Happy Jack Morco had the wrong nickname. He boasted of killing up to a dozen men—there’s no confirmation of that. He certainly was a boozer and brawler and, for awhile, a lawman in Ellsworth, KS (photo) in 1877.
There, he had a run-in with the Texas gunmen brothers Ben and Billy Thompson—threatening them and pushing them around. The incident later resulted in the death of Sheriff Chauncey Whitney. Morco was fired over it. Weeks later, he was killed in a gunfight with town police officer Charlie Brown. Not a very happy ending.
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