John "Shotgun" Collins

John "Shotgun" Collins

1754
« previous next »
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 »
Identifier (messages:topics)
 

  Subject Views Last post
2735 Views October 10, 2019, 11:41:50 am
1794 Views October 13, 2019, 09:36:09 am
2011 Views October 14, 2019, 10:04:13 am
1700 Views October 14, 2019, 06:33:43 pm
1689 Views October 25, 2019, 05:09:07 pm
1556 Views October 31, 2019, 08:15:30 am
1886 Views November 01, 2019, 07:17:44 am
1857 Views November 03, 2019, 02:16:24 pm
1960 Views November 05, 2019, 04:45:09 pm
1845 Views November 07, 2019, 04:15:16 pm
1743 Views November 07, 2019, 04:24:41 pm
1827 Views November 07, 2019, 04:48:05 pm
1896 Views November 07, 2019, 05:00:55 pm
1692 Views November 08, 2019, 04:19:47 pm
1692 Views November 10, 2019, 04:31:25 pm
1839 Views November 13, 2019, 08:44:31 am
2181 Views November 13, 2019, 04:53:15 pm
1755 Views November 23, 2019, 09:59:58 am
2067 Views November 25, 2019, 05:30:04 pm
1938 Views December 05, 2019, 07:43:02 am
2096 Views December 08, 2019, 10:20:40 am
1962 Views December 08, 2019, 04:11:31 pm
1988 Views December 12, 2019, 04:24:09 pm
1773 Views December 16, 2019, 04:06:06 pm
1727 Views December 16, 2019, 04:20:29 pm
1572 Views December 20, 2019, 10:27:35 am
1512 Views December 30, 2019, 09:55:12 am
1874 Views January 04, 2020, 08:18:58 am
1891 Views January 05, 2020, 09:41:57 am
2378 Views January 05, 2020, 10:14:35 am
1821 Views January 07, 2020, 09:11:00 am
2081 Views January 16, 2020, 03:51:51 pm
1814 Views January 31, 2022, 08:42:13 am
1749 Views February 16, 2022, 11:37:57 am
2084 Views February 17, 2022, 06:26:33 am
2126 Views February 17, 2022, 06:49:15 am
5948 Views March 04, 2022, 10:24:27 am
6450 Views March 04, 2022, 04:07:29 pm
5154 Views March 11, 2022, 09:23:23 am
4788 Views March 15, 2022, 07:23:30 am
5123 Views March 20, 2022, 06:18:48 am
5655 Views March 20, 2022, 06:56:32 am
5268 Views March 22, 2022, 05:15:14 pm
5345 Views April 05, 2022, 09:48:58 am
5876 Views April 10, 2022, 05:06:26 am
5063 Views May 03, 2022, 08:40:36 am
5203 Views May 08, 2022, 10:20:54 am


SMF 2.0.18 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Copyright CanteyCollection.com