Harry C. Wheeler -- Lawman & Patriot

A close friend asked me to look into this lawman. He said that my readers would enjoy his story, and that I would be surprised with what I found. Well my friend was right in that I have found the story about Harry C. Wheeler very surprising. Now I'm hoping he is right in that you enjoy reading about this man.

Unlike many of the Old West's characters who we hear about, with most of what people know being just amplified myths and little fact, Harry Cornwall Wheeler was one of the real deals in the Old West. He's someone more folks should know about.

Harry Cornwall Wheeler was an Arizona lawman. He was the third Captain of the Arizona Rangers, the Sheriff of Cochise County, and a soldier in the United States Army in both the Spanish-American War and later in World War One. He did more in his fairly short life than most who lived much longer.

Harry Wheeler was born on July 23rd, 1875, in Jacksonville, Florida. the son of Colonel William B. Wheelsex of the United States Army. In 1897, at age 22, Wheeler enlisted in the 1st Cavalry and fought in the Spanish-American War before being given the rank of Sergeant and a medical discharge in 1902. He was said to be an excellent marksman with a rifle and pistol. After the Army, Wheeler joined the Arizona Rangers in 1903 and was promoted to Sergeant a mere four months later.

On October 23rd, 1904, Harry C. Wheeler was involved in his first gunfight at the Palace Saloon in Tucson, Arizona Territory. It all started just before midnight when Joe Bostwick is said to have slipped through the rear door of the Palace Saloon to rob the place. Bostwick's face mostly covered with a red bandana, reportedly complete with eye-holes. He brandished a Colt .45 Single Action pistol, and shouted, "Hands up!"

Four employees were on duty in the Palace that night. Those employees were the bartender, a craps dealer, a roulette dealer, and a porter. Along with the employees were four customers. One customer who is believed to be a man named M.D. Beede is said to have slipped out the front door and ran up Congress Street looking for the law.

Inside the Palace Saloon, Bostwick ordered all there to "Throw up your hands and march into the side room. Hold them up higher! Hold up your digits!" His instructions were heeded and the men filed by him. Bostwick then went over to the craps table and helped himself to the money that lay scattered about. What he didn't know was that outside on Congress Street, Mr. Beede had found Arizona Ranger Sergeant Harry Wheeler who had just emerged from Wanda’s Restaurant.

Beede approached Wheeler who had turned toward the Palace, and said, "Don’t go in there! There’s a holdup going on!" Supposedly Wheeler calmly replied. "All right, that’s what I’m here for" while pulling his own Single-Action Colt .45 from its holster.

Wheeler then stepped to the front door of the saloon, and immediately Bostwick spotted him and whirled to fire his revolver. Wheeler was already in position and let go with his first shot. His heavy .45 slug grazed Bostwick’s forehead above the right eye, and with that Bostwick fired again. This time he fired wildly.

Wheeler fired again and this time a .45 slug slammed into the right side of Bostwick's chest. Mortally wounded, Joe Bostwick collapsed to the floor.

When interviewed by a reporter for The Tucson Citizen, Wheeler commented:

"I am sorry that this happened, but it was either his life or mine, and if I hadn’t been just a little quicker on the draw than he was, I might be in his position now. Under the circumstances, if I had to do it over again, I think I would do exactly the same thing."

Wheeler was later involved in a shootout in Benson, where he killed a second man. It became known as the "Shootout in Benson." That took place on February 27th, 1907, when Arizona Ranger Sergeant Harry C. Wheeler attempted to detain a man named J. A. Tracy in Benson.

No one really knows why Tracy was being detained. But for whatever reason, it didn't sit well with Tracy who resisted arrest and instead produced a hideout gun.
Tracy then opening fire on Wheeler.

When the first shot went off, it was only then that Wheeler went for his pistol. Shots were exchanged at fairly close range, and when the smoke cleared both Tracy and Wheeler were badly wounded. J.A. Tracy died of his wounds. Luckily for Wheeler, after some time off, he fully recovered. It's said after that, he was a lot more conscientious about searching suspects.

Soon after that shooting incident in 1907, Wheeler replaced Thomas H. Rynning as Captain of the Arizona Rangers. He served as the agency's leader until its disbanding in 1909. Arizona Ranger Captain Harry C. Wheeler was the third Captain in Arizona Ranger history. He is considered an example of professionalism and fortitude.

In 1911, just two years after the Arizona Rangers disbanded, Harry C. Wheeler was elected Sheriff of Cochise County. He was re-elected in 1914 and again in 1916. It was during that time that he took on many growing problems along the border. During the turn of the century, smuggling across the border with Mexico was a serious problem.

When Arizona became a "dry" state with the banning of alcohol on January 1st, 1915, smuggling booze into Arizona became big business. Of course, because Cochise County bordered Mexico and the state of New Mexico, and both still allowing alcohol, Cochise County quickly became a conduit for both American and Mexican bootleggers and alcohol smugglers.

The Gleeson Gunfight

On the night of March 5th, 1917, Sheriff Wheeler and Deputy Gibson were returning to the Deputy's home in Gleeson. They were traveling in a 1915 Oldsmobile Touring Car. They had a full day of searching the Chiricahua Mountains for rum-runners, those smugglers that became such a problem. Because they were exhausted and could not safely drive in the dark, it was sunset when the two lawmen decided to stop and make camp for the night.

The location where they stopped was about two miles east of Gleeson. They decided to camp along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks there. Almost as soon as they rolled out their blankets and laid down next to the car, they started taking incoming fire from a few Mexican outlaws. Their position was behind some rocks about 200 yards away from the railroad tracks. The first shot smashed the front window out of the car, the other shots were random.

Wheeler immediately grabbed a box of ammunition and his rifle. Gibson only had his revolver and the ammunition on his gun belt. Both Officers returned fire while attempting to gain better cover. Soon they climbed up the top of the railroad berm in an attempt to get a better look at their attackers.

The whole while they were moving forward, the two lawmen could hear the outlaws shouting insults to them in Spanish, saying, "We‍ '​ll fix you gringos! Come and get us now!" Yes, it sounds a lot like these days on the border.

By counting the muzzle flashes and were they were coming from, Wheeler and Gibson determined that there were at least four Mexican shooters firing from four different locations. The firefight lasted for nearly an hour as the two sides exchanged fire with over 100 rounds of ammunition being expended.

It was said that the moon was behind the lawmen and low on the horizon, which made them easy targets. Because of that, they decided to lie prone and wait until the moon went down to make a charge towards the outlaws. In the meanwhile, a couple of the outlaws advanced on the American lawmen under cover fire from the two others behind the rocks.

At about 50 yards from the railroad tracks, one of the Mexican shooters fired at Wheeler. It's said his round just missed him. As for Wheeler, he lay prone on the ground and used one of the rails to steady his rifle. He then rapidly fired six shots at the Mexican outlaw's muzzle flash. It was only a second later that the lawmen heard the sounds of groans coming from his Mexican assailant. In the dark and shooting at the muzzle flashes, he hit his target.

Although the fighting continued, Wheeler stopped the Mexicans assault and sent them the attackers back for cover. Soon the moon disappeared below the horizon, it was then that the lawmen made their charge and found the outlaws' camp had been abandoned in a hurry. The Mexicans ran into the desert to evade capture or being killed. And in the process, they would-be killers left ten cases of whiskey behind. The cases were attached to four donkeys.

That morning, the lawmen found horse tracks heading towards the Chiricahua Mountains. They also found a large pool of blood and tracks made by someone who apparently crawled away. Since no body was ever found, it still remains uncertain if any of the Mexican criminals were actually killed as result of the shootout with the two American lawmen.

Sheriff Wheeler and Deputy Gibson decided against chasing the outlaws right away, since their car was damaged by incoming fire. Instead they walked to Courtland where Wheeler was able to telephone his Chief Deputy Guy Welch who was in Tombstone. Welch brought out more guns and ammunition, as well as another Deputy to help in the pursuit of the Mexican shooters.

Wheeler knew that since the outlaws were in the Chiricahuas and most-likely heading south to cross the border, that they would have to go through Apache Pass in order to enter Mexico. Knowing this, he and his men abandoned the pursuit and went to Tombstone on April 7th, 1917, to drop off the confiscated whiskey.

The next day, they went to Apache Pass and succeeded in capturing two of the Mexican shooters. They then returned them to Gleeson to put them in jail there. One of the prisoners turned out to be the gang's leader. He was a man by the name of Santiago Garcia.

