Martin Pawley was an American settler in Texas and deputized Texas Ranger during the Wild West era.
Biography[]
Martin Pawley was born in Texas, a cousin of Martha Edwards. Of one-eighth Cherokee ancestry and of predominantly Welsh and English heritage, he lost his parents to a Comanche raid at a young age and was raised by Aaron and Martha Edwards. As a child, he was also close to Laurie Jorgensen, who believed them to be in a relationship since she was three. In 1868, he joined Captain Samuel Johnston Clayton's posse of deputized Texas Rangers as they searched for Lars Jorgensen's missing cattle, riding alongside his uncle Ethan Edwards. Edwards disparaged Pawley for his Indian ancestry and insisted that he was not Pawley's uncle, but he eventually warmed up to him. Pawley was devastated to find that the Comanche murdered Aaron and Martha Edwards and their son Ben Edwards and took his cousins Debbie and Lucy Edwards captive, and he volunteered to help Edwards with his years-long search for his cousins. Pawley's absence led Laurie Jorgensen to become engaged to marry the dim-witted Charlie McCorry instead, and, in 1870, he inadvertently traded a blanket for the hand of the Comanche woman Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky in marriage; she would become frightened when he mentioned the name of the Comanches' Chief Scar and was killed by the US Army soon after. Ultimately, Pawley and Edwards would find Debbie in the New Mexico Territory in 1873 with the help of Mose Harper and Emilio Gabriel Fernández y Figueroa. When Edwards grew infuriated at the sight of his niece adopting Comanche culture, Pawley prevented his uncle from shooting her, and the two whites were forced to flee the Comanche camp under fire. They returned to Texas in time to disrupt McCorry's wedding to Laurie Jorgensen, as McCorry picked a fight with Pawley and caused the wedding party to be cancelled. Shortly after, Captain Clayton enlisted the help of Pawley, Edwards, and 11 other Rangers in joining the US Army's punitive expedition against Scar, and Pawley shot Scar at his camp and rescued Debbie amid the Battle of Seven Fingers.
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