Texas Jack Vermillion
Encyclopedia
John Wilson Vermillion (1842–1911), alias "Texas Jack" and later as "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out" Vermillion, was a gunfighter of the Old West known for his participation in the Earp vendetta ride
and his later association with Soapy Smith
.
, the second of 12 children born to William and Nancy Vermillion (née Owens). He was a Confederate civil war veteran and fought under the command of General J.E.B. Stuart
. After the war, Jack went to Indiana where he married Margaret Horton in September, 1865. They moved to Missouri where Jack accepted the position as Territorial Marshal for the eastern section of Missouri. Jack's wife and two young children (a daughter and son) died in a diphtheria epidemic in Missouri, while Jack was away.
(Arizona Territory), from Dodge City, Kansas, where he possibly previously knew the Earps and also perhaps Doc Holliday
. He was listed by Virgil Earp
as special policeman (i.e., deputy city policeman) June 22, 1881. This is the day of the large Tombstone fire of 1881, with which Virgil had to cope as acting city marshal; the date suggests that Jack is one of the extra men Virgil hired to help cope with looting, during and after the disaster.
The origin of Texas Jack, Vermillion's nickname, is unknown, but he is first listed by this moniker on a wanted poster
, for shooting a man during an argument at cards. When asked about why he was called Texas Jack, he replied "Because I'm from Virginia."
in Tucson, and thus Vermillion was not one of the 5 men indicted for Stilwell's killing. He presumably did participate in the killing of Florentino Cruz on March 22, and he had his horse shot out from under him during the fight at Iron Springs (March 24), in which "Curly Bill" Brocius
was killed. Vermillion was himself not hit in that fight, but he had to be picked up by Doc Holliday
after exposing himself to fire from the cowboys, while trying to retrieve the rifle wedged under his fallen horse. This episode, combined with Wyatt's memory in the Flood manuscript, suggests that Vermillion may have participated in the Earp posse more as friend of Holliday, who was also a Methodist and fellow southerner. Note that Holliday's father had also served as a Confederate soldier. Vermillion family history also suggests a friendship between Holliday and Texas Jack.
In the unpublished 1926 John H. Flood manuscript of Wyatt Earp
's biography, Vermillion is mentioned (as "Texas Jack") several times as not being a close friend of the Earps, but rather a relative stranger. This fact caused Wyatt some chagrin in memory, since Vermillion stayed by him at Iron Springs when the other three men in his posse at the time (Doc, Johnson, and McMasters) fled under fire (Warren Earp
was away on an errand for the posse).
. Sometime during Jack's stay in Dodge he killed a card cheat. This is when he appears on the wanted poster as Texas Jack Vermillion. Sometime between 1883 and 1889, perhaps due to this charge, his handle of "Texas Jack" changed to "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out-Jack" Vermillion. Reportedly, he had shot a man in the eye.
gang in Denver, Colorado
in which he worked as a booster and shill
. In August 1889 he was with Soapy Smith
, Bascomb Smith, and "Fatty Gray" Morris at the Pocatello, Idaho
train depot shootout, where a rival bunco
gang tried to assassinate Soapy. His name is not mentioned in newspapers in Denver again.
Vermillion is said in many sources (including Earp biographer Flood, who is probably the primary source for the information) to have drowned in Lake Michigan near Chicago, about 1900. Young states that Vermillion's body was returned to Virginia for burial, but Flood does not say this, and Young does not cite his source. Young may have assumed the body was returned, since there is evidence that Vermillion is buried in Virginia (see below).
Vermillion family records suggest that Jack Vermillion died peacefully in his sleep in 1911, not 1900. A photograph of him and his second wife ca. 1910 survives in the family record. A John W. Vermillion (farmer) is also listed in the 1910 census in Washington Co., Virginia (this is just South of Russell County and the town of Big Stone Gap). This man, listed as aged 66, is listed as being born in Virginia, married in Virginia, 35 years(?) to wife Nannie. Whether this is the same man is not definitely known. The implied birth date would be wrong, but reasonably close (about 1844 not 1842); however the given marriage date would be far off (35 years from 1910 is 1875, not 1883). The place of residence is in the same relatively small area in the western tail of Virginia where Texas Jack was born, and is said in other sources to have returned. The issue is not resolved. Visually, the elderly man in the 1910 photograph could well be the young J.W. Vermillion from the Civil War photo (see comparison photo).
