My Documentary

[Cajuncowboy]

I love stuff like this. I've been hooked on westerns and it's history ever since I was a little kid when I found out I am a direct descendant of Frank James.

Very, Very cool Hos.

 

[Hostile]

I had to tell you guys a few stories about Andy Cooper. Andy was born in Texas as Andy Blevins. He allegedly murdered someone in Texas and went on the lam to Arizona where he changed his named to Cooper.

I consider Andy Cooper to be the most fascinating figure in this whole story.

By far, he was the most feared outlaw in Arizona. There was a lot of speculation that he and Owens had rode together in Texas. It has never been proven. There was even a story afoot that they loved the same girl and were rivals.

Owens concentrated a lot of his duties as Sheriff on the Indians. He sent his deputies to finish off the Clanton gang who had fled Tombstone after the OK Corral shootout. The newspaper in St. John's actually published an article speculating that Owens was afraid of Cooper. Many Historians believe this article was what pushed Owens to finally attempt to arrest Cooper.

Andy's discovery of the Cherry Creek Ranch in Pleasant Valley has two different stories about how he acquired it. Neither was honest. One was that the Mormon family who owned the ranch was away to the Temple in Salt Lake City and he moved in and when they returned he told them to get lost. The more prevalent story was that he put a gun to the ranch owner's head and told him the family had 1 hour to load all that they wanted on a wagon. Either way, the ranch became a hub for horse theft.

Andy wrote to his family in Texas and told them he had a prime spot. They followed him to Arizona. The family also owned the house in Holbrook where the gunfight described earlier took place, but it is the activity at the ranch which is really fascinating.

You see, what went on at the Cherry Creek Ranch can only be described as amazing. Andy Cooper and his outlaws would travel to the Phoenix area and steal a herd of horses. They would take them to Cherry Creek and there they would change the horse. Brands were altered with running irons. Manes and tails were cropped. They even dyed or painted the horse's hair in places to make them look different. Once they were finished they would drive the horses on to Colorado and sell them.

They would then steal a herd of horses in Colorado and drive them back home to doctor them before driving them on to the Phoenix area to sell them to the ranchers who had horses stolen. In other words they would sell horses to the very people they had stolen from earlier.

Often there would be someone tracking the stolen herds. When they would make their way to the remote spot of the Cherry Creek Ranch in Pleasant Valley they would never be heard from again.

The most amazing story of these disappearances was written in the journals of an Arizona rancher named Converse. Converse told a story about being left in charge of a cowboy by two deputies who were on the trail of a killer. The cowboy's story was that he was met on the trail to California by a man calling himself Andy. He described Andy's horse as a fine animal, but played out. That meant he had been ridden very hard.

They rode together for a while and came upon a sheep herder. Andy traded his horse and 50 dollars to the sheep herder for a fresher horse and then they traveled on. About 30 minutes or so after leaving the sheep herder, Andy suddenly discovered that he had left his tally book back at the sheep herder's camp. He turned to retrieve it and promised to catch up.

He went back to the sheep herder's camp, killed the sheep herder and got his $50 back, plus whatever else he wanted. He then caught back up to the cowboy where they decided to make camp for the night. When the cowboy awoke the next morning it was to the sound of hammering.

Andy had pried the shoes off his traded horse and was nailing them on backwards. He said a quick goodbye and rode off. Obviously to most people the tracks would look like a horse arriving to the camp, not a horse leaving the camp.

The cowboy continued on and in a couple of hours he was overtaken by two deputies who were on the trail of a man who had killed someone a couple of days before. They accused him of killing the sheep herder. He told them the story of the backwards horse shoes and the mysterious cowboy who called himself Andy.

They took him to the Converse ranch and told him to stay there until they returned. They found the tracks of the backwards facing horse and tracked him to a mining cabin. Upon approaching the cabin a man called out to them. "I'm Cooper Blevins boys, the man you've been tracking." Realizing who it was and the danger they were in, they left and returned to the Converse ranch where they told the story to the cowboy and Converse. They told the man he was free to go and they left to round up a larger posse.

None of the 3 were ever seen again. A day later Converse said he found tracks on the ridge above his place of a horse with the shoes nailed on backwards.

In the space of less than a week Andy Cooper had probably killed 5 men.


The Blevins Family suffered horrible losses in 1887. The Blevins father, Mart, left the ranch in July to search for some strays. He was never seen again. His rifle was found 100 years later. His body never was to my knowledge. On August 9, 1887, Hamp Blevins and a cowboy named John Paine were killed in a gunfight at the Middleton Ranch. On September 4, 1887 Andy and Sam were killed by Owens and John was severally wounded in the gunfight in Holbrook. A little over two weeks after this on September 21, 1887, Charles Blevins and John Graham were killed by a posse at the Perkins Store. The Perkins Store is still standing and is a museum to this whole saga.

5 dead and 1 severally wounded in a space of 3 months.

 

[Route 66]

I've been hooked on westerns and it's history ever since I was a little kid when I found out I am a direct descendant of Frank James.

You sure it's not Rick James?