Later when Garcia was asked why he opened fire on Wheeler and Gibson, Garcia said that he and his men thought the lawmen were actually rival bootleggers. He said that were afraid that their cargo of booze would be hijacked. According to Garcia, he and his men retreated only when they found out that Wheeler and Gibson were lawmen.

If this story from a rum-runner doesn't sound right, it shouldn't. Remember, the Mexicans called out during the firefight stating that they knew exactly who they were shooting at. And more importantly, they knew exactly who they were trying to kill.

After that shootout, Wheeler and his men were dispatched to investigate a murder that took place in the town of Douglas. Also, they were sent to look into the death of an unknown man near Bisbee. The man found near Bisbee was found with a gunshot wound to the head.

A few months later in June of 1917, Sheriff Wheeler faced a different problem. Communist affiliated with the IWW Labor Union Local, a Union composed mainly of miners in Bisbee began a strike against a mining concern. Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two British sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James.

With the expansion of the Western frontier, besides Eastern and European corporations taking over ranches, many of those same corporations acquired mines and mining companies. That included the very large Copper Queen Mine in Arizona. Phelps Dodge Corporation operated its own mines and acquired railroads to carry its products to be processed. By the late 19th Century, Phelps Dodge was known as a very large mining company.

Sheriff Wheeler knew there would be trouble. The International Workers of the World (IWW) had a reputation as being "bomb throwers," Communist agitators, Socialist, who wanted to attack American industry and were there to cause unrest. IWW members were commonly termed "Wobblies" and were an international radical labor union that was founded in 1905 by a group of Socialists and Communists. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW was described as being violent and revolutionary with ties to Socialists and Anarchists and Communists who wanted to overthrow the United States and our Capitalist system of individual freedom. The IWW promoted Communism through labor take overs and strikes in Europe and on the East Coast of the United States.

The IWW's activities were in the newspapers, and Sheriff Wheeler knew what he was up against. To combat the trouble of a thousand strikers showing up there, with the vast majority of strikers actually being brought in from outside of Arizona, Wheeler deputized 2,200 men from Bisbee and Douglas to act as a posse.

On July 12th, 1917, Sheriff Wheelers posse of 2.200 Deputies arrested 2,000 IWW strikers as they arrived in Bisbee. Of those, nearly 1,300 of the strikers and their Communist supporters were placed in 23 cattle cars and then "deported" out of Arizona. Wheeler sent the union agitators across the border to Hermanas, New Mexico, in what has since became known as the "Bisbee Deportation."

After that, Sheriff Wheeler tightened security in an effort to keep the citizens of Bisbee and Douglas safe from union retaliation. Because of threats to the population, Sheriff Wheeler established guard posts at all of the entrances to Bisbee and Douglas. During that time and for the next several months until the threat of harm passed, all citizens seeking to exit or enter the towns had to present a "passport" which was issued by the County Sheriff. Wheeler was taking the threats from the IWW membership seriously.

Any adult male in town who was not known to the sheriff's men was brought before a court, some called it the "Sheriff's kangaroo court" to find out who they were and what was their intentions for being there. Hundreds of people were tried in that court. Most were found to be indeed IWW members returning to cause harm. They were "deported" out of Arizona by Wheeler's deputies.

Some were actually threatened with being lynched by local vigilantes if they returned. There is a question regarding how many long-time citizens of Bisbee were deported along with the radical Communist agitators. In many cases, it was found that many were sympathetic to the IWW and were conspirators in the union's effort to disrupt life there.

By early 1918, he resigned his post as County Sheriff to join the United States Army to fight in World War One. He was promoted to the rank of Captain and soon went to Europe to fight Germans.

Also known as the First World War, or the Great War, World War One was a global war centered in Europe that began on July 28th, 1914, and lasted until November 11th, 1918. The United States declared war against Germany and mobilized a force of 4,355,000 between April of 1917 and December of 1918.

From this, in just under 20 months of fighting, American casualties amounted to 116,516 killed in action, 234,000 were wounded, and 4,500 were prisoners and missing in action. Yes, that took place in just under a year and eight months.

While Wheeler was gone doing his patriotic duty, a federal commission was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to investigate the labor disputes in Arizona. The commission concluded in its final report, issued November 6th, 1917, that "The deportation was wholly illegal and without authority in law, either State or Federal."

On May 15th, 1918, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered the arrest of 21 men which included Phelps Dodge Corporate executives, Calumet, and Arizona Company executives, and several Bisbee and Cochise County elected leaders and local law enforcement officers. Those law enforcement officers arrested included Sheriff Deputies. It would have included Sheriff Harry C. Wheeler himself if he hadn't been serving in France at the time with the American Expeditionary Force during World War One. 

A pre-trial motion by the defense led to a Federal District Court releasing all of the 21 men on the grounds that "no federal laws had been violated." And even though the Justice Department appealed, the appeal was denied in United States v. Wheeler, 254 U.S. 281 (1920).

In that decision, Chief Justice Edward Douglass White ruled for an 8-to-1 majority that "no federal law protected the freedom of movement." Chief Justice White argued that "protecting a citizens' right to movement was a state function and had to be enforced solely in state court."

Wheeler resigned as Sheriff of Cochise County to enlist in the U.S. Army at the rank of Captain. Then in December of 1918, he was given an Honorable Discharge after being called back to Arizona for further court action based on the Bisbee Deportations. Once cleared, Wheeler attempted to get his old job back as he again ran for Cochise County Sheriff in 1922. But sadly, he was actually defeated in the primary.

After his defeat in the 1922 County Election, it's said that he retired and purchased a peach orchard in Cochise Stronghold about 20 miles north of Gleeson. Harry C. Wheeler was known to travel between his home in Douglas and his farm in Cochise Stronghold. He was said to have been content that he did his duty to keep those in his care as safe as he could. Knowing that, he is said to have concentrated his life on making his farm a success.

A few years passed before he contracted pneumonia and died on December 17th, 1925. Yes, he lived a full life for a man who only lived to be 50 years of age.

For me, after reading about Harry C. Wheeler, I came away seeing him as a great lawman, an outstanding Arizona Ranger, and an American patriot. I can empathize with him having to do things that may be considered controversial. I can understand walking that line to do what is needed to protect those in your care, I have been put in similar situations.

He was a straight shooter. He was a man who lived by the code that says an oath is an oath, duty is duty, right is right, and anything short of upholding your duty and sacred honor is failure. He took heat for some of the things that he needed to do. And frankly, I respect that more than anyone can possibly know.

All in all, he stood tall. Very tall while being someone who did right by the people he was tasked to protect and keep safe. Yes, he could certainly be proud of that. That was his responsibility, and he fulfilled it.

In today's world where we have elected officials who shirk their responsibilities, they can learn a great deal from Harry C. Wheeler. After all, we need more who fulfill their responsibilities and do their duty, abide by their oath, and do right by us who they are tasked to protect and serve.

That's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa

We Are At War

By Terry McGahey

I have no idea when the majority of liberals and others are going to wake up and realize that we are seeing the true beginning of another World War. Not between countries, but with the insane cult called Islam.

Some people will say, it's not all Muslims, to this I say, if it's not all Muslims then why is it that the majority of the so called peaceful Muslims are not standing up and speaking out against their radical brothers? Why, because they believe in the teachings of Allah, and all one has to do is take time to read the Quran to get a better understanding of how this book of hatred promotes the murder of everyone who is a non Muslim.

Don't think for one minute that if the so called radical Muslims had enough power, that the so called peaceful Muslims wouldn't join them. Anyone who believes they wouldn't is a fool.

This war began with the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and other individual attacks within our country. Now the attacks include a Russian airliner and the horrific attack in Paris, France.

How about the English soldier whom they killed in the streets of London not long ago, not only that, but in the United Kingdom the Muslims commit what's called, Slash and Dash. These animals will slash their target with a knife while running past them.

How about their demands of Sharia Law within our own country? How about the town in Michigan where they have taken over by being voted into the city council, and who are now threatening people?

The list goes on and on with these animals who are invading our country, but yet this Muslim loving president will do nothing about it. In fact, he wants to bring more of them into our fold.

This president, in my opinion, is and has been giving aid and comfort to an invading enemy and should be impeached and jailed immediately before he can do any more damage to our way of life and to our country.

Isn't it odd that the very liberal Geraldo Rivera who was totally against closing off our borders has now changed his tune about this subject, and did so on a Fox news interview. Why? Because his daughter was in Paris during the attacks on that city. Funny how a situation can change peoples minds on a subject when it hits them close to home.

I say to liberals and others, get your head out of the sand and pay attention to reality, it might be one of your family members or friends in the future who's life will be taken.