According to Vermillion family history, Jack killed a man in a gunfight in 1890, and was forced to move 60 miles east to Mendota, Virginia
, in Washington County (which fits with the census report), where he spent the rest of his days. John W. Vermillion's grave and that of his wife is in the Mendota Cemetery.
.
Texas Jack is played by Peter Sherayko in the film Tombstone
.
Earp vendetta ride
The Earp Vendetta Ride, lasting from March 20 to April 15, 1882, was a manhunt for outlaw Cowboys led by newly appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp. He was searching for men he held responsible for maiming his brother Virgil, the Tombstone Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal, and assassinating his...
and his later association with Soapy Smith
Soapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
.
Early life
Vermillion was born in 1842 in Russell County, VirginiaRussell County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 30,308 people, 11,789 households, and 8,818 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 people per square mile . There were 13,191 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile...
, the second of 12 children born to William and Nancy Vermillion (née Owens). He was a Confederate civil war veteran and fought under the command of General J.E.B. Stuart
J.E.B. Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...
. After the war, Jack went to Indiana where he married Margaret Horton in September, 1865. They moved to Missouri where Jack accepted the position as Territorial Marshal for the eastern section of Missouri. Jack's wife and two young children (a daughter and son) died in a diphtheria epidemic in Missouri, while Jack was away.
Out West
Jack eventually wound up in Kansas in the late 1870s. He went to Tombstone, ArizonaTombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
(Arizona Territory), from Dodge City, Kansas, where he possibly previously knew the Earps and also perhaps Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
. He was listed by Virgil Earp
Virgil Earp
Virgil Walter Earp fought in the Civil War. He was U.S. Deputy Marshal for south-eastern Arizona and Tombstone City Marshal at the time of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory. Two months after the shootout in Tombstone, outlaw Cowboys ambushed Virgil on the streets of...
as special policeman (i.e., deputy city policeman) June 22, 1881. This is the day of the large Tombstone fire of 1881, with which Virgil had to cope as acting city marshal; the date suggests that Jack is one of the extra men Virgil hired to help cope with looting, during and after the disaster.
The origin of Texas Jack, Vermillion's nickname, is unknown, but he is first listed by this moniker on a wanted poster
Wanted poster
A wanted poster is a poster distributed to let the public know of an alleged criminal whom authorities wish to apprehend. They will generally include either a picture of the alleged criminal when a photograph is available, or of a facial composite image produced by a police artist...
, for shooting a man during an argument at cards. When asked about why he was called Texas Jack, he replied "Because I'm from Virginia."
Earp Vendetta Ride
Vermillion did not accompany Virgil Earp as a member of the protective squad which escorted him to Tucson, March 20, 1882. Instead, Vermillion joined the vendetta posse March 21, 1882 in Tombstone, a day after the killing of Frank StilwellFrank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
in Tucson, and thus Vermillion was not one of the 5 men indicted for Stilwell's killing. He presumably did participate in the killing of Florentino Cruz on March 22, and he had his horse shot out from under him during the fight at Iron Springs (March 24), in which "Curly Bill" Brocius
William Brocius
William "Curly Bill" Brocius was a gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of Arizona Territory during the early 1880s. He had a number of conflicts with the lawmen of the Earp family, and he was named as one of the individuals who participated Morgan Earp's assassination....
was killed. Vermillion was himself not hit in that fight, but he had to be picked up by Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
after exposing himself to fire from the cowboys, while trying to retrieve the rifle wedged under his fallen horse. This episode, combined with Wyatt's memory in the Flood manuscript, suggests that Vermillion may have participated in the Earp posse more as friend of Holliday, who was also a Methodist and fellow southerner. Note that Holliday's father had also served as a Confederate soldier. Vermillion family history also suggests a friendship between Holliday and Texas Jack.