 

[Jarv]

Wild times Hos, I love reading the history of that area

 

[Cajuncowboy]

You sure it's not Rick James?

Could be...I'm a mutt anyways.

 

[tomson75]

Pretty captivating stuff Hos. I bet you've got a pretty sweet collection of literature on this stuff. Any suggestions?

 

[Yeagermeister]

You sure it's not Rick James?

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v628/cowboyszone/thread_stuff/chapelle-5fingerslap-reized.gif

 

[Hostile]

Pretty captivating stuff Hos. I bet you've got a pretty sweet collection of literature on this stuff. Any suggestions?

Yes, but they are a little hard to find sometimes.

Real quick, John Fuller wrote a poem about Owens skills with a gun.

Commodore Owens was the "Law of the West."
When outlaws defied him, they went to their rest.
He carried a forty-four on each side.
When he went after outlaws, they surrendered or died.


I have autographed copies of these books.

Arizona's Dark & Bloody Ground by Earle R. Forrest
I have a great story about how this book launched this chance for me. I consider it to be the most important book in my library. His collected notes and library comprise 17 linear feet in the Arizona Historical Museum about 6 blocks from my house. I found much of my resources there.


A Little War of Our Own by Don Dedera
He appears in the documentary.


Arizona's Graham - Tewksbury Feud by Leland Hanchett
Also is in the documentary and is a friend of mine. Here's his website URL

http://www.pinerim.com/

His books They Shot Billy Today and Black Mesa also have some info on this story. You can also see where he sells the same DVD, but cheaper.


The Hashknife: The Early Days of the Aztec Land & Cattle Company by Robert Carlock
The Aztec Land & Cattle Company is still in business. They were called the Hashknife because of the shape of their brand. Hollywood has often mentioned The Hashknife. Even in comedic terms in The Apple Dumpling Gang. The Aztec Land & Cattle Company were a huge Texas outfit who bought the grazing rights to every other square mile of land that they could. They basically bought a giant checkerboard of grazing land. This was actually a genius move. Very few would by the opposite squares to have the opposite checkerboard and cows do not recognize imaginary lines. Thus they got twice the grazing land for half the price.


If I could find an autographed copy of this one I'd plotz.

Apaches & Longhorns by Wil C. Barnes
I doubt any autographed copies even exist. I have sure looked.



Zane Grey's book, To The Last Man is a purely fictional story based on it. Randolph Scott did a movie of the same name that was supposed to be about it as well, though it was changed to a civil war story. When it was shown in Tempe, Arizona in 1933 some of the cowboys were still alive, though very old. One of them exited the theater, looked down at his grandson, and said, "that ain't the way it was at all." I have that movie on VHS and he is right.

Doris Day did the only other movie that I know of that has ever mentioned it. It was called The Ballad of Josie. The feud is mentioned in a dialogue in that film. They actually report it rather truthfully. I've always wondered why Andrew McLaglin, the director, didn't pursue that movie. Maybe no one back then could find enough.

 

[Nors]

The Noose and hanging front theme/culture will need to be scaled back - JMO

 

[Route 66]

The Apple Dumpling Gang! Wow, I feel oooollldddd.

 

[Hostile]

I'll try to quit boring you guys soon. I wanted to tell you about Arizona's Dark & Bloody Ground by Earle R. Forrest.

One Sunday I was at church and a buddy of mine and I were talking. We discovered that my brother-in-law was a friend of his from their college days. He said he had been loaned a book and asked me if I would give it back. I said I would, so a couple of weeks later he gave me this book.

While I was waiting to return it to my brother-in-law the Director of this film called me along with the Associate Producer. My nephew was filming weddings and stuff for them and had told them I was a writer. They asked me if I had ever heard of Commodore Perry Owens. I admitted that I hadn't but said I had a book that might talk about him. I grabbed the book and it was an amazing tale.

The Director asked me if I would do some research for pay. I said I would. For the next 3 weeks he called me just about every night to find out what new things I had discovered. Finally he asked me what I had been waiting for. Did I want to write this? Oh hell yeah I did.

When filming was over I returned the book, very reluctantly.

I started looking for a copy of my own. Most of them I found were over $100.00. One day about 2 years ago I found one online in California for $25.00. Not only that but the ad said it was a signed copy. I scooped it up as fast as I could.

When the book arrived I couldn't wait to look at the signature. I had seen Earle Forrest's signature many times in looking through his papers at the Arizona Historical Museum. I spent hours going through everything I could find.

Sure enough, there was his signature. The book was dedicated to a man he calls his long time friend, named Harry Steinaman and the dedication says Forrest signed this on March 12, 1955. I started to scan through the book and I stumbled upon something else. In the pages of the book was a newspaper clipping of Earle R. Forrest's 1969 death and a later 1969 article about the donation of his papers to the Arizona Historical Society. The very papers I had used for my research. Both were written by Harry Steinman, the very man whom the book was dedicated to. There also was a tornout section from another book or magazine that talks about Forrest's book.

I feel like I was meant to have this edition of this book.