One of the major problems in this country with Liberalism is that we have become a re-active country instead of a pro-active country. Maybe it is time, just maybe, that the sheriff's of counties which have small towns within their jurisdiction, begin to use our constitution to it's full capacity.

By that I am speaking of a well regulated militia as the 2nd Amendment defines. Remember, the National Guard is not the militia, the people are. The National Guard will be re-active, not pro-active should an attack take place.

The sheriff of a county, besides the coroner, is the supreme law enforcement officer of the county and has the authority to mount a well regulated militia. Of course with background checks and interviews.

All the sheriff of a county would have to do, not entirely, is to appoint an ex-law enforcement official to hold classes and training exercises with an all volunteer force of civilians to be on guard within our small towns and cities for the purpose of the public welfare.

Small towns and cities do not have a large enough police force to be pro-active against a terrorist attack, and by enacting the well regulated militia clause this would be an affordable way to shore up our small town police force in case of an attack such as what has taken place in Paris.

As for cost of training and insurance for a local militia, all that would have to be done is to lobby the people for a 3 cent tax to help offset the costs. That is all it would cost residents if the people want security, I believe they would vote in a small tax increase to do so.

Again, we are at war, and we need to be pro-active to stop the Muslim animals that have become a menace to our country, as well as the rest of the world.

These Muslims Are Coming To America Soon

Here's what is going on in Europe. This is what Obama wants to bring to the United States.

Obama Feels A Kinship With Islam

Open borders and Liberal immigration policies has created the Muslim invasion which we see taking place in Europe right now.

In the chaos, France has been attacked, Germany is under siege, Italy is said to be "close to collapse," Great Britain has a two tier society governed under two justice systems, rape and killing or the innocent is rampant, and the rest of Western Europe is on fire.

Paris, France was attacked on Friday, November 13th, and now the French government has declared that a state of war exists between it and Islamic terrorism. France has heightened security measures and has closed its borders out of fear of more terrorists attacks.

To fight Islamic terrorists, France is now getting direct assistance from Russia. Yes, Russia is coming to the aid of France as well as other nations, like Israel, which Obama has turned his back on. Russian president Putin is taking the fight to ISIS and Al Qaeda in a way that Obama is too unwilling to do.

And why is President Obama unwilling to take the fight to ISIS and Al Qaeda? I believe it is for all the same reasons that he is enabling Iran to build nuclear weapons and target Israel. It is because he support the expansionist desires of Islam. That in itself is the only reason that Obama has turned his back on our allies and sought to passively support Islam.

What makes me think such a thing? First, Obama and his political advisers have ruled out the use of ground forces. Obama stating that ISIS is an belief that cannot be beaten militarily and instead needs to be dealt with politically.

He believes this so much that he remarked how the Muslim terrorist attack in Paris is a setback to finding a political solution. He apparently is more concerned about how their attack would affect the political process instead of the lives that were lost.

Second, since starting the supposed air war against ISIS a year ago, there has been very little to show for a year of a supposed air campaign. The reason is simple, Obama is limiting the use of American power to point where America appears impotent facing such a threat.

In fact, there are all sorts of reports from our military commanders to the effect that the Obama White House has been limiting their missions -- as well as refusing the requests to engage the enemy. Yes, we live in an age where the Obama White House has to grant permission to engage the enemy. Because of this asinine use of military power, ISIS has steadily grown to what it is today -- a force which can reach into France and even America to launch attacks.

The third reason that I believe that Obama has supported the spread of radical Islam is Obama domestic policies toward Muslims. They include the Obama decision back in Semptember of this year to prepare to spend BILLIONS in American Taxpayer dollars to import Muslim refugees here.

Yes, according to projections from Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector. Extended out over the next 50 years, Obama was importing 10,000 more refugees at a cost of $130 MILLION a year and $6.5 BILLION over their lifetime.

In September, Breitbart reported that a White House spokesman said President Barack Obama would grant residence to 10,000 additional Syrians in 2016, along with the routine inflow of 70,000 refugees and 1 million new immigrants.

Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeb Bush, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), say it's the United States' duty to bring in these Muslim.

Because refugees, by law, are required to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status one year after entering the United States, they will soon become eligible for all Federal benefits paid for by American taxpayers. Yes, those Social Security benefits that were cut from Seniors, and those Veterans Benefits that were cut from Disabled Vets, they are going to Muslims who may also be members of ISIS. Imagine that!

This $6.5 Billion expenditure to provide community services, education, health, welfare and "retirement" costs to 10,000 migrants comes in addition to the approximately $13.5 Billion in foreign aid to Middle Eastern nations that United States taxpayers sent in 2013.

Donald Trump has said that the United States' immigration policy needs to prioritize the national interests of its citizenry. He says, "From a humanitarian standpoint, I’d love to help. But we have our own problems. We have so many problems that we have to solve."

Trump explained that Muslim countries should be willing to take in some of the Muslim migrants, saying, "The Gulf states [are] tremendously wealthy. You have five groups of people, six groups, they’re not taking anybody. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, these are tremendously wealthy and powerful from the standpoint of money. They — they’re not taking anybody. Russia’s not taking. Nobody’s taking. [But we’re] supposed to take — we have to straighten out our own problems."

In complete contrast to Donald Trump, Republican career politicians Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, all of whom support expanding record high immigration rates, have announced their willingness to accept the Muslim refugees from Syria.

Obama says Americans have nothing to worry about. He says, "Our screening procedures will keep out terrorists." 

Yes, that's all wishful thinking considering experts say differently. And now, now the question becomes can the American people trust Obama not to put Americans lives at risk? Obama does not care about the Paris Muslim terrorist attacks, and he has staunchly refused to accept the fact that we are at war with radical Islam. 

Ben Rhodes, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser said that president Obama will not stop accepting thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. And yes, Obama is determined to bring in thousands of whether or not it is possible that those he brings here are in fact Islamic terrorists disguised as refugees like those who attacked Paris.

Let's fact the facts as stated by the FBI, the "screening process" of these Muslims will not catch terrorists coming into our country. In fact, the FBI admits that the same "screening process" can’t even keep Mexican criminals out.

After the Muslim terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday, the city was gripped in fear and recalled the horrors of the Charlie Hebdo carnage just 10 months ago. The January of this year Muslim terrorist attack by masked gunmen on the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, left 12 people dead.

They killed the top editor, prominent cartoonists, and police officers, over a cartoon. The killers escaped, traumatizing the city and sending shock waves through Europe and beyond. President Obama down-played the Charlie Hebdo Muslim terrorist attack as being "random violence" instead of a planned attack. 

In its initial statement in response to the terrorist attack, the Obama White House condemned the attacks, but did not make any judgment calls on the content of the magazine as it had done in the past.

"I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that has reportedly killed 12 people," Obama said in a prepared statement in January of this year.

He went on to say, "We are in touch with French officials and I have directed my Administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice."

Immediately following the Friday, November 13th, Muslim terrorist attack, Obama's statement was fairly close to his January statement, saying, "We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice."

A federal official told Fox News that the U.S. government believes that this Muslim terrorist attack was in fact a coordinated attack. Another source pointed out that these attacks took "months of planning" based on the multiple locations where the attacks were playing out.

The Department of Homeland Security put out a statement saying they are "closely monitoring" the events and that "At this time, there is no specific or credible threat to the United States." Of course, Homeland Security appears not to take ISIS threats very seriously.

And why doesn't that shock any of us, especially when Obama is not taking the attacks and the ISIS threats very seriously. I mean let's be frank here, while Obama said that the American people "stand together with the French people in the fight against terrorism and extremism" -- does anyone really believe him at all.

I mean really, how many times have we heard the same line of BS from Obama when he says, as he again said on Friday, "We're going to do whatever it takes to work with the [insert name] [etc. etc.] to bring these terrorists to justice." 

The man can't even say "Islamic Terrorist." And yes, I believe the reason that he can't say the words "Islamic Terrorist" is that his loyalty to the Muslim religion supersedes his loyalty to America.  Yes, right or wrong, that's what I believe is taking place.

Why would I say such a thing? First, his actions in not wanting to use the full capabilities of the United States military against the Islamic threat. Second, his insistence that Islam is a nation of peace while it consistently demonstrates otherwise. And third, he has demonstrating his support of our enemy by his refused to allow these attacks to change his strategy when dealing with ISIS. 

I believe that this is due to his loyalty to Islam and his naive assessment of the capabilities of ISIS. He seems to think that they are just a handful of terrorists that we shouldn't be very concerned with. And yes, he's even gone so far as to call them "JV" as in "Junior Varsity" in the past.

