On this day, April 14, 1881, Texas lawman Dallas Stoudenmire was involved in the “Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight” in El Paso.
The shooting began when former city Marshal George Campbell and John Hale insulted Constable Gus Krempkau for sympathizing with Mexicans. Hale then shot Krempkau.
Stoudenmire, who had taken the marshal’s job three days earlier, was eating at a restaurant when he heard the gunshots.
Stoudenmire pulled his twin Colt .45s and ran toward the gunfight, firing at Hale but hitting a bystander who crossed into the line of fire. Stoudenmire’s second shot killed Hale, and then Stoudenmire killed Campbell.
The incident made Stoudenmire famous in his own time. Although he was involved in more gunfights than contemporaries like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday, his name is not well known today.
Scott McCabe
