Johnny Ringo: The Wild West Outlaw Who Died A Mysterious Death
Public DomainThe only known photograph of Wild West outlaw Johnny Ringo.
Most Wild West outlaws are famous for how they lived. Yet Johnny Ringo is famous for how he died. To date, no one is exactly sure what happened to Ringo in 1882 in Arizona — but theories have proliferated for years.
Like other outlaws on this list, Ringo was practically born into a life of crime. He was related by blood to both the James brothers and the Younger brothers, and even spent a year at the Youngers’ home after his father died in a shotgun accident, a traumatic incident that Ringo witnessed.
Despite these dubious roots, however, Ringo apparently spent the first part of his life on the right side of the law. According to the National Parks Service, it wasn’t until Ringo was 25 years old that he got in trouble for shooting a man and threatening two lawmen. From there, his infamy grew.
YouTubeJohnny Ringo, played by Michael Biehn, faces Doc Holliday, played by Val Kilmer, in the 1993 film Tombstone. The movie imagines that Holliday killed Ringo, but that may not have been true.
According to Legends of America, Ringo developed a reputation as a gunfighter. Interestingly enough, he briefly entertained a career as a lawman. But by 1879, Ringo had made his way to Tombstone, Arizona, where he soon fell in with a crowd of cattle rustlers called the Clanton Gang.
This put Ringo at odds with the lawmen in town, the Earp brothers, and their friend, Doc Holliday. Though Ringo didn’t participate in the O.K. Corral shootout, he was loathed by Holliday and the Earps. And when Wyatt Earp’s brother Morgan Earp turned up dead, some thought Ringo had killed him.
Just a few months later, however, on July 14, 1882, Ringo was found dead as well. According to Old West, a teamster found him sitting against a tree with a gun in his hand and a bullet in his head. Though a coroner ruled that Ringo had died by suicide, some believe that he was actually murdered. Both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday have been suggested as suspects.
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