Wild West memories of gun-toting heroes

OCAL people were thrilled when Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West Show to Huddersfield in 1904.

Cowboys and Red Indians rode from the railway station to Longley Park to stage the spectacular event.

As I wrote in yesterday’s column, gunfights in lawless towns and Custer’s Last Stand had happened within living memory of many Examiner readers, who had been able to follow the events in the newspaper.

But readers have reminded me that Yorkshire also had its own local heroes who helped create frontier legends.

The Three Greenhorns were Tykes who went looking for adventure in 1862 when they emigrated to Canada.

John Morton was from a family of famous potters in Salendine Nook and his friend Samuel Brighouse was the son of the landlord of the local pub The Spotted Cow.

On ship they met fellow Yorkshire lad William Hailstone. They failed as gold miners and ended up in Indian territory on the North West Coast where Morton discovered land rich in clay around a natural deep water harbour.

They bought the whole area and made bricks. The business failed, in a country where wood was abundant for building, but the many acres they owned became Vancouver.

The two Huddersfield lads, Samuel Brighouse and John Morton, ended up the equivalent of millionaires.

William Hailstone returned home and broke his neck falling downstairs.

Legendary gun fighter Ben Thompson was a friend of Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterton and Doc Holliday, which was not bad for a lad born in Knottingley, near Pontefract.

He lived there until the family emigrated when he was eight in 1851 – the same year the Examiner was first published.

The Thompson’s settled in Austin, Texas, and Ben chose excitement over a normal career.

He became a Texas Ranger, joined the Confederate Army when Civil War broke out, and afterwards fought for Maximilian in the Mexican Civil War.

He became a professional gambler, owned saloons and was, for a time, City Marshall of Austin.

He was shot in the back and killed in an ambush in The Vaudeville Theatre in San Antonio.

He packed a lot into a short life: He was 40 years old when he died.

He was acknowledged as one of the greatest pistol fighters in the West and was said to have no fear and nerves of steel.

A report said: “The men he shot and killed were without exception men who had tried to kill him.”