What Obama does not understand is that it was only a handful of terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 which resulted in the loss of over 3,000 lives. Lives of families that didn't care if their loved ones were murdered by a handful or a thousand terrorist -- the numbers accomplishing the act does not mean anything to those who've lost someone to Islamic murderers. 

Friends, President Obama has proven that he not a military tactician nor a president who listens to military tacticians. He does not know the first things about combat, he is a creature of politics. His assessment of ISIS because it does not have the troop numbers that large nations do is naive at best. He does not realize that a small well organized group of terrorists can be more effective than a large group because they can go undetected easier than a larger group. A larger group has a lot more liability of being discovered and having their plans thwarted. 

But friends, Obama does not care because he has decided that he wants more Muslims in the United States even if it means bringing them here. 

We do know that with all of the thousands upon thousands of Muslim refugees entering Europe -- that  European leaders have allowed terrorists into their countries. Liberal Policies toward open borders and increased Muslim immigration has created the problems we see in Europe today. That is what enabled the Paris attack, that and European leaders who put political ideology ahead of the security and safety of their own people. 

Yes, sounds just like Obama's policies. Obama is tenacious in his political attacks on Republicans and Conservatives which he sees as his enemies. And yes, I've heard people say that it would be a better world if Obama looked upon America's real enemies as he does Republicans and Conservatives -- or attacks the Muslim threat the same way as he has directed his administration to attack Christians, but that won't happen. 

Barack Hussein Obama would rather attack Americans than our enemies. And yes, he does this by sacrificing our security needs and safety as he brings into our country over 100,000 Syrian Muslim refugees in the next year.  

His mindset is that he is bringing in Muslim refugees, all while knowing that the terrorists who attacked Paris and killed the innocent there entered France as Muslim refugees fleeing Syria. And while it is our safety that I am more concerned about when importing such a threat, to me nothing is more traitorous than a president who is willing to sacrifice American lives and safety to satisfy his own political ideology and religious faith. 

This is why Obama does what he does in the war against Islam. This is why Obama is proving stubborn and uncompromising, almost fanatical, in his loyalty to Liberalism and as a sympathizer of the Muslim faith. 

I believe he sympathizes with radical Islam because of statements such as when Obama tried to legitimize the actions of Islamic terrorists saying, "More broadly, groups like al Qaeda and ISIL exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today’s youth something better. Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies. Those efforts must be matched by economic, educational and entrepreneurial development so people have hope for a life of dignity."

Yes, President Obama believes that ISIS jihadists, Muslim terrorist, really do have what he calls, "legitimate grievances." And that is our leader! 

Because of his screwed up sense of loyalty, he is proving to be useless as an American president and Commander-n-Chief.  You see, even though we have a very strong military, our military is worthless because we have a leader who refuses to use our military to its fullest capabilities against an enemy that he has an affinity for. 

After reading his book and knowing how he feels about his father's faith, Obama's actions should not surprise anyone. His support for Islam, the kinship he feels with Islam. His fondness for his childhood memories being raised as a Muslim are all very well recorded. It is very obvious. Whether his affinity with Islam is because that was his father's faith or because of his being raised as a Muslim, no one knows for sure. We do know that as for waging war against a Muslim threat -- he is reluctant at best. 

As for how Obama's fondness toward Islam has effected his leaderships skills, especially as a wartime president? 

Well, there is an inspirational quote on leadership that I've always remembered. It comes from my Marine Corps NCO Guidebook. It goes: "An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer."

That is Obama, he is certainly a deer. Yes, I believe that is especially true when it comes to fighting Islam or providing security and safety for the American people.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa

The Chandler Ranch Gunfight

The Chandler Ranch today

When it comes to the topic of Tombstone Arizona, everyone knows of, or has at least heard of, the gunfight at the OK Corral.

That being said, I would like to speak of another gun fight that took place in 1882 that many folks have never heard of before. This gunfight was just as deadly and it took place about eight to ten miles from Tombstone between one deputy sheriff, three deputized men, and two rustlers.

The sheriff's deputy was Billy Breakenridge and the three deputized posse members were, Jack Young, E.H. Allen, and John Gillespie. The two rustlers were Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds who also went by the alias of "Billy the Kid."

Johnny Behan, being the actual sheriff was out of town at the time so E.A. Harley was the sheriff's deputy in charge when word came that two notorious rustlers and criminals, Billy Grounds and Zwing Hunt would be in the area.

Mr. Harley dispatched the above posse members to arrest the two as he had warrants on both men. The posse left around ten o'clock that night as to be there in the early morning to make the arrests.

In the aftermath of the fight, the Tombstone Epitaph reported on the battle at the Chandler Ranch with the headline:

Desperate Fight 

At or around 6:30 the following morning a messenger arrived in Tombstone and reported to police chief Nagle that a desperate fight had taken place at the Chandler Ranch and that one man was dead and several others wounded.

Mr. Nagle then acquired an ambulance, and with Dr. Goodfellow headed to the scene. About 7:00 another messenger arrived in Tombstone with a note for deputy sheriff Harley that read, "Harley, send coroner to Jack Chandlers Ranch; one of our men is dead, Billy Grounds dying and Zwing Hunt also."

About half past 11:00 o'clock that morning police chief Nagle returned to Tombstone bringing Mr. Young, who was not seriously wounded and also brought news of what had actually taken place.

Mr. Nagle said that he arrived at the Chandler Ranch about 8:oo that morning and found deputy Gillespie dead on the ground and Zwing Hunt shot through the breast, which the ball went through and came out of his back, the wound he supposed was mortal.

Billy Grounds had been hit with a round of buckshot full in the face and upper part of his head. Life was slowly but surely ebbing away.

Mr Young had been shot through the front of the thigh, the ball entered the right side about six inches below the waistband, ranging downward across the groin area but not actually injuring the groin.

Mr. Allen had a slight flesh wound on the right side of the neck and Mr. Breakenridge had escaped with no serious damage or injury what so ever.

The Fight

The fight began when a man by the name of Lewis, a teamster who had stayed over night at the ranch, had stepped out of the door from the house followed by Hunt who commenced firing, two or three shots had been fired before Gillespie was killed, shot through the left temple. Hunt then shot at Mr. Young slightly creasing him on the right side of his neck.

Allen then returned fire and shot Hunt through the breast.

Just a few seconds later Grounds came out and Breakenridge blazed away at him and put a full load of buckshot from his shotgun into Ground's face and head which laid him out. Deputy Young was hit in the thigh with a shot from deputy Allen's gun which passed through the two board partition of the house striking him. Just in case there may have been others Mr. Allen had went around the back of the house to stop any attempt by the rustlers to escape through a door or window.

Somehow Zwing Hunt had survived his injuries and was taken to the hospital in Tombstone, where with the help of his brother Hugh, had escaped in some sort of conveyance. As it turned out, they took two horses and headed into the Dragoon Mountains where the very sick and wounded Zwing Hunt had been vomiting and could go no further. Hugh told the story that he had heard a shot and was thinking it would be a posse, but as it turned out it was apache's. He stated that Zwing hollered to him to commence firing and those would be his last words on earth for he had been shot to death.

Hugh Hunt had somehow escaped and headed to Camp Price. Once there he reported the incident to the commanding officer. Escorted by Lieutenant Clark and ten others Hugh led them back to the site of his brothers death where they interred Zwing's remains.

The fight at the Chandler Ranch was every bit as desperate as the gun fight at the OK Corral, and in the end, three men had perished from it. Zwing Hunt met his fate just a short time later, but still his death came as a result of the gunfight putting him somewhere he would not have been otherwise and in a very weakened state.

The number of men killed and wounded was very close to the number of men who had perished and been wounded in the Earp, Holliday, Clanton and McClowry battle in the empty lot next to Fly's photo gallery on Freemont street near third within the city limits of Tombstone in 1881, but this fight has went unheralded in history unlike the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.


By Terry McGahey
Associate Writer/Historian
The American Cowboy Chronicles

Terry McGahey has studied Old West history for most of his life. For many years, he lived in Tombstone where he became extremely knowledgeable about the history of that area.

The Battlefield Cross -- An Option In The War Against Atheist

Battlefield Cross

A reader sent me an article about Atheists attacking a Veterans Memorial in the Mid-West. While I wish they would simply mind their own business and go away, sadly Atheist attacks on Christian symbols and traditions in America take place all the time these days.

While there are those in our society today who scream that they are being persecuted if they are forced to take drug tests to qualify for government benefits or have had their feeling hurt by what someone has said, the two groups that are truly under attack in America are Conservatives and Christians.

Liberals see no restraint in making appalling claims regarding Conservatives, or throwing insults at Christians and our beliefs, but they know what groups are open season and what are not.

