Jesse Evans
Jesse Evans | |
|---|---|
 Jesse Evans and a woman, c. 1870 | |
| Born | c. 1853 |
| Disappeared | 1882 Huntsville, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Outlaw, gunman |
Jesse Evans (c. 1853 — disappeared 1882) was an American
Early outlaw life
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2020) |
Jesse J. Evans is believed to have been born around 1853 in
Evans began working as a cowboy and was employed by several ranches, including that of John Chisum. After ending his employment with Chisum, Evans ventured to both Las Cruces and La Mesilla, New Mexico, where he became associated with John Kinney. At the time, Kinney was leading one of the more well-known gangs in the New Mexico Territory, called the John Kinney Gang. Evans joined the gang, and over time he and Kinney became close.
On the night of December 31, 1875, Kinney, Evans,
Forming of his own gang
Kinney had been badly wounded in the earlier fight, and needed to heal. A short time after that night, while Kinney was still healing, Evans and gang member Samual Blanton shot and killed Quirino Fletcher in Las Cruces, for reasons still not known. There was also alleged to have been a third shooter present, a man named Morris, but that is unconfirmed.
Evans stood trial for the murder, but was acquitted. It was around this time that Evans broke away from the Kinney Gang to form his own gang. Several of the Kinney Gang members joined him in the new gang, including Billy Morton, Frank Baker, Jim McDaniels, Buffalo Bill Spawn, Dolly Graham, Tom Hill, Bob Martin, Nicholas Provencio, and Manuel Segovia. Although usually referred as the "Jesse Evans Gang", they referred to themselves as "The Boys".
Lincoln County War and after
In late 1877 the gang was hired by the "Murphy-Dolan faction" prior to and eventually during the Lincoln County War, to face off against Billy the Kid and his faction. Despite the fame that Billy the Kid would eventually receive due to the war, by many accounts Evans was the most feared of the two factions. Evans and members of his gang harassed rancher John Tunstall, and on February 18, 1878, Evans, Frank Baker, William Morton, and Tom Hill murdered Tunstall, which ignited the Lincoln County War.
Evans would figure prominently into the range war, often taking the lead on operations against the Lincoln County Regulators. His role is often downplayed, but in most documented accounts, Evans was at the front. In later letters written by Billy the Kid to Governor Lew Wallace, Evans was mentioned, and Billy Bonney even stated in one that he feared being assassinated by Evans. On March 6, 1878 William Morton and Frank Baker were tracked down by the Regulators and killed for the Tunstall murder, and on that same day Evans and Tom Hill were rustling sheep during which Hill was killed and Evans was wounded by the sheep farmer. On April 29, 1878, Evans led a posse that killed Regulator Frank McNab and badly wounded Regulator Ab Saunders.
On April 30, 1878,
After the Lincoln War ended, Evans and gang member Billy Campbell on February 18, 1879, killed an
Joe Hines
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2020) |
In 1948, a probate investigator from St. Louis, Missouri, William V. Morrison, located an elderly man called Joe Hines in Florida, who had claimed the lands of his deceased brother.
During Morrison's interview, Hines said that of those involved in the Lincoln County War in New Mexico, three, including himself, remained alive, and that the other two were Jim McDaniels (an Evans Gang member) and Billy the Kid.
Hines told Morrison of his experiences in the range war and surprised him by claiming that Billy the Kid was still alive, but refused to reveal the name he had assumed or exactly where he was living.[4] Some commentators have suggested that Hines was actually Evans, living under an assumed name.[5]
Morrison privately continued his search for the man who claimed to be Billy the Kid, and in 1948 an elderly man named Frank J. Dalton in Lawton, Oklahoma claimed to be Jesse James, and said Billy the Kid was still alive in Hamilton Texas, where he was known as O. L. Roberts.[6]
With some coaxing, Roberts did talk to Morrison, who found his story convincing enough to write a book detailing Roberts' exploits as Billy the Kid, but eventually his story was discredited by almost all historians. Hines won his case, and was granted his brother's land in North Dakota, although it was never shown that Hines had been Evans.
Morrison also attempted to track down former Evans Gang member Jim McDaniels, locating him in Round Rock, Texas. McDaniels, along with Severo Gallegos, Martile Able, Jose Montoya, and Bill and Sam Jones, all of whom had known Billy the Kid, signed affidavits claiming to verify that Roberts was, in fact, Billy the Kid.[citation needed]
In popular culture and media
In the 1970 movie Chisum, Evans is portrayed by Richard Jaeckel. The character is aligned with the Murphy/Dolan faction and is shot dead by Billy the Kid when trying to escape in the aftermath of the Battle of Lincoln.
Evans appears in three western novels written by William W. Johnstone, although his three appearances present radical continuity problems for Johnstone's shared western universe. In The Last Gunfighter: Vengeance of the Mountain Man, he is among a group of outlaws who the villain tries to hire to kill the gunfighter Smoke Jensen. Evans refuses and leaves, and it's mentioned that he boasts of having backed down Billy the Kid, but that many people have been making this claim since Billy's death. Two books later, The Last Gunfighter: Battle of the Mountain Man features Evans in a more antagonistic role. Battle of the Mountain Man takes place during the Lincoln County War even though it references the events of Vengeance of the Mountain Man, which takes place long after the war. In Battle of the Mountain Man, Evans is a ruthless and arrogant figure who, around the time of Tunstanll's death, leads a gang of rustlers who attack Jensen while he is delivering beef to John Chisum. Evans constantly underestimates Jensen even as the gunfighter kills his best men and only survives due to never personally facing Jensen. Evans is also a major antagonist in Rage of Eagles, the fifth book a series which crosses over with The Last Mountain Man series on occasion. Rage of Eagles ignores the events of Battle of the Mountain Man and features Evans in a mainly historically accurate role, only for him and his gang to be ambushed and wiped out by the protagonist and several of Billy the Kid's regulators a few days after Pat Garrett claims the bounty on Billy.
References
- ^
According to one contemporary report dated January 3rd 1876, the soldiers came from "E" Company/Third Battalion/8th U.S. Cavalry. Two persons were killed-a Private Le Voir and a Mexican and three other soldiers were badly wounded and another soldier was found badly beaten. See Arizona citizen., January 15, 1876, Image 2. According to one newspaper report January 29, 1876 there were 3 to 4 killed and one crippled. See the Las Vegas gazette. volume, January 29, 1876, Image 1. There are different versions of casualties – see Footnotes #1; #2 #3 on ISBN 978-0806131047. {reference only}.
- ^ Gomber, Drew (6 March 1998). "Western Destinies". Roswell Daily Record. p. 33. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ISBN 978-0865347175.
- ISBN 978-1-58979-403-0.
- ISBN 978-1-62585-511-4.
- ISBN 978-0-312-86848-2.
External links
- Jesse Evans
- Jesse Evans Gang as Enforcers
- Lincoln County War
- Lincoln County War Start to Finish
- Huston Chapman, Attorney for Alex McSween
- Billy the Kid's Cooperation with Lew Wallace, Murder of Huston Chapman
- Chronology of Billy the Kid
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