The Paper December 13, 2012 issue

Page 1

Volume 43- No. 50

by lyle e davis You probably never heard of Bob Paul. He was a lawman during the frontier days but he didn’t wear a mask and ride around with a loyal Indian companion; he didn’t have dime novels written about him; so far as we know, no movie has been made about him. Yet he was an outstanding lawman, known throughout California and the emerging Arizona and New Mexico territory as a top drawer lawman, very adept at tracking down and catching his man, or men, as the case might be. He was a colleague of a more well known frontier lawman; a fella by the name of Wyatt Earp. Bob Paul was there in Tombstone before, during, and after the shoot-out at the OK Corral. He just wasn’t a participant. Although he rates as one The Paper - 760.747.7119

website:www.thecommunitypaper.com

email: thepaper@cox.net

December 13, 2012

of the great peace officers of the Old West, Paul is remembered today principally for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and the stirring events both before and after the October 26, 1881, gunfight near the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.

He was responsible for disbanding the notorious Tom Bell gang in the California goldfields in 1856, and he is remembered for his desperate gun duel with the Sheehan band of train robbers in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1888.

He was a big man. 6’ 6”, 240 lbs. He was a crack shot, a good horseman, and an outstanding tracker.

He battled lynch mobs and tracked down horse thieves, cattle rustlers, murderers and stage robbers.

There are a lot of wonderful stroies about the old west and the lawmen that enforced the law and this is but one of them.

He was in several memorable gun battles of the Southwest, in which he emerged living. Five dangerous outlawas weren’t so lucky. They wound up six feet under.

Robert H. Paul had been a veteran lawman in Gold Rush California while the Earp brothers were still wearing knee pants. For nearly 50 years he enforced the law on two of the wildest frontiers of the Old West.

His shootout with the notorious Cowboys while riding shotgun on the Tombstone stage sparked Arizona Territory's infamous Earp-Clanton feud and its resulting showdown in that now famous vacant lot adjacent to the O.K. Corral.

He had bloody shootouts with the the Rancheria killers of the California Gold Rush area as well as the Red Jack gang in Arizona Territory almost 20 years later. We propose to take a little closer look at just one of his famous pursuits of “the bad guys,” the aforementioned pursuit of the Sheehan gang, the train robbers who fled to Mexico’s interior, thinking they’d be safe from the long arm of the law. They hadn’t reckoned with Bob Paul. Some outlaws had pulled off two daring train robberies east of Tucson. Quickly arrested were Larry Sheehan and Dick Johnson, a pair of loudmouthed, deadly cattle rustlers, but they were soon released for lack of evidence. As the two left the Pima County Courthouse, Sheehan remarked sarcastically

“Chihuahua Shoot-Out” Continued on Page 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.