For example, since Atheists are primarily members of the Democrat Party, these same Atheist would never take on today's politically protected Muslims and their assault on our public schools. And yes, they even protect Muslims -- all while routinely attacking Christians. Yes, though Liberals believe in nothing other than control, they're not politically stupid. 

Christians are targets in America these days, and Muslims have free rein to impose their sickness on our children in our public schools today with impunity. Yes, Muslims are exempt from punishment when it comes to imposing their religious rituals in our schools -- all while Muslims demand that our Christian greeting of "Merry Christmas" should be banned because it is offensive to them. Imagine that!

While Atheists give Muslims a pass, those same Atheists wage a constant war against Christians -- especially Christian symbols on city properties. For those cities worried about an Atheist group filing a billion dollar lawsuit over a Christian cross memorializing our fallen Veterans, here is an option. 

Friends, a bronze Battlefield Cross can be obtained as a Veteran Memorial. And yes, though just the name of this memorial is enough to make an Atheist crap himself -- it has no religious connection! 

What is a Battlefield Cross?

The Battlefield Cross, or Battle Cross, or the Fallen Soldier Battle Cross, is a symbolic replacement of a Christian Cross or marker appropriate to an individual service-member's religion, on the battlefield, or at the base camp for an American serviceman or woman who has been killed in combat.

It is made up of the soldier's rifle with fixed bayonet stuck into the ground, with helmet on top and dog tags are sometimes placed on the rifle, and the boots of the dead soldier can be placed next to the rifle. The helmet and dog tags signify the fallen soldier, their name never to be forgotten. The inverted rifle with bayonet signals a time for prayer, a break in the action to pay tribute to our friend, our comrade, our brothers and sisters in arms. Their combat boots, worn and dirty, represents the final march into their last battle. The purpose is to show honor and respect for the fallen.

In years gone by, it was to mark the exact spot where a soldier had fallen. The practice actually started during the American Civil War, although some say maybe earlier, as a means of identifying the bodies of the fallen on the battleground before they were removed -- if at all. Back then, other than mass graves, fallen soldiers were more than likely buried right where they lay, often by opposing forces, with crude markers being erected and sometimes replaced.

It was during the later days of the Civil War that soldiers began to be sent home for burial or buried in an area designed to be a cemetery near their battlefield. After a battle was over, people would move through the battlefield to mark the bodies which hopefully would be recovered.

Those were the days before dog tags which became a common issue later. Soldiers were known to write their names in their uniforms or stick pieces of paper with their names on them in the hats and pockets. To mark the spot of these honored dead, the most convenient marker would have been a soldier's rifle with its bayonet stuck into the ground with his hat placed on top.

During World War II, as units rapidly advanced, Soldiers and Marines would often bury the bodies of their fallen comrades in shallow graves. And yes, they used the time honored tradition of placing a rifle with bayonet fixed into the ground and a helmet on top to indicate that there lies the remains of an American fighting man. In most cases, one of the two issued dog tags would be left secured to the rifle.

Later, graves registration units would follow behind and go through and attempt to recover the remains for proper identification and burial. Over time, the image of a Battlefield Cross has come to be associated with the loss of a comrade and loved one in combat.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, there were many units erecting Battle Crosses to commemorate the loss of their comrades. Since they could not attend the funerals of their fellow soldiers, some units made a habit of paying tribute at the Battlefield Cross. It should be noted that the Battlefield Cross has now come to be used as a poignant reminder of the cost of war.

Besides the Battlefield Cross being an immediate means of showing respect for those killed in the service of our nation, it is a reminder that freedom is not free.

While the Battlefield Cross itself is not an official military honor, it is an unofficial honor of sorts as it does play a part in the memorial ceremony as a visible reminder of fallen American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. And again, while it is not officially recognized, many unit commanders have recognized the value of the memorial.

In an era when Christians are under attack even in our military, Unit Commanders are known to encourage members of their units to pay their respects to fallen comrades and sometimes hold ceremonies at the site of a Battlefield Cross memorial. And as a matter of ceremony, after a set period of time, the memorial is respectfully dismantled with the components being returned to the unit for appropriate disposition.

Among the companies that make these wonderful pieces of art which are very fitting memorials to our fallen heroes, there is a company called ICON Statues which specializes in sculptures for schools, hospitals, churches, city centers, corporations, and other businesses.

While I have seen the Battlefield Cross sculpture in the small town of Ione, California, below you will find the most inspirational Battlefield Cross that I've ever seen. To me, it captures the lost felt by a loved one and the honor given by his comrades in arms.

When I first posted this article, I did not know where this is located or who the artist was. That mystery is now solved. The artist of this incredible piece is Richard Rist of Baltimore Maryland. His company is The Large Art Company which can be found at www.LargeArt.com in his section Veteran Memorial sculptures.

God Bless this great artist for capturing such a touching moment.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa

Marine General Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis

On February 22nd, 2014,  Marine General Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis gave what may be the most motivating speech of all time.

General Mattis, who retired from his post as head of U.S. Central Command after a 41-year career, gave this speech at the Marine Corps University Foundation’s 2014 Semper Fidelis Award Dinner where he accepted the award.

In his acceptance speech, he tells why he is not accepting it for himself but more on behalf of us, his fellow Marines. 

During the speech, General Mattis summed up the Marine Corps ethos. Since today is November 10th, a day when all Marines, young and old, those on active duty and those of us who served in days gone by, celebrate the 240th Birthday of our Corps, here is what General "Mad Dog" Mattis had to say in it's entirety. 

This is for you,

Happy 240th Birthday my brothers! 

From February 22nd, 2014:

"Long time since we served together in Brigade, cruised the West Pac

Or since I drank one of your Cokes on the March up to Baghdad.
General Gray, General Conway, General Pace, General Amos, General Paxton –
Marines whose very goodness put ambition out of context.

Sergeant Major Barrett – a Marine’s Marine. 

Colonel Harvey Barnum who for so many years – 

Your valor inspired us all to be better men.

Ladies – The wonderful ladies who exemplify grace & courage
Who represent our better angels and what we fight for.

Thank all of you for coming out tonight –
A night that celebrates our Corps’ values, its legacy and its mission.

A special note of appreciation for President of the Marine Corps University Foundation,
General Tom Draude.
Valiant combat leader who brought a Vietnam Vet’s reassurance 

To us as we filed into our Desert Storm attack positions
And earned our everlasting respect & affection.

We have Ambassadors present,
Whom Marines have stood beside in foreign lands
And members of Congress and staffers,
To whom we owe our survival when short – sighted bureaucratic efforts challenged our existence,
Combined, they remind us our Corps carries more than our own hopes forward.

General Conway & General Amos spoke about this Foundation – I’ll add a few words.

Between Commandant’s Reading List and the Marine Corps University Foundation’s enriching
The education of our warrior leaders – 

I have never been bewildered for long in any fight with our enemies – 

I was Armed with Insight. 

In the worst of surprises we found our training and education had prepared us well.

I am a very average Marine  – at this podium tonight because I repeatedly was at the right place, 

At the right time to gain warfighting positions. 

I recall a Fleet Commander asking if I could bring Marines from the Mediterranean 

Together with a West Coast Marine Expeditionary Unit 

And strike 350 Nautical Miles into Afghanistan. 

I could, thanks to the Marines who went before me.

My immediate response was, “Yes”!

Thanks to our Corps’ legacy of audacity
Thanks to our Marines in 1950 who brought in KC 130 aircraft.
Thanks to our Amphibs, which our Navy-Marine-Corps Team funded.
Thanks to our Marines of the 1960 -1970s who put air refueling probes on Heavy Lift Helicopters.

Thanks to our Marines who brought in Light Armored Vehicles in 1980.
Thanks to our Recruiters who brought in High–Quality Marines.
Thanks to our Commandant who extended boot camp and toughened it.

None of this started with me – most of the thinking was done in Quantico. 

And for me – so often in the right place at the right time 

I have an enormous sense of gratitude for a Corps that gave me
Such capability when destiny called on our Corps to fight.

Images flash through my mind– and I speak from my heart: 

Of an Eighth & “I” parade in honor of John Glenn who remarked that night:

He had been a Marine for 23 years… "but not long enough."

That was from a man fought in WWII & Korea 

And was the first American to orbit the earth,

His wingman in Korea, baseball legend Ted Williams, put it well 

When asked which was best team he ever played on. 

Without hesitation he said, “The U.S. Marine Corps.”

On evenings like this most of us will remember the tragedy of losing comrades
Beautiful Marines whose rambunctious spirits gave us what F. Scott Fitzgerald called
“Riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.”

