The Notorious Texas Pistoleers - Ben Thompson & King Fisher (Second Edition) Known as two of the best pistol fighters of their day, Ben Thompson and John King Fisher have remained an enigma in the chronicles of the Western Frontier. While other gun fighters have achieved notoriety through the stories told in the pulp magazines and newspapers of the day, these two men have been largely ignored. Both were credited with killing a string of men during their lifetime and the mere mention of their names was usually enough to sober up a drunken opponent or cause a sober man to contemplate his own epitaph. These men were not cold-blooded murders, but rather stand-up gun fighters that faced their adversaries in the winner-take-all shootout. The Notorious Texas Pistoleers tells their story in vivid detail and relates the true account of their deaths in a mystery shrouded ambush in a San Antonio saloon on a chilly March night in 1884 "They called King Fisher and Ben Thompson bad men, but they wasn't bad men; they just wouldn't stand for no foolishness, and they never killed anyone unless they bothered them." Tom Sullivan, deputy sheriff in Medina County, Texas

The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher--a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent--have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.

The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher--a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent--have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.

Known as two of the best pistol fighters of their day, Ben Thompson and King Fisher have remained an enigma in the chronicles of the American West. While other gunfighters have achieved infamy through the stories told in pulp magazines and newspapers of the day these two men were largely ignored. Both were credited with killing a string of men during their lifetime and the mere mention of their names was usually enough to sober up a drunken opponent or cause a sober man to contemplate his own epitaph. The Texas Pistoleers tells their story in vivid detail and relates the historically accurate account of their deaths in a mystery shrouded ambush in a San Antonio saloon on a chilly March night in 1884.

America’s Wild West created an untold number of notorious characters, and in southwestern Texas, John King Fisher (1855-1884) was foremost among them. To friends and foes alike, he insisted he be called “King.” Standing over six feet tall, a dark and handsome man, King often dressed as a frontier dandy. A Texas Ranger remembered King as wearing an “ornamented Mexican sombrero, a black Mexican jacket embroidered with gold, a crimson sash and boots, with two silver-plated, ivory-handled revolvers swinging from his belt.” Early in life King fell victim to bad influences. After a stint in Huntsville Prison as a teenager, he found a home in the tough sun-beaten Nueces Strip, a lawless land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. There he gathered a gang of rustlers around him at his ranch on Pendencia Creek. For a decade King and his gang raided both sides of the Rio Grande, shooting down any who opposed them. Newspapers claimed King avoided the penalties prescribed by law by killing potential witnesses—in spite of many charges he was never convicted of cattle or horse stealing, or murder. King’s reign ended when he was arrested by Texas Ranger Captain Leander McNelly. In no uncertain terms he advised Fisher to change his ways. Having emerged victorious in gunfights with outlaws from across the Rio Grande, King Fisher chose a life style which would prove to be just as dangerous—deputy sheriff of Uvalde County. Now he would enforce the law, with his badge as well as his six-shooter. But his hard-won respectability would not last. On a spring night in 1884, King made the mistake of accompanying the truly notorious gambler and gunfighter Ben Thompson on a tour of San Antonio, where several years prior, over a gambling dispute, Thompson shot down Jack Harris at the latter’s saloon and theater, the Vaudeville. Recklessly, King Fisher accompanied Thompson back to the theater to call upon Harris’s former partners. Warned of their coming, assassins were waiting. Within minutes of entering the theater, when the smoke cleared, Fisher was stretched out beside Thompson, dead from thirteen gunshot wounds.

John King Fisher was a Texas gunslinger during the heyday of the Old West. He ran with a band of outlaws which carried out frequent raids into Mexico, during a time of massive raids, pillaging, looting, raping, and murder by United States and Mexican bandits. Pressure from the Texas Rangers caused Fisher to retire from this trade, and he began legitimate ranching. By the late 1870s, Fisher had a reputation as being fast with a gun, and was arrested several times for altercations in public by local lawmen. Although well known as a troublemaker, Fisher was well liked in south Texas. In 1884, while in San Antonio, Texas, on business, Fisher came into contact with his old friend, gunfighter and gambler Ben Thompson, who was involved in a feud, and was killed in an ambush there.--Adapted from Wikipedia.

Hell Bound, is a story of redemption. It’s 1883 and when the notorious faro dealer, Peyton Bonner, wins a Fort Worth hotel in a Denver poker game, he returns to Texas to claim his ownership. After being shot at the train station, he is forced to face the demons of his past. Peyton Bonner has become a mythological legend that was manufactured by the pulp writers and newspapers when he refused interviews or photographs. With each man he killed defending himself at his faro tables, they continued to replay their made-up conjectures to the point that it was deemed the "absolute truth." Now, tired of the rat-hole hotels, near starvation in the Dakotas, and having faced death from a ravaging fever in Leadville, Peyton wants out of the perilous life as a frontier gambler. But, can he?