Johnny Ringo:
John Peters 'Ringo' Ringgold was a small-time western outlaw loosely affiliated with the Cochise County Cowboys in the frontier town of Tombstone. Ringgold would have more than likely passed into history had it not been for several books and films romanticizing the character into one of the fastest guns of the old West—principally due to the catchy name.
Johnny Ringo's grave is located in West Turkey Creek Canyon near the tree where the body was discovered. The tree is still standing today.
On the afternoon of July 13, 1882, at around 3:00 p.m., a single shot rang out across West Turkey Creek Canyon in the Arizona territory. The gunshot was heard at a local farm, the Smith house. The following day (July 14), a wood hauler, James Yoast, discovered the body of a man sitting against a tree. There was a bullet wound in his right temple and an exit wound in the back of the head; the wound's trajectory was upward at a 45-degree angle between the right eye and ear. A .45-caliber Colt revolver with one spent cartridge was hanging by the index finger of his right hand. Leaning against the tree was a .45-caliber model 1876 Winchester rifle. The man was identified as Johnny Ringo, an infamous criminal and vigilante. His death was ruled a suicide, and he was buried where his body was found. To this day, many still question the circumstances of his demise. The Tombstone Epitaph published: "Many friends will mourn him, and many others will take secret delight in learning of his death." ~ (The Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, July 22, 1882).
The John Ringo gravesite consists of several elements, a pile of stones under which his remains lie, a white headstone with the name and date of death, a monument erected by the Arizona Historical Society, and the tree where his body was found on July 14, 1882.
Ringgold's limited fame resulted primarily from his confrontation with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, fundamentally based on Earp's suspicions of Ringo's participation in the murder of his brother Morgan. Since this fleeting encounter with the Earps, Johnny Ringo became the subject of many books, some even considered non-fiction. His exploits were largely exaggerated and fictionalized into a legendary gunslinger who, in novels, was considered one of the fastest guns of the old West. In 1987, Jack Burrows, a Ringo biographer, more aptly described the man in his title, ‘Johnny Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was.’ In modern culture, most people recognize the character from the 1993 Hollywood Western 'Tombstone,' directed by George P. Cosmatos, in which Michael Biehn starred as the flamboyant Johnny Ringo.
John Peters Ringgold was born on May 3, 1850, in Greenford, Indiana. At the age of six, his family moved to Gallatin, Missouri, where he received a meager education. At nineteen, Ringgold left home and ended up in Mason County, Texas, where he joined the Scott Cooley gang and became involved in the Mason County War, a conflict over cattle ownership between German settlers and Texas ranchers. During this time, Ringgold shortened his name to 'Ringo.' He was arrested for his involvement in the Mason County dispute and jailed but was set free by Texas ranchers. He was later apprehended by Texas Rangers and incarcerated in Austin's state prison. Two years later, all charges were dropped, and, ironically, he was elected Constable of Llano County.
John Peters' Ringo' Ringgold, May 3, 1850 - July 13, 1882 (aged 32).
In 1879, Ringo left Texas and moved to the Arizona Territory. At a saloon in Safford, he bought a fellow customer, Louis Hancock, a shot of whiskey. Hancock refused, stating he preferred beer. Ringo took offense and shot Hancock in the gut, but Hancock survived. Ringo fled to Tombstone, where he joined another criminal gang, 'The Cochise County Cowboys.' Ringo befriended Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan and outlaws Curly Bill Brocius, Ike Clanton, and Frank Stilwell. Between 1881 and 1882, Ringo rustled cattle, committed robberies, and is believed (though unconfirmed) to have participated in murder.
Ringo was suspected by the Earps of taking part in Virgil Earp's ambush as he walked from the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, which crippled him for life on December 28, 1881. On January 17, 1882, Ringo and Doc Holliday traded threats outside the Oriental, which seemed headed for a gunfight. Both men were arrested by Tombstone's chief of police, James Flynn, and hauled before a judge for carrying firearms in town. Both were fined $30.00. The Earps further believed Ringo was involved in the murder of Morgan Earp while he was shooting billiards in Campbell and Hatch's saloon in Tombstone on March 18, 1882.
In the 1920s, Tombstone Deputy Billy Breckenridge, one of the last to see Ringo alive, visited the remote gravesite and sat in this tree's bough. A companion snapped a photo (the image is available on the Internet for a then and now comparison). He identified this tree as the site where Ringo's body was found.   
After the murder of Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday embarked on a crusade of vengeance known as the Earp vendetta ride, while Johnny Ringo fled to Mexico. After several weeks of heavy drinking, Johnny returned to Arizona, and on July 14, his body was found. Modern writers have proposed various theories attributing his death to Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, or Michael O'Rourke. The consensus among many historians around Tombstone is that 'Buckskin' Frank Lesley murdered Johnny Ringo. He was the only suspect with a motive and had the opportunity at the time of Ringo's death. The truth remains obscure to this day. Still, many believed Wyatt had returned to Arizona and killed Ringo. In several interviews later in his life, Earp seems to take credit for Ringo's death, a theory corroborated many years later by Wyatt's wife, Josephine. In her memoirs, she wrote that her husband and Holliday were responsible for Ringo's death; however, according to official records, Ringo had died almost four months after Wyatt had fled the state as a fugitive. Holliday was in court in Pueblo, Colorado, two days before Ringo's death.
Monument erected by the Arizona Historical Society.
Johnny Ringo was buried in West Turkey Creek Canyon, a few feet from where his body was found. He was 32. The movie Tombstone provides a somewhat loose interpretation of Johnny Ringo's death—at the hands of Doc Holliday! Shot in the head, left near a tree, having fired one round from a Colt revolver. Nevertheless, despite this romanticized conclusion, the majority of evidence supports the original decision that Ringo died by suicide.
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