And we remember them, everyone, who gave their lives 

So our experiment called America, could live.

And for us who live today…
We do so with a sense that each day is a bonus and a blessing.

To the Veterans who brought up the current generation of Marines 

Who imbued in us the spirit “such as Regiments hand down,”

Thank you!
You raised us well for our grim tasks!

During our apprenticeship you coached us 

And honed our skills with a sense of humor in a tough school.

And when the time came for us to stand and deliver, 

We never feared the enemy. 

We only feared we might somehow disappoint you.

But with good NCO’s the outcome was never in doubt,
And the NCO’s were superb, Sergeant Major Barrett

And all Marines, regardless of rank,
Stood shoulder –to-shoulder
Stood co-equal in our commitment to mission
Co-equal, from boot private to General

Smiling to one another, even as we entered Fallujah
Knowing the enemy could not stand against the Corps you Veterans honed.
Because every Marine, if he was in a tough spot – 

Whether a bar fight, or tonight in Helmand River Valley,
Our fellow Marines would get to us, or die trying.

So long as our Corps fields such Marines, 

America has nothing to fear from tyrants, 

Be they Fascists, Communists or Tyrants with Medieval Ideology. 

For we serve in a Corps with no institutional confusion about our purpose:

To fight!
To fight well!

As we say out West where I grew up, “We ride for the brand”, 

And hold the line until our country can again feel its unity.

From our first days at San Diego, Parris Island or Quantico, 

NCO’s bluntly explained to us that the Corps would be:

Entirely satisfied if we gave 100%
And entirely dissatisfied if we gave 99%

And those NCOs taught us the great pleasure of doing what others thought impossible.

As General Amos summed it up so well in his Marine Birthday message: 

“The iron discipline & combat excellence” of our Marines:

Marines who never let each other down, 

Never let the Corps down, 

Never let our country down…

Those are the Marines who define our Corps.

A Corps whose old-fashioned values protect a progressive country.
Marines who can do the necessary “rough work”, 

But without becoming evil by doing so, 

Despite an enemy who has opened apocalyptically the aperture for who they target,

To include even women and children.

It’s all the more important today that we hold to our precious legacy
Of ferocious, ethical combat performance.

For in a world awash in change, 

Americans need to have confidence in the everlasting character of our Marines

And to those Maniacs, the ones who thought that by hurting us on 9-11 that they could scare us,
We have proven that the descendants of Belleau Wood,
Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Chosin, Hue City & more,

We don’t scare! 

And we proved it in Fallujah & Ramadi and in the Helmand,
Where foes who had never reasoned their way into their medieval views
And could not be reasoned out – 

Found that American Marines could fight like the dickens,
And for the enemy it proved to be their longest and worst day against us.

Now from a distance I look back on what the Corps taught me:

To think like men of action,
And to act like men of thought!

To live life with intensity,
And a passion for excellence,
Without losing compassion for mistakes made,
By hi-spirited young patriots who looked past hot political rhetoric and joined the Corps – 

Which taught me to be a “coach” in General LeJeune’s style,

Summoning the best from our troops
The Father to Son, Teacher to Scholar bond bringing out the vicious harmony 

When together, we closed on the enemy.

We were taught that the strongest motivation we all have,
Whether an FA-18 pilot or a Huey door gunner,
Whether a “cannon cocker” firing a mission 

Or logistics Marine hurrying supplies forward,
The motivation that binds us is our respect for 

And commitment to a 19 year old Lance Corporal infantryman 

Upon whose young shoulders our experiment called America ultimately rests….

Now this award can never be mine –
And because we are members of the same tribe,
Every one of you knows what I will say next….

For I am grateful & humbled to be singled out with you tonight:

An average Marine who always had good fortune to repeatedly 

Be in the right place at the right time
A “limited duty officer” as Commandant of the Marine Corps Jim Jones put it – 

Who only knew what to do with me when there was a fight.

But this award is truly not made to a man, to an individual,
It is made through me
For my work with those who shouldered Rucksacks,
Work that was carried forward by our Grunts,
And I will hold it in trust for those lads whose unfailing loyalty we celebrate tonight, 

Who chose to live life fully – more than they wanted longevity. 

Even when I made mistakes they saved the day.

And I made plenty –
Like the time I got my Battalion surrounded in open dessert, with
My mortar Platoon spilling out and
Setting up 4 tubes pointing north, and 4 tubes pointing south and, 

They restored the situation…

Yes, even in a jam of my own making –
The lads’ spirit, skill and good humor carried us through when danger loomed.

So on behalf of such lads
I hold this award in trust –

For the lads who prove Hemingway was right when he said, 

“There was no one better to have beside you when the chips were down than a U.S. Marine.”

For to Marines, love of liberty is not an empty phrase… 

Rather it’s displayed by blood, sweat and tears for the fallen. 

I was humbled that our Corps allowed me to serve over four decades,
Yet as Colonel John Glenn – a fighter pilot, astronaut and Senator put it –
It wasn’t long enough –

Semper Fidelis and May God hold our lads close."

written by Marine General Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis

General Mattis will certainly go down in Marine Corps History as one of the Marine Corps' most revered Generals. And yes, besides being the warrior that he is, he proved to be a great inspiration to us all.

Happy Birthday Marines! 

Tom Correa

Hand Guns And Personal Protection

By Terry McGahey

When it comes to personal choices of which pistol or revolver to carry for your own personal protection I always say, "Carry what you are most comfortable with, and which ever one you shoot best with."

That said, I prefer the old tried and true 1911 .45 Auto. This pistol has proven to be one of the best man stoppers since it's conception.

Personally, I carry mine with the 230 grain Cor-Bon hollow points. Reason being, unlike ball ammo which can pass through your intended target and possibly kill or injure another individual, the Cor-Bon hollow point will not.

One of the biggest misconceptions I hear from people is how you need a bullet or caliber that will kill with one shot, but in my opinion this is not necessarily true. In a shooting situation you do need the right caliber or bullet which will stop the perpetrator, but not necessarily kill them.

Yes, with the .45 one shot could very well turn an individual into a corpse, but if you should be off center of mass because of adrenaline coursing through your body, this caliber will still stop them, and please remember, stopping them should be your first goal when it comes to your personal protection.

In the world of hand guns there are a few calibers with more stopping power, or one shot kill power, but to achieve this goal, in general you are carrying a hand cannon which is not necessary. Example, the .357 magnum is probably one of the best at one shot kills, but should you need to use this weapon in an instant of your own protection you won't have time to put in ear plugs.

This weapon does not make the typical boom sound of other calibers, but it makes a very sharp crack! Without ear plugs you won't be able to hear very well for an hour or so.

Personally, that's why I don't care for the .357 magnum, besides the point that it may pass through and hit an innocent individual even with hollow point bullets. In my opinion, if you carry a .357 for self defense, carry it with hollow point .38s, they will do the job and not kill or injure an innocent bystander. But that's just my opinion.

No matter which caliber a person may choose to carry for their own protection they need to spend plenty of time at the range or out in the country to become proficient with it. If you practice enough, pulling and firing the weapon will become muscle memory, which will save you in a bad situation.

For first time shooters, learn gun safety before you even load it for the first time. The biggest mistake first time shooters make is to want to shoot the gun right away. If you were not raised with handguns, please get with an instructor or someone you may know who has a lot of experience with them.

Have them teach you the safety features of the weapon and how to load, unload, clean, and handle the weapon in a safe manner. Once you learn these things you are then, and only then, ready for the shooting experience.

I will close this article with an old saying. Beware of the person who only owns one gun. If they only own one gun, you can dang near bet they are very good with it!

Old West Lawman Saw Deputized Citizens As An Asset

It wasn't too long ago that I sort of stepped into a conversation regarding posses and how much law enforcement depended on the citizenry. The person who said it didn't take place decided to up his bet and said, "Other than in Hollywood movies, name one incident when that took place?"

So I started thinking of the times which really stuck in my head that weren't a matter of vigilantes just taking over and doing what needed to be done. As many of you know, where there was a breakdown in the law, whether it was through corruption or simply the law being out numbered, often citizens formed vigilante groups to step forward and right a local crime situation that may be getting out of hand.

We forget that aside from the vigilante groups, which popped up all over the West, it is a fact that the history of the West has all sorts of examples of everyday citizens being deputized to assist with the administration of justice.

Using the Posse Comitatus law, Old West lawman saw citizens aa an asset. Fact is, whether forming a posse or simply deputizing a couple of citizens on the spot, a lawman would use the Common Law of Posse Comitatus to call on all males over the age of fifteen for assistance in preventing any type of civil disorder and maintaining order.

