Tom Dickens (1861-) was an American rancher who worked as the overseer at Pronghorn Ranch in Rio Blanco County, Colorado during the 1900s.
Biography[]
Tom Dickens was born in Texas in 1861, and, during the early 1900s, he was hired by David Geddes to serve as the foreman at Pronghorn Ranch in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. Dickens met the former outlaw John Marston (going by "Jim Milton") in 1907 when Marston delivered a shipment of groceries from Strawberry to Pronghorn Ranch, and he was impressed when Marston succeeded in recovering the wagon and its goods after Laramie Gang members Cleve Clinton and George Brusbee hijacked it and attempted to ride off with it. Marston persuaded Dickens to recommend him to his boss Geddes, as he sought to work as a ranch hand. Dickens allowed for Marston to stay in the spare cabin, and, while Dickens was hesitant to hire Marston due to his mysterious background, his status as a married man, and his lack of experience in ranch work, he took a liking to him after he helped around the ranch and fought off a few Laramie Gang attemtps to harass the ranchers. After the Laramie Gang launched a nighttime raid on the ranch, Geddes had Dickens, Abe Foster, and Marston retaliate by attacking the Laramie Gang's hideout at Hanging Dog Ranch, and the three men killed all of the outlaws there, rescuing the ranch. When, a few months later, as Marston prepared to start his own ranch at Beecher's Hope in Texas, Dickens told Marston that he was wrong about him, and that Marston had turned into a "fine worker". After this friendly farewell, Dickens continued to work for Geddes, while Marston would found a sizable ranch in Texas with Geddes' help.