By accident, I just found an IMDB listing for a 2016 movie (which I suspect is of the direct-to-video kind) called STAGECOACH: THE TEXAS JACK STORY. The IMDB listing, as of this writing, lacks the usual plot summary, so I'm curious if the "Texas Jack" of the subtitle is the Texas Jack of Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Ride.
shareHere's the storyline:
http://www.movieinsider.com/m14705/stagecoach-the-texas-jack-story#plot
ETA: Just watched the trailer. He certainly looks like "our" Texas Jack as represented in TS.
I just watched the trailer from your link, thanks! It does look like a B movie, but probably enjoyable enough. I like all the main leads, so I hope it's good.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
Just found this:
http://theboot.com/trace-adkins-stagecoach-the-texas-jack-story-trailer/
Doesn't seem like it has anything to do with Texas Jack Vermilion, who, if he was ever wanted by the law, was hardly "the most wanted outlaw in the West." Although in this movie, Trace Adkins has the long hair and facial hair similar to Peter Sherayko's Texas Jack get-up in TOMBSTONE.
I'm guessing he wasn't the "Most Wanted" but does anyone know anything about him? It's hard to find information, or know it's accurate.
Just saw this:
https://jdrhawkins.com/tag/texas-jack-vermillion/
If I'm correct, he went to the Philippines or something during the war, and later moved back to Virginia and became a pastor. But info on his is really tough to verify. Though it does seem he was a pretty interesting character. And he was a lot younger during the vendetta ride than he was portrayed in the movie.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
There's a book on Amazon titled "Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Posse Rider: The Story of Texas Jack Vermillion," but it's currently unavailable. Here's the link:
https://www.amazon.com/Wyatt-Earps-Vendetta-Posse-Rider/dp/B00AWTH6JW/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476110322&sr=1-9&keywords=texas+jack+vermillion+in+books
I'd love to find a copy of it! It sounds fascinating!
I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.
I don't mind scanning books for people that are hard to get a hold of, but I'm not sure of the legality of doing so, so maybe I could send some excerpts if it helps. I do it a lot of scanning my own books so I can have them on my tablet when traveling, but if you like I can send you some of this book, but it might take me a few weeks to have time to scan. Though, if you're not too concerned about centering and page cropping, I could probably get you stuff sooner. Peter Brand, the author of that book is a well-respected and trustworthy researcher.
Also, I have a couple copies of pictures I found online that are supposed to be of TJV and have pretty good provenance, but I don't know how to put pictures on here. I'll try and figure it out.
And it may have been McMasters who went to the Philipines or wherever. I can't remember for sure which one of them it was, but it can probably be looked up.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
By the way, here's the link to authors home page where I believe you can still order the book. But if not, let me know. His sight also has some good articles on the other peripheral characters.
http://www.tombstonevendetta.com/texasjack.html
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
Things I've read about "our" Texas Jack: that he was, for a time, an associate of the Cowboys (Ed Bartholomew has him coming to Arizona with Pony Diehl and, I think, some other notorious character; but Bartholomew is given to speculation based on insufficient evidence, so who knows?); that he was a carpenter by trade; that he came from Big Stone Gap, Virginia; and that when he was in Cochise County he lived in a cave. Casey Tefertiller's Earp biography contains a photo of young TJV, when he was in the Confederate Army. One author, I forget which, speculates that he may have been friendly with Doc Holliday, a fellow Southerner, and that it was Holliday who persuaded him to join the Earp forces against the Cowboys. (Although probably not like it's shown in the movie HOUR OF THE GUN.)
See bobbiekaye's post for information on a new book that may shed more light on TJV.
I'd forgotten about that. Now that you've mentioned it, it sounds vaguely familiar, but I wasn't recollecting much more than them having an acquaintance prior to the Tombstone troubles. Good call.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
Thanks for sharing this on here. There's a chance I may get to see it in the theater since Phoenix shows a lot more westerns in limited releases. I know it's probably only a B film, but I'll usually go to any half decent western in the theater that I can get a chance to see, just because it's fun to see them up on the big screen.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
Here's TJV's Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Jack_Vermillion
The photo is the one in the Tefertiller book.
So I finally opened up the Texas Jack book and it turns out that that picture is not of "Our" Texas Jack Verillion, but a different one. John Wilson Vermillion is the man in the picture who everyone had thought was the Tombstone Texas Jack, but it turns out that the Tombstone Texas Jack was John Oberland Vermillion. It was Wilson that went back to Virginia and retired as a Methodist preacher, but Tombstone's Jack did not. I didn't read the book but just brushed through it. If I learn any other new stuff that's good to know I'll throw it up here.
Hard to believe there were two John Vermillions running around the old west.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
So for fun, anyone who's interested, I just posted a couple of pictures on a facebook page. It's not my name or image, just a page that I have only for random things like this. Outside of these types of things I have no use for facebook.
Anyway, since I couldn't figure out how to put up pictures online I decided to use the facebook option. I posted supposed pictures of Doc & McMasters together, as well as one of Texas Jack. I'm not advocating for or against these as being who they are claimed to be, but the collection they come from is a significant one and there stands a good chance they are true. I'll probably take them down after a few days, but I wanted to offer them to this conversation.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009491948047
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
Your link is broken!
I've seen the supposed photo of Doc and McMaster, but I hardly think it's them. Doesn't look like Doc at all.
So is the book on Texas Jack worth $35?
I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.
