Long Haired Sam Brown led a gang in California’s Calaveras County in the 1850s. He was dealing cards in 1855 when a Chilean miner grabbed someone else’s money. Guns and knives were pulled; three Chileans ended up dead, and Brown and a pal hightailed it out. Respected Sheriff Ben K. Thorn (photo) and a posse surrounded the cabin where the outlaws were entrenched—then the lawman put his gun down,

True West January/February 2025