I was born in Logan County, Kentucky, near the
Red River.
Like so many boys and young men from that era I
grew into manhood riding for General N.B. Forrest and Captain C. William
Quantrell.
After Appomattox the Union courts branded us
outlaws for unsavory deeds that came out of that atrocious war, as such, for a
number of years I became a running gun.
Lacking a profitable vocation I joined with men
like Frank & Jesse James; out of necessity we became Long Riders,
southern entrepreneurs and businessmen of opportunity of which there was ample.
As the days of the outlaw gun waned I, like so
many others seeking a new start, headed South to Texas where I changed my ways
and under the alias of Charles Bell joined the Texas Rangers. Thus I went from
outlaw to lawman serving as the latter in a number of cow towns along the
Chisholm and Goodnight trails.
My last thunder was in the Spanish American
War, tenure of which was cut short by a lowly mosquito. Possibly seeking
salvation for unmentionable deeds my last years were spent as a Preacher in
Memphis, Tennessee, and congregations thereabouts.
My memoirs were published in a book
appropriately titled, Under The Black Flag.
