William Brooks was a famous gunslinger who was a lawman and an outlaw at some point in his career in the Wild West.
Life and Legacy
William Brooks was born in Ohio around 1832. At the time, Ohio still was beginning to develop into an industrial state.
There was an influx of pioneers that began to develop many of the small towns.
Brooks left Ohio and headed west, and by the late 1840s, he began to have much success in hunting Buffalo.
He even earned the nickname Buffalo Bill. Historically, that name never stayed with him. Instead, it would be the name that William F. Cody became known.
The Civil War took over the national landscape in the 1860s, and it is unknown if William Brooks became involved. However, by the late 1860s, he had become an outlaw. He had killed several men in various gunfights.
Due to his ability with the gun, he was hired as a stage driver for the Southwestern Stage Company.
He served in that capacity for a short period and became marshal of Newton, Kansas, in 1872.
Although he was reported to have been around 40 years old, most believe Brooks was in his 20s.
With Brook's success in Newton, he was soon offered a position in Dodge City as town marshal, where he was later involved in 15 gunfights during his first month.
In one case, one of the men killed had four brothers who came after Brooks in revenge. As the brothers arrived in town, Brooks was said to have killed all four men with four shots each.
By the following year, Brooks had cleared the city of most major criminals. Brooks, however, killed several men in questionable circumstances, including one incident where he killed a man over an argument with a local dance hall girl.
After backing down from gunfighter Kirk Jordan, Brooks left town shortly after.
According to legend, Brooks went to Butte, Montana, where he attempted to become the city marshal but, in part because of Brook's reputation, was instead passed over in favor of Morgan Earp.
Confronting Earp over his defeat, Brooks was shot in the stomach, and Morgan was shot in the shoulder.
Records show however that, shortly after leaving Dodge City, Brooks returned to his old position as a stage driver for the Southwestern Stage Co. in early 1874.
Several months later, however, the company lost a mail contract to a rival company, and Brooks lost his job.
In June, several mules and horses owned by the rival company had been stolen, and Brooks, with two other men, were arrested the next month.
It was charged that Brooks had apparently attempted to weaken the rival company and win back the mail contract for the Southwestern Stage Company.
William Brooks was lynched while awaiting trial on July 29, 1874