I just tried it and it worked for me, but if its still not working for you I can try something else. I dont have much of an opinion on the Doc/McMasters pic. They have a good collection, so it can be true, but its very hard to be certain. Same for my thoughts on O. Vermillion. Hopefully someday we can know for sure.
As for the value on the TJV book, it all depends on how badly you want to know about him. You'll definitely have a clear, and reliable knowledge of the man, for what we know. But obviously he's not the main stage attraction that Wyatt or Doc is. But overall, yes a quality book. Its only about 110pgs on on OVermillion, and then the last part is on JVermillion. Its an oversized book, about the deminsions of the illustrated life series by Bob Boze Bell, but thicker.
And its certainly not something that you'd buy and then regret, feeling the author is a hack. It's quality research and quality writing, for sure.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
By the way, Jessica Alba was on colbert last night :D
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
It worked from home, but I couldn't get it at work. Thanks, but I'm skeptical about the photo being of either Sherman McMaster or Doc.
I've recently read biographies of Johnnie Behan, Johnny Ringo, and the McLaury Brothers, so Texas Jack might be interesting.
Anybody ever write much about Frank Stillwell?
I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.
No, I think the most comprehensive report on him is in a collection of cowboys book. I could be wrong of course, but I've had to sort of put together a rough understanding through various collections. Of course his brother Jack is fairly well documented.
I've never read a full biography on Behan, I know most of the essentials such as his time in Prescott, and then Yuma after tombstone, but thats about it. Is his story interesting? Was the Mcalaury bio you read that new(ish) one by Paul Johnson? I had it checked out from the library for a while but never did more than peruse it and havent gotten a copy yet, though I really want to. What did you think of it?
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."
The Behan book was Sacrificed Sheriff. His was an interesting story, covering such events as his time in Cuba during the Spanish American War, and in China during the Boxer Rebellion.
My only complaint was that his time in Tombstone sounded like Frank Waters light.
I don't recall the exact title or author of the McLaury book, but it spent way too much time tracing the family ancestry back to Scotland, and too little time on Frank and Tom. It did give a lot of detail about Will, more than about his brothers. And it tried to deal fairly with the Earps.
Tell me if you agree with this. I've been studying this a lot recently, and I've decided who was the worst of the Cow-Boys. Not Curly Bill, not Johnny Ringo, not Old Man Clanton. I think the worst, the most cold-blooded, heartless and plain evil was Frank Stillwell.
Curly Bill was a rustler, who liked to take fun at the expense of others. But other than Mexicans, which in those days didn't count, I don't see him as a cold-blooded killer. And the myth of Johnny Ringo being a great gunfighter is just that, a myth. He may have helped with rustling Mexican cattle, but he was a loner, never part of a group if he could avoid it.
I think that the attempted assassination of Virgil, and the assassination of Morgan, were perpetrated by Frank Stillwell, Pete Spence, and Ike Clanton, with Hank Swilling and Florentino Cruz as lookouts. Possibly the mysterious Fries was involved also.
What do you think?
I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.
Yeah, that's the Paul Lee Johnson book on the McLaury's. I still want to read it, but I've heard so much about how it's more of a biography of Will rather than Tom and Frank, that even though it's well researched, it's hasn't been a priority to me.
To respond to your question/thoughts. I definitely think that Stillwell, along with Pete Spence were the two worst (from what we know, of course). But yeah, Stillwell was a piece of work, and so was Spence. I didn't see them so much as cow-boys as much as criminal opportunists. Generally bad people who got off on being bad and getting away with stuff. I may be off-base, but that's my general view of them as people.
Curly Bill to me reminds of the dialogue in Pulp Fiction, talking about pigs being filthy animals and therefore not eating them:
"Do you consider a dog a filthy animal?
"I don't eat dog either."
"But do you consider it a filthy animal?"
"Hmm, a dogs definitely dirty...but a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way."
"So by that rational, if a pig had a better personality, it would cease to be a filthy animal."
"That would have to be one charming pig!"
Curly Bill, to me is like the charming pig. He's a bad guy, but not so terrible that his good personality and (perceived) generally pleasant disposition can't make your forget about it. I think he was more dangerous than people think, but not dangerous in the classic gunfighter sense.
Likewise with Ringo. I think he was very dangerous in some ways, but not as a legendary gun-hand. I think that Ringo probably did have something about him (more than just a cool name) that made people regard him, but being unable to put a finger on it, he got the classic treatment of embellishment. I agree that he was a loner in a sense, but I also think that he was very much a part of the cowboy contingent. In short terms I think he was independent, while at the same time, dependent on the cow-boy culture and life in SE Arizona at the time. If that makes sense.
He doesn't strike me as someone who would ever try to challenge Curly Bill for a leadership role, or even pursue it, but at the same time, probably relished having those around him revere him. I think he was probably manic depressive, and very eccentric. This would make him a very curious character, and much more than a one-dimensional cow-boy just simply getting by. I think that sort of character aroused interest in the rest of the "gang", as well as the early writers.
I definitely don't think he was dangerous in the street-fight shoot em up sense, and he's probably lucky that Doc and Wyatt and didn't accept his challenge in the street. Of course there's also the theory that there was someone backing him up in an upstairs window with a rifle. But that's the kind of dangerous I think he was; underhanded and self-serving. But definitely a character, just not the one that's been painted.
Overall, I think that Curly and Ringo were not the biggest threats in the group when it came to being "bad-men" or gun play. And Stillwell and Spence were, I think, the lowest of the association.
"I am on intimate terms with the desert..."