March 2019 44 The "Real" Virginian continued from page 43 them, avoiding if possible the dire consequences of nature. Many if not most of the lone Cowboy ranchers who still yearned for the "Open Range" were also desperate to keep what little stock, if any, he had left but also wishing to build up their herds by "rustling" and branding any strays (the Mavericks) they found on the prairie, in many cases even if they had already been branded and owned by others. Both sides soon found themselves deeply at odds with one another, and a cycle of prairie ambushes, midnight shootings, and brazen daytime lynchings (such as the one that claimed the lives of Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson and Jim Averell) would soon dot the prairies and mountain ranges of Wyoming and Montana. It was a combustible situation ready to explode, and all it needed were some violent men ready and willing to set off the spark. Right there and then was the now-former Sheriff of Johnson County himself, Frank M. Canton, who, having lost a subsequent attempt to regain his former job, losing to future enemy Red Angus, chose to fully throw in his lot with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. By doing so, Canton had burned his bridges with the majority of the Honyockers and the small Cowboy ranchers who had helped to elect him twice. Ostensibly a "Stock Detective" for the Association, he, in short, became a feared hired gun for the ranching conglomerate, and by the late fall of 1892 the body count in Johnson County began to significantly rise. For Canton, the seeking out of so-called "rustlers" had also become a personal vendetta for him, never mentioned in his self-serving "autobiography", for in his previous life as a Texas Cowboy he had either known men like small rancher and presumed "rustler" John A. Tisdale, or may have known Nathan B. Champion, a Texas Cowboy who was openly hostile to the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. Both of these men were marked for destruction by the WSGA, and Canton may very well have been a willing assassin. The first to fall was Tisdale, who had known Canton when he was Joe Horner. On the afternoon of December 13, 1891, Tisdale was riding home from Buffalo in a wagon loaded with supplies for his ranch and Christmas presents for his wife and children. He got to a ditch several miles from town where he was shot dead by a rider, splashing his blood over his children' Christmas presents. A dog accompanying him howled in anger and tried to pursue the rider, who promptly shot him dead as well. The rider at first thought he had not been seen, but another Cowboy named Charlie Basch came upon the scene. Basch, hearing the shots, looked up to a nearby ridge and not only saw the assassin, whom he did not recognize but he did recognize his horse, for he had only months previous saved the rider's wife when the horses on her wagon bolted. He took the wife back to her ranch, whereupon the distraught but grateful husband arrived on the scene. He thanked Basch for saving his wife's life, and then urged the Cowboy to take his horse and ride into town for a doctor. The horse Basch saw up on that ridge was that same horse. The horse's name was "Old Fred" and the rider's name? Frank Canton. If the rider was indeed Canton, and there is very little doubt that it was, he recognized Basch as the man who had saved his wife's life and in paying that debt chose to spare the Cowboy's life. The death of Tisdale, another Cowboy rancher named Ranger Jones, and an attempt on the life of Nathan Champion inflamed the populace of Johnson County with Champion pointing an accusatory finger at the WSGA and the same Frank Canton he may have also known back in Texas as one Joe Horner. Champion and others vowed to form a rival association that would go on a "shotgun roundup" (Helena Huntington Smith, The Johnson County War in The American Heritage Book of Great Adventures in the Old West, 1969, p. 368) thus alarming the leadership of the WSGA. They decided to act, compiling a list of 70 ranchers and homesteaders who opposed them, marking them for death. They then summoned 25 members of the conglomerate as an "execution" squad, and with Canton's assistance recruited an additional 25 gunmen from Texas, many of whom Canton knew personally. On the morning of April 5, 1892, the extermination party of 50, augmented by friendly reporters and led by Major Frank Wolcott of the WSGA but with Canton in a secondary leadership role, boarded a train in WICKENBURG Arizona Ranch style home with amazing views on top of a hill in Wickenburg Country Club! There is a pool, spa, small horse set up with turn out and barn. The home boosts 2 master suites, one with it’s own private entrance! Almost 5 acres. $439,000 LAND FOR SALE 8 ACRES HORSE PROPERTY flat and usable; private well + 4 shares in a shared well. REDUCED! $165,000 (agent/owner) 8 PRISTINE ACRES OF HORSE PROPERTY in the heart of Wickenburg. Great Views! Can be split into two - 4 acre lots (survey available). Build on one and sell the other! $189,500 COMING SOON! 60 acres land off Castle Springs Road and the Old Stage Road (San Domingo Wash and Eddies Wash). Gorgeous hill top views in the Wickenburg Mountains. Live off the grid with privacy and patented mining claims. $150,000 for all 3 parcels or $60,000 MLS- 5873968; $50,000 MLS-5873964; or $60,000 MLS-5873971 Call Maureen for more information. MAUREEN SERRANO Saddle Up Realty and Property Management 623-521-2355 mserranosellsre@gmail.com Frank M. Canton played both sides of the law in his lifetime. He was a complex man throughout his life with his own code of justice. Not exactly the sanitized version of him that would be better known as "The Virginian" and certainly no Joel McCrea or Jim Drury. Many if not most of the lone Cowboy ranchers who still yearned for the “Open Range” were also desperate to keep what little stock, if any, he had left but also wishing to build up their herds by “rustling” and branding any strays (the Mavericks) they found on the prairie, in many cases even if they had already been branded and owned by others. Both sides soon found themselves deeply at odds with one another, and a cycle of prairie ambushes, midnight shootings, and brazen daytime lynchings (such as the one that claimed the lives of Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson and Jim Averell) would soon dot the prairies and mountain ranges of Wyoming and Montana.