My great-great uncle was a man named Barney Riggs. Uncle Barney was always quick to pull his gun. He died a fairly well-known gunfighter. Uncle Barney was shot and killed by his son-in-law in 1902 while in a drunken rage. Family lore has him killing 18 men in his 46 years on this earth. The history books have him down for anywhere from 9 - 12 killings.
Most of the rest of the following account is taken from a website in Fort Stockton where Uncle Barney is buried.
After Uncle Barney had returned from a cattle-buying trip in Texas, he came home (to Arizona) in September, 1886 to rumors that his wife had been having an affair with another man named Hudson. When Uncle Barney approached Hudson, the other man denied the story and Barney let it pass. However, just a few days later, Hudson was heard to have boasted of his seduction of Vennie Riggs, Uncle Barney's wife. On September 29, 1886, Hudson was shot and killed by an unseen gunman.
However, the ongoing dispute between Uncle Barney and Hudson was well known and Uncle Barney was the prime suspect. When a $250 reward was offered for Uncle Barney's capture, he took off into the mountains. Soon, Fred Dodge, a lawman in Tombstone, went after Uncle Barney. Working with Deputy Sheriff Charley Smith, the two set up a surveillance overlooking the Riggs Ranch. After they spied a rider signaling Vennie Riggs from a hill overlooking the ranch, they captured the couple and took them to Tombstone.
Vennie was soon released but Barney was held for trial. During the first trial held on November 11, 1886, the jury could not reach an agreement, as several of them held that killing a man for making sexual advances on his wife was justified. A mistrial was declared and a second trial began the next month. This time Uncle Barney was not as lucky as the jury could not condone an ambush murder. On December 31st he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life at the Arizona Territorial Prison in Yuma.
However, in October, 1887, when prison warden, Thomas Gates, was jumped by seven convicts in an escape attempt, his life was saved by Uncle Barney. Somehow, the convicts had obtained guns and when the attack occurred, a general melee broke out. The prison gates were closed but, as one of the convicts used Gates as a shield, Uncle Barney snatched a gun from another escapee, and killed the convict holding Gates. Uncle Barney's bravery won him a pardon and he was released on December 31, 1887, just one year after his conviction.
Uncle Barney alway liked to say that he went to prison for killing a man and he got out for killing a man.