In the unpublished 1926 John H. Flood manuscript of Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
's biography, Vermillion is mentioned (as "Texas Jack") several times as not being a close friend of the Earps, but rather a relative stranger. This fact caused Wyatt some chagrin in memory, since Vermillion stayed by him at Iron Springs when the other three men in his posse at the time (Doc, Johnson, and McMasters) fled under fire (Warren Earp
Warren Earp
Baxter Warren Earp was the youngest brother of Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, James, and Newton Earp. He was not present during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. After Virgil was maimed in an ambush, he joined Wyatt and was in town when Morgan was assassinated. He helped Wyatt in the hunt for the outlaw...
was away on an errand for the posse).
Dodge City war
In 1883, Vermillion was involved with the Dodge City WarDodge City War
The Dodge City War was a bloodless conflict that took place in 1883 in Dodge City, Kansas. It came at the close of the first 10 years of the city's history at a time when whiskey and saloons were fading as a dominant force in the city's politics....
. Sometime during Jack's stay in Dodge he killed a card cheat. This is when he appears on the wanted poster as Texas Jack Vermillion. Sometime between 1883 and 1889, perhaps due to this charge, his handle of "Texas Jack" changed to "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out-Jack" Vermillion. Reportedly, he had shot a man in the eye.
Soapy Smith gang
In 1888, he joined the Jefferson Randolph Soapy SmithSoapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
gang in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
in which he worked as a booster and shill
Shill
A shill, plant or stooge is a person who helps a person or organization without disclosing that he or she has a close relationship with that person or organization...
. In August 1889 he was with Soapy Smith
Soapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
, Bascomb Smith, and "Fatty Gray" Morris at the Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Bannock...
train depot shootout, where a rival bunco
Bunco
Bunco is a parlour game played in teams with three dice.-History:Bunco was originally "8-Dice cloth" according to the a dice game in 18th-century England. It was imported to San Francisco as a gambling activity in 1855, where it gave its name to gambling parlors, or Bunco parlors, and more...
gang tried to assassinate Soapy. His name is not mentioned in newspapers in Denver again.
Later life
Sometime around 1890 Vermillion returned permanently to Virginia, settling near the town of Big Stone Gap and working as a Methodist preacher. His second wife (1883?) was Nannie Fleenor. They became the parents of a son, Opie Vermillion, and a daughter, Minnie Bell Vermillion.Death (and some open historical identity questions)
Vermillion family records suggest that Jack Vermillion died peacefully in his sleep in 1911, not 1900. A photograph of him and his second wife ca. 1910 survives in the family record. A John W. Vermillion (farmer) is also listed in the 1910 census in Washington Co., Virginia (this is just South of Russell County and the town of Big Stone Gap). This man, listed as aged 66, is listed as being born in Virginia, married in Virginia, 35 years(?) to wife Nannie. Whether this is the same man is not definitely known. The implied birth date would be wrong, but reasonably close (about 1844 not 1842); however the given marriage date would be far off (35 years from 1910 is 1875, not 1883). The place of residence is in the same relatively small area in the western tail of Virginia where Texas Jack was born, and is said in other sources to have returned. The issue is not resolved. Visually, the elderly man in the 1910 photograph could well be the young J.W. Vermillion from the Civil War photo (see comparison photo).
According to Vermillion family history, Jack killed a man in a gunfight in 1890, and was forced to move 60 miles east to Mendota, Virginia
Mendota, Virginia
Mendota is an unincorporated community in Washington County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. Elevation approx 1800 ft...
, in Washington County (which fits with the census report), where he spent the rest of his days. John W. Vermillion's grave and that of his wife is in the Mendota Cemetery.
Film representations
Vermillion appears as a minor character in most Wyatt Earp films. In the 1967 film Hour of the Gun, he is played by actor William WindomWilliam Windom
This page is about the former United States politician. William Windom was an American politician from Minnesota. He served as U.S. Representative from 1859 to 1869, and as U.S. Senator from 1870 to January 1871, from March 1871 to March 1881, and from November 1881 to 1883...
.
Texas Jack is played by Peter Sherayko in the film Tombstone
Tombstone (film)
Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....
.