgan. Several suspects have
been identified and were charged, but were soon released by
the court, owing and so cases to legal technicalities and
in others to the strength of alibis provided by cowboy confederates,
(07:05):
which what they were known to do. Wyatt hoped that
the legal system would bring the cowboys to justice. But
after suspects and both ambushes were freed, Wyatt took the
matters into his own hands, and hence you had the
famous Herb Vendetta ride and his posse. So Jack was
on that Turkey Creek was on that mission. The Flood
(07:30):
Manuscript biography states that Turkey Creek Johnson was also a
member of the Masonic Lodge in Salt Lake City. The
Masonic Lodge or the Freemasons or Masons, refers to a
fraternal organization that traces their origins to the local guills
of stone Masons from the end of the thirteenth century,
regulated the qualifications of stone Masons and their interaction with
authorities and clients. Freemasonry has been the subject of numerous
(07:53):
conspiracy theories throughout the years. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of
two groups. Regular Freemasonry insisted of all the scripture be
open in a working lodge and that every member professed
belief in a supreme being. And then this continental free
main scenery consisting of the jurisdictions that have removed some
or all of these restrictions. A little complicated, and kind
(08:14):
of that we digress too far, So let's bring it
back to the story, Turkey Creek Johnson has estimated his
age of death was about thirty five. This last information
has been used to estimate the birthday given above. However,
it is heavily suspect this Flood's information of the death
age of Vermilion was very wrong. That's pretty much the
end of our story about Turkey Creek Johnson. There wasn't
(08:35):
a whole lot about him, but I did think since
we were covering a lot of these characters from the
movie Tombstone, it'd be kind of nice to see the
backgrounds of all the major characters that we've had. Turkey
Creek Johnson in the movie was the guy who was
wearing the blue shirt. He kind of had a I
forgot what they call that type of hat. He had
(08:56):
the I know the exact name of the hat, but
it was shaped. It had the four dent military crown
with a hand shaped brim. The crown was about six
inches or so, the open four dent military it was.
The brim was about four inches, hand shaped and bent bound.
You can see the hat. It was actually kind of
(09:17):
a cool hat that they had. Again, that's our story
of Turkey Creek Johnson so he was real. He did
ride with the IRPs in retaliation or a vendetta for
killing one Earp and attack shooting another. That's it for now, folks,
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