Born 1857, Cold Spring Township, Missouri. Died April 30, 1884, Medicine Lodge Kansas. Farmer, cowboy, buffalo hunter, cattle rustler, law officer, bank robber, gunman. Henry was orphaned at a young age and with his sister was reared on their uncle's farm, near Rolla, Missouri. At the age of seventeen, (1875) he left Missouri and headed west. For a time he worked on a ranch in eastern Colorado, ten spent a season hunting buffalo. In 1876 he killed a man in the Texas Panhandle, and then moved to turbulent Lincoln County, New Mexico. He signed on as a cowpuncher and rustler with Major L. G. Murphy and worked for eighteen months while a bitter feud developed between Murphy and three local competitors &endash; ranching magnate John Chisum, lawyer Alexander McSween, and rancher John Tunstall.

Early in 1878, disgruntled over a salary squabble, Brown switched sides and hired on with Chisum. About this time Tunstall was murdered, and Brown became an active participant in the all-out war that followed. He was one of three men indicted for murdering Sheriff William Brady and deputy George Hindman; and he also participated in the Blazer's Mill shoot-out Brown finally found himself in the meddle of the climactic battle in Lincoln. Afterward, he leagued with Billy the Kid and various other fugitives who formed a band of stock thieves.

In 1882, Brown was appointed deputy marshal of Coldwell, Oklahoma, and within a few months he was promoted to city marshal. He imported a Texas hard case called Ben Wheeler (whose real name was Ben Robertson) to be his deputy, and the two gunmen tamed Caldwell.

His improved image as a solid citizen was ruined in April 1884, when he was caught robbing a bank in nearby Medicine Lodge. Brown and Wheeler, accompanied by two Oklahoma desperadoes (Smith & Wesley) slipped into Medicine Lodge, killed two men in the bank, and were chased down and put into a log building under guard. The captives ate two meals, and had their pictures taken. Around 9:00 P.M. three shots were fired, and a mob into an alley. Just as he broke into the clear, a farmer loosed both barrels of a shotgun and blew him in half. He died on the spot. Wheeler was also wounded, and was taken to a tree and hanged alongside Smith & Wesley.

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"Lawmaker, Lawbreaker" 

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Last Modified 12-16-01