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In the 1985 film Silverado, British-born John Cleese plays the sheriff. Did any Britons become frontier sheriffs in the USA?

by | Jul 1, 2016 | Ask the Marshall, Departments

Paul Piper Dorset, England Legendary gunfighter Ben Thompson comes to mind. At the age of seven, he immigrated to America from his birthplace of Knottingley, West Yorkshire, in England. After numerous scrapes with the law, he became city marshal of Austin, Texas, in 1881. Despite accounts reporting he was mainly drunk on duty, he was re-elected. The Meagher twins, Mike and John, were born in Ireland in 1843 and moved to the U.S. after the Irish potato famines in 1845-52. In 1871, Mike became


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