Little Pete (1880-) was a German-American gunslinger and outlaw of the Wild West. Depraved, violent, ruthless, and impulsive, he was known to often shoot passers-by at random and to be bloodthirsty; in 1898, after committing a murder near Valentine, Nebraska, Little Pete was wanted for murder by the Nebraska state government. Little Pete was an enigmatic figure, with little being known about him. Legends tell that he was born in Germany in 1880, settled in Texas, converted to Buddhism after an encounter with Chinese railroad workers, had severe mental issues, was mute, and was fond of killing and skinning every animal he came across. In 1898, he implicated the nearby gunslinger Arizona Kid in his Valentine shootout by hopping onto his horse, thus resulting in the US Marshals wanting the Arizona Kid as an "accomplice". While the Arizona Kid and Little Pete had vastly different outlooks on life and morals - the Arizona Kid being a mostly law-abiding citizen and Little Pete being a nihilist - they established a friendship and worked together to rescue a stolen wagon from Cattail Pond. In the process, the Arizona Kid was mauled by a Grizzly bear, while Little Pete survived a steep fall from a cliff shortly after. Arizona also showed Little Pete the route to New Orleans, and they periodically reunited to earn money together, as Arizona wanted a sidekick who could provide him with another gun as he worked to earn more money and fight outlawry and "corruption" (including the rich and abusive lawmen) across the American West and the American South, and Little Pete wanted a friend who would accompany him on his violent adventures and protect him from the consequences.
Little Pete was a staunch Republican and a supporter of President William McKinley; in spite of Pete's opposition to modernization and the taming of the West, he regarded himself as a capitalist and businessman due to his hunting activities, and he was opposed to the Democratic Party's bimetallism and support for inflation.
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