Gunman Barney Riggs

Barney Riggs was a gunman of note, with a number of killings in the Southwest to his name between 1874 and 1902.  In 1886, he killed Richard Hudson, who had been bragging about an affair he had with Riggs’ wife Vennie.  Barney was sentenced to life in the Yuma Prison.

But less than a year later, he helped put down a riot there and saved the life of Warden Thomas Gates.  The brave act earned Riggs a pardon.  In 1896, he pulled his guns again, killing two associates of assassin Jim Miller in Pecos, Texas.