John Chisum dies in Arkansas
A central player in the violent Lincoln County War of 1878-81 the cattleman John Chisum dies at Eureka Springs Arkansas.Born in Tennessee in 1824 Chisum moved with his family to Paris Texas when he was eleven years old.For several years he worked as construction contractor but in 1854 he decided to go into the cattle ranching business.By 1875 Chisum was running over 80000 head of cattle near the Pecos River in Lincoln County New Mexico.
Inevitably such a large herd ranging over a vast and isolated area attracted the interests of rustlers and Chisum claimed to have lost nearly 10000 head to thieves.Fed-up Chisum joined forces with two other New Mexico cattle kings to do battle with the small cattlemen and merchants they believed were behind the thefts.In particular the big ranchers targeted two Irishmen who owned a large general store called the House in the town of Lincoln.
Besides giving aid to the rustlers and small ranchers that Chisum despised the House also managed to gain control over most of the government contracts for supplying beef to Army posts and Indian Reservations undercutting the ability of the big ranchers to sell their cattle directly to these buyers at high profits.When a deputy sheriff under the control of the House murdered one of Chisums allies in 1878 the Lincoln County War erupted.The battle was about more than that murder thoughit was a struggle for economic and political control of the region.Chisum and the big ranchers turned their cowboys into gunslingersincluding a friendly young man named William Bonney better know as Billy the Kid.Billy the Kid became one of the ranchers most loyal and fierce allies playing a role in the murder of many of the supporters of the House.
When the House eventually emerged from the war victorious Bonney turned to Chisum for help demanding 500 in wages for his murderous work.When Chisum refused Billy turned against the rancher and took payment by stealing Chisums cattle and horses.Suddenly abandoned by Chisum and the other powerful interests that protected him from the reach of the law Billy the Kids days were numbered.
His one-time friend Pat Garrett murdered him in 1881.Devastated by the Lincoln County War and the continuing losses of his cattle to rustlers and Indians Chisum lost much of his wealth and power.Nonetheless when he died at Eureka Springs Arkansas three years after the Lincoln County War ended in 1881 he left an estate that was still worth half a million dollars a striking indication of the massive wealth he had accumulated.