A posse is defined as a group of civilians called upon by a sheriff or other law enforcement official to assist temporarily in preserving the peace or pursuing and arresting a fugitive. A group of citizens summoned by a sheriff to help in maintaining law and order.

After the person who I was talking with challenged me to name once when deputizing a couple of citizens on the spot actually took place, I have to admit that I shot for the obvious. I told him that before going down to the lot adjacent to the OK Corral to confront those in violation of Tombstone's city ordinance against wearing guns in town, City Marshal Virgil Earp deputized two citizens on the spot. One citizen was his brother Wyatt Earp who was in reality employed as a bartender. The other was a citizen by the name of Doc Holliday who made his living as a gambler. 

Later of course, Judge Spicer would say that his choices may have been a little unwise. But all in all, Virgil Earp did deputize two citizens who he knew that he could depend on.  

As for other lawmen back in the day, they were known to do the exact same thing as what Virgil Earp did in that they would deputize citizens that they knew they could depend on to back them up. And hopefully, the men they picked would stick and not turn tail if shooting started. 

Below, I have listed a few times when citizens stepped forward in what was known back then as the "Far West" of California. In some cases the citizens carried out the law even after the lawman which they were there supporting was already shot dead.

 September 2nd, 1854 

California bandido Tiburcio Vasquez killed Monterey Constable William Hardmount by shooting him during a fight at a fandango.

A fandango is a lively couples-dance which originated in Portugal and Spain, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Fandango is still one of the main folk dances in Portugal today.

Constable Hardmount was shot and killed when he attempted to break up a fight between several men -- some from the East Coast, Mexico and Ireland. It is said that bandit Tiburcio Vasquez and others were fighting over rum and women when Vasquez shot and killed Constable Hardmount when he attempted to stop the fight.

Vasquez's accomplice was wounded by return fire. Vasquez escaped, but the citizenry stepped up and captured his accomplice who they hanged in the town square the following day.

November 10th, 1855 

California's Monterey County saw three of its Sheriff Deputies killed in one afternoon when Deputy De La Torre, Deputy Jim Beckwith and Deputy Charles Layton were all shot and killed while attempting to arrest a suspect wanted for murdering two other people.

The killer fled, but soon he was captured by citizens. They angry citizens took him to a nearby tree and hanged him. It is said they held his trail on the way to that hanging tree.

November 26th, 1858

In the California Gold Country, the town of Columbia saw one of its Police Officers and a Constable murdered within 3 days of one another. Yes, that's what happened to Columbia Policeman Joel McDonald and Constable John Leary when they were shot and killed during an operation to arrest three professional thieves.

The officers had noticed the three suspicious men loitering around the town and came up with a plan to determine their motives. Policeman McDonald approached the men out of uniform and began talking with them. 

After he earned the men's trust, it was suggested that Policeman McDonald and the three thieves would rob a house together and then go back to Policeman McDonald's saloon to divide the loot. McDonald informed Constable Leary of the plan, and the two agreed that Leary would hide at the saloon during the robbery so that the suspects could be taken by surprise.

The robbery went as planned, but the robbers grew suspicious as they approached the saloon because they noticed a light was on. They asked Policeman McDonald what the light meant. Because they were unsatisfied with his answer, they drew a gun and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. 

They then fled the scene. But three days later, on November 29th, 1858, Constable Leary located the suspects and was attempting to arrest one of them when the suspect pulled out a gun and fatally shot him.

Citizens got involved and captured the killers. While one of the suspects was shot and killed during a citizen's arrest attempt, the other two suspects were captured within days of the incident. They were lynched by an angry citizenry.

July 26th, 1860 

California's Amador County Constable Miles Huntsman was shot and killed as he attempted to serve a warrant on a Native American Indian who had been accused of stealing a horse. 

The suspect opened fire on Constable Huntsman as he served the warrant, his shots killing the Constable almost instantly.

A citizen who was accompanying Constable Huntsman returned fire, and killed the suspect and another man who was with him who drew his pistol. Though deputized, that meant nothing to the crowd of Indians. Soon they gathered around that citizen, and then slowly beat him to death.

September 23rd, 1871

California's Mono County, Sheriff's Posse Member Robert Morrison and Posse Member Mono Jim were both shot and killed during a shootout with several men who had escaped from the Nevada State Penitentiary in Carson City, Nevada.

The convicts fled south and murdered three citizens they encountered. They were tracked into California by a posse from Esmeralda County, Nevada. Once in California, a new posse was formed by a Mono County deputy who took over the pursuit.

The Mono County Posse located the convicts camped out near Monte Diablo Creek in Taylor Canyon and waited for daybreak to confront them. A shootout ensued in which Posse Members Mono Jim and Robert Morrison were both shot and killed.

All of the escapees were apprehended in the following days. While a couple of the escapees were returned to jail, two of them were tried in a makeshift court in a remote cabin and executed the following day.

Soon afterwards, Monte Diable Creek was renamed Convict Creek in commemoration of the shootout. And yes, two nearby peaks were renamed Mount Morrison and Mono Jim Peak in honor of the fallen citizens.

March 20th, 1889 

After being with Los Angeles County Constable's Office for only one year, 39 year old Constable Anton Harnischfeger succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained in Garvanza three days earlier while he and a posse attempted to arrest a man wanted for assaulting a child.

The man who would turn killer was a hermit who lived in a hut along the Arroyo Seco. He was collecting driftwood that washed onto his property as the result of heavy rain when a woman and her daughter who lived above him also starting collecting the wood.

The man became irate and confronted the woman and child telling them to stop. When the woman went into her house, the man attacked the girl by punching her and clubbing her.

A warrant was issued for the man's arrest and Constable Harnischfeger went to the man's home to serve it along with several citizens. When the door opened, the man immediately shot Constable Harnischfeger in the forehead with a .38 caliber revolver.

The would-be killer tried to flee the scene through a backdoor. He was chased, cornered, and killed in an exchange of gunfire with the pursuing citizens. 

As you can see, in most of the situations, citizens did not stop the enforcement of law just because the person that deputized them was killed. Fact is, citizens who swore an oath to uphold the law -- even if it was on a temporary basis -- truly understood exactly what that meant. 

While these are just a few instances where citizens rose to the occasion, citizens stepping forward when needed was essential to maintain some sort of civilized world back then. When people talk about the Old West, they usually only talk about the now famous gunfights like that of the OK Corral. Sadly, they hardly ever mention how everyday citizens supported law enforcement. 

Let's not forget citizen O.M. Aldrich who jumped into action and caught Tom Horn as he tried to escape jail.

On Sunday, August 9th, 1903, at 8:00am, Tom Horn and the prisoner in the next cell, a man by the name of McCloud, decided to make their break. County Under-Sheriff Dick Proctor was tied up with a window cord to affect their escape and they proceeded into the Sheriff’s office in search of weapons. As fate would have it, it's said they overlooked a cabinet containing five lever action .30-30 Winchesters rifles. 

McCloud ran out a side door leaving Horn to wrestle the Under-Sheriff alone. Horn snatched a pistol from Under-Sheriff Proctor, and beat the officer in the head and face before running out the side door as well. According to historian Lee A. Silva, the handgun Tom Horn tried to use during his escape attempt was a John Browning designed, Fabrique Nationale (FN) manufactured, semi-automatic pistol. Tom had never used a semi-auto before and luckily for Officer Protor that Horn didn't know how to use it.

Horn ran out the same door used by McCloud, but when hearing the Cheyenne police shooting at his old roommate, Horn decided to run south then East towards Capitol Avenue. That's where he ran into big problems with the Merry-Go-Round operator.

Beware of the Merry-Go-Round Operator!

Believe it or not, a Merry-Go-Round Operator by the name of O.M. Aldrich spotted legendary killer Tom Horn running from the jail. In response, Aldrich grabbed his own .38 caliber Iver Johnson pistol and took a shot at Horn. Sadly, Aldrich missed. But the shot is said to have made Horn turn and attempt to return fire. Since Horn didn't know how to operate the semi-automatic pistol, he wasn't able to shoot and kill Aldrich.

The Merry-Go-Round Operator Aldrich caught up with Horn, and pulled the trigger again. This time his shot is said to have creased Horn's head. This stunning the killer. Believe it or not, it's said that Horn actually fainted when shot at. He is said to have went face first down into the ground.

As Horn tried to regain his feet and get back up, he again attempted to fire at Aldrich. Again he didn't know why the FN semi-automatic pistol wouldn't fire. By this time Officer Robert LaFontaine showed up to help Aldrich who had tackled Horn and was beating the crap out of the famous gunman.

