{"id":2710,"date":"2023-07-19T12:20:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T12:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/?p=2710"},"modified":"2023-07-19T12:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T12:20:50","slug":"johnny-behind-the-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/johnny-behind-the-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny-Behind-the-Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

from Chapter XXV – Ballarat. Ghost Town<\/a> — Loafing Along Death Valley Trails<\/a> by William Carruthers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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A familiar figure throughout\u00a0Death Valley<\/em><\/a>\u00a0country was Johnny-Behind-the-Gun\u2014small and wiry and as much a part of the land as the lizard. His moniker was acquired from his habit of settling disputes without cluttering up the courts. Johnny, whose name was Cyte, accounted for three or four sizable fortunes. Having sold a claim for $35,000 he once bought a saloon and gambling hall in\u00a0Rhyolite<\/em><\/a>, forswearing prospecting forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny advertised his whiskey by drinking it and the squareness of his game, by sitting in it. One night the gentleman opposite was overwhelmed with luck and his pockets bulged with $30,000 of Johnny\u2019s money. Having lost his last chip, Johnny said, \u201cI\u2019ll put up dis place. Ve play vun hand and quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny lost. He got up, reached for his hat. \u201cVell, my lucky friend, I\u2019ll take a last drink mit you.\u201d He tossed the liquor, lighted a cigar. \u201cGoodnight, chentlemen,\u201d he said. \u201cI go find me anudder mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny had several claims near the Keane Wonder<\/em><\/a> in the Funeral Mountains, held by a sufferance not uncommon among old timers, who respected a notice regardless of legal formalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator William M. Stewart, Nevada mining magnate, had employed Kyle Smith, a young mining engineer to go into the locality and see what he could find. Smith, a capable and likable chap, in working over the districts, located several claims open for filing by reason of Johnny\u2019s failure to do his assessment work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not altogether clear what happened between Johnny and Smith, but Smith\u2019s body was found after it had lain in the desert sun all day. There being no witnesses the only fact produced by sheriff and coroner was that Smith was dead. Johnny went free. Other escapades with Johnny-Behind-the-Gun occurred with such frequency that he was finally removed from the desert for awhile as the guest of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a deal with Tom Kelly, Johnny was hesitant about signing some papers according to an understanding. His trigger quickness was explained to Kelly who was not impressed. He went to Johnny and asked him to sign up. Johnny refused. Kelly said calmly, \u201cJohnny, do you see that telephone pole?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, I see. Vot about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t sign, you\u2019re going to climb it.\u201d Johnny signed. He put his gun away when he acquired a lodging house at Beatty<\/em><\/a>, where he died in 1944.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from Chapter XXV – Ballarat. Ghost Town — Loafing Along Death Valley Trails by William Carruthers A familiar figure throughout\u00a0Death Valley\u00a0country was Johnny-Behind-the-Gun\u2014small and wiry and as much a part of the land as the lizard. His moniker was acquired from his habit of settling disputes without cluttering up the courts. Johnny, whose name was … Continue reading “Johnny-Behind-the-Gun”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2712,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2710\/revisions\/2712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}