John Peters "Johnny" Ringo (3 May 1850 – 13 July 1882) was an American Wild West outlaw and member of the Cochise County Cowboys gang.
Biography[]
John Peters Ringo was born in Greens Fork, Indiana in 1850 of distant Dutch ancestry. His family moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1856, to Gallatin in 1858, and set out for California in 1864, only for his father to accidentally shoot himself in Wyoming. Ringo and his family lived in San Jose until the mid-1870s, when he relocated to Mason County, Texas. There, he became involved in a race war with the Germans, the "Mason County War", and he broke out of jail and briefly served as a constable in Loyal Valley before migrating to Arizona. He settled in Tombstone, where he developed a reputation for his bad temper. Ringo participated in robberies and killings with the Cochise County Cowboys, and, on 17 January 1882, he and Doc Holliday were arrested before they could engage in a shootout; Ringo had been accused of crippling Virgil Earp and killing Morgan Earp. He was later deputized by Sheriff Johnny Behan and sent to track down the Earps and Holliday during the Earps' "Vendetta Ride", and he became the new leader of the Cowboys after Curly Bill Brocius in a waterside shootout with the Earps. He challenged Earp to a showdown to settle their hostilities, but Doc surprised and killed Ringo before Wyatt could arrive to face off with his rival.
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