After being clubbed several times on the head by the Merry-Go-Round Operator Aldrich with his little Iver Johnson .38 caliber pocket pistol, the famed Tom Horn stopped resisting and surrendered to Aldrich. Yes, the Merry-Go-Round Operator whopped the hell out of Tom Horn!

Horn was lead back to jail by a large group of townsfolk, city policemen Otto Aherns, and two other officers. Robert LaFontaine said later that he spent most of his time pulling Aldrich off Horn for fear the Merry-Go-Round Operator was going to kill the killer. Imagine that! 

A Crowd Escorted Horn Back To Jail

So now when people ask me about carrying a concealed weapon, after all there are those against guns rights who will inevitably ask, "Do you want our society to become like the Old West?" 

My answer is always, "Yes! Absolutely!"

I usually go on to inform them that the Old West was not as violent a place as people think, or as Hollywood makes it out to be.  For many reasons such as social norms, Christian beliefs, a dependence on one another, and the fact that citizens were armed, it was actually a fairly polite society. In contrast, back East where it was demanded that citizens remain unarmed, where cities had organized law enforcement, some ripe with corruption, society was a very violent place.

As for having a populace that's armed, an armed citizenry was an asset for law enforcement throughout the West. Today it's really no different, a citizenry that is armed is an asset to local lawmen simply by provided security for themselves without having to burden an overall local police or sheriff's departments.

In rural area, such as where I live, our Sheriff's Department is all in favor of citizens being armed simply because our county is huge and the response time for an officer is estimated at anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour in the best of conditions. This fact means that folks up here have to understand the need to provide our own security. Yes, just like the Old West in that respect.

Whether its getting involved by letting the law know about genuinely suspicious activity, or stepping forward as a witness to what transpired during a crime, or being involved in a neighborhood watch, or backing an officer in trouble, citizens play an integral role in keeping our communities safer today just as they did in the Old West. That's a good thing to have happen, especially with town's and counties facing limited funding and resources.

Asides from taking bad guys and lynching them on the spot, I truly believe that having a society become like the Old West where citizens took more ownership of what was going on in the towns and communities would not be a bad thing at all. That's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa

American Schools & Muslim Students

Do American schools prostitute themselves for Muslim dollars?

The Grace Memorial Chapel at Wichita State University (WSU) is located on the north side of the Rhatigan Student Center. It is said to be "one of the shining points of campus, and provides a great place for students to worship."

It was reported in early October that the Christian campus chapel was stripped of its pews and the altar and replaced by Muslim prayer rugs. University officials decided to make the chapel something they call "faith neutral,"

Believe it or not, WSU president John Bardo in a statement said his administration decided to convert the chapel into a facility "welcoming to all religious groups on campus."

University administrators ordered workers to remove all the pews and the altar inside the Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel last May, and Muslim prayer rugs and some portable chairs were then brought inside. This move was, according to Bardo, in compliance with the wishes of the chapel’s benefactor, Mrs. Harvey D. Grace, who in her Will wrote that "this chapel will be open to all creeds and to all races of people."

With an estimated 15,000 of the university's students being Christians and about 1,000 being Muslims, the Christian cleansing of the chapel has outraged the school's majority Christian population. Many protested to get the school's administrators to take a look at what it is doing, and not deprive its majority Christian student population of their religious rights.

A reader who attends WSU sent me this information which said that WSU president Bardo has met the demands of the school’s Christian students and recently ordered a committee to study possible changes in the facility.

Bardo wrote in a public statement posted on WSU's website that he doesn’t think the "change was undertaken with enough consideration of the feelings of all elements of the campus and broader community."

In case WSU does know what a chapel is, allow me to give them the definition of a CHAPEL: A small church, or an enclosed place in a large church for worship by a small group, or a room in a building set apart for worship; a room that is part of a larger building; used for Christian worship as in "the ​college/​hospital/​prison has ​its own chapel."

While some call it a "renovation," others are calling it a complete change. By removing the pews and the altar inside the Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel last May, and instead putting in Muslim prayer rugs, the school officials there successfully took a ​building used mainly for ​Christian ​worship and changed it into a Mosque for only Muslims.

So why did WSU do it?

First, with a decline in enrollment, it is believed by some that WSU is doing exactly what other universities are doing in trying to lure more foreign students from the Middle East. Foreign students pay more to attend our schools.

And yes, while the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of accommodations, the University of California, Berkeley has a meditation room, and at the University of California, Davis, at Henry Ford Community College in Michigan, at the University of Portland in Oregon, and other public universities all have exclusive Muslim prayer rooms.

And if you think only public schools are doing this, private schools are doing this as well. For example, Muslim students at Benedictine University in Illinois and Trinity University in Texas have demanded and received prayer rooms. And yes, Trinity, Georgetown, and Syracuse University in New York also have Muslim chaplains.

Since Muslim students must wash their feet before praying, having foot-baths in bathrooms is another common accommodation on campuses, with two dozen public universities installing them so far.

Minneapolis Community and Technical College noticed that bathroom floors were wet from students washing their feet in the sinks, thereby leading to floor damage and students possibly slipping accidents so the university installed foot-baths.

Students at public universities objected to their tuition dollars being used for a particular religion, yet the university contended that anyone could use foot-baths to wash their feet. Also, the American Civil Liberties Union said that that foot-baths were necessary for Muslim students to practice their religion. You think the ACLU would fight for Christians that way? How about keeping Christmas a holiday on a school's calendar? No way!

Schools are accommodating Muslims by removing Christmas because Muslims are offended by the our Christian holidays, yet demand that schools observe two Muslim holy days, known as "Eid." Those are Muslim school holidays where Muslim students have day-long celebrations. Syracuse University in New York has made "Eid-ul-Fitr" an official school holiday on its five-year calendar to accommodate Muslims students there.

According to reports, Syracuse University's Muslim chaplain stated that since Easter and Christmas, two Christian holidays, were already on the school calendar -- why shouldn't "Eid?"

The school was forced into voting between no religious holidays or one additional holiday. The university voted to put Eid-ul-Fitr on its calendar. But now, now the Muslim students there want Easter and Christmas removed because those days are considered offensive to Muslims.

Other universities acknowledge Muslim holidays, while still holding classes on the two Eids. They allow Muslim students special privileges by allowing them to make up missed assignments and notify professors to avoid scheduling tests on the religious days. Imagine that!

While accommodations vary from university to university, reality is that more and more American universities are willing to meet the demands of Muslim students. And no, these accommodations are not restricted to universities as Muslims are making the same demands in colleges, high schools, and even elementary schools around the country.

By providing Muslims with the accommodations they are demanding, universities are prostituting themselves while making it clear that they will do anything for those foreign dollars.

So yes, money is what is believed to have a contributing factor behind the change of WSU's chapel.

The other reason has to do with politics. While Americans attending a university in an Islamic country would never dream of suggesting that a university there install pews and an alter in its Mosques to accommodate Christian students, that is not the case here.

Even at private Christian universities, Muslims demand the removal of crosses from rooms that they are in because they find the Christian cross offensive. Since the political winds favor Islam in America, and no one wants to get sued, universities and other schools respond by meeting the demands of Muslim students. And please don't think it hasn't happened, there have been many universities, including private universities, which have actually been sued to accommodate Muslim students.

My reader tells me that Muslim students are now in control of the facility. They are calling the outrage over changing the chapel "Islamophobia" -- prejudice against Muslims. They are organizing to assert their control of the facility and possibly even force the campus to build a prayer room if they can't retake control of the chapel.

The Muslims on campus have also published a petition in Wichita State University’s student-run news source The Sunflower, calling for the university to install Islamic plumbing -- specifically, handheld bidets in restrooms around the campus.

So yes, I believe WSU essentially bowed down to today's political pressure to discriminate against Christians in schools. By altering their chapel and refit it for only Muslim worship, they have shown a complete lack of respect for the vast majority of their students.

An editorial in a local paper there says that WSU administrators re-examining the removal of pews and alter is a slap to the face of the 1000 Muslim students there. It is not surprising that there was not even the smallest mention made as to how the 15,000 Christians on campus were offended or discriminated against.

And frankly, if I were a parent thinking of sending my son or daughter to a university, I'd rethink sending my child to WSU or any of these universities who prostitute themselves for foreign dollars.

Since I'd be paying big tuition money, I would certainly question the priorities and intentions of that university. And since WSU has shown its hand, I don't know if I'd send my child to a school that has demonstrated animosity for Christians just to bring in more Muslim students.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.
Tom Correa