John "Shotgun" Collins

John "Shotgun" Collins

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John "Shotgun" Collins
« on: December 26, 2019, 03:42:10 pm »
Here is a very rare tintype of John "Shotgun" Collins ( also known as John Graham and George Graham)  along with a fancy tie he wore about 1910 and a stick pin with his initials JC on it.   He was one of the most interesting and least known of the Western characters.    These items all came from his daugher Tabitha Graham after Collins' death in 1922.  There are other items not pictured.    John Collins was born  Abraham G. Graham in South Carolina in 1851.    As a teenager living in Limestone County, Texas (his family moved there in 1859), he became friends and a partner of John Westley Hardin.   Hardin, in his biography, writes about knowing him and that he, Collins, was married to one of Hardin's cousins, Tabitha Cox.    Early on, Collins was sought after by lawmen for rustling cattle so he moved to Mexico to live.   After that he moved to Uvalde, Texas and became one of the five members of the UVALDE MINUTEMEN ( essentially a vigilante group who cleaned up situations that law enforcement could not accomplish).  Collins then moved to Socorro County, New Mexico and killed a man named James "Jim" Smith.   He was arrested, bailed out and moved to Lincoln County, New Mexico.   There he became associated with Billy the Kid and his Regulators.    He was involved throughout the Lincoln County War and was with Billy when he killed Sheriff Brady in Lincoln.    He was again arrested in 1879 for rustling cattle and stealing horses.    His brother-in-law at this time, Deputy Sheriff John Long, who was married to Collins' sister Delila, got him off.

Collins married Tabitha Cox November 1, 1880.  She was his fourth wife.  They had six living children.   The family used the name Collins but later changed it back to Graham (thus his daughter's name, Tabitha Graham).   During this period, Collins (Graham) met Wyatt Earp and they became friends.   Collins worked for Wells Faro  where he also met Pat Garrett.    He changed his name from Graham back to John Collins (yes, this is all confusing because he changed his name like most men changed their pants).    It was during this period that he got the handle "Shotgun" John Collins.

In 1883 he went to Dodge City, Kansas and was a member of The Dodge City Peace Commission in support of Luke Short, who he befriended.    He chose not to be in the famous photograph when taken.     He knew all the men in both versions of the famous photograph well.    He left Dodge for El Paso, Texas and later on April 6, 1896,  he was present in the Wig Wam Saloon when John Selman was killed by George Scarborough.    He testified in the Selman murder trial in El Paso.     He was killed in a gun fight in El Paso, Texas when he was 71 years old in 1922.    He is buried, in an unmarked grave,  under the name John Graham,  in the Concordia Cemetery near John Westley Hardin. 

To sum up this amazing man's life:

He was a member of John Selmans Scouts
He fought in the Lincoln County War with the John Kinney Gang
He was a member of Billy the Kids second gang of Regulators/Rustlers
He was a member of the Dodge City Peace Commission, Dodge City, Kansas, 1883
He was hired by the U.S. Army as a Calvary Scout during the Apache Wars
He was a buffalo hunter and owned several ranches.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2019, 08:00:17 pm by Emory Cantey »
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