"This
is King Fisher's road.
Take the
other."
John King
Fisher, rancher, outlaw, and
lawman, 5'-9" 135 lbs, was born in
Collin County
[northeast
of Dallas]
in 1854, the son of Joby and Lucinda
(Warren) Fisher. Just before the Civil
War the family moved
to Florence, Williamson County
[north
of Austin].
In 1869 Fisher was accused of stealing
a horse after he borrowed
it without telling the owner. He was
arrested by a posse but reportedly
escaped with the help
of the horse's owner, who had decided
not to press charges. Fisher made his
way to Goliad, Texas
[north
of Corpus
Christi]
where he was arrested again, this time
for housebreaking, and sent to prison.
After being pardoned
four months later,
he moved to Dimmit County and
established a ranch on Pendencia Creek
[near
Eagle Pass and the border of Mexico,
southwest of San
Antonio].
The region,
known as the Nueces Strip, was a
lawless area, where cattle rustling was
the major industry.
Fisher, relying on both patronage and
intimidation, quickly established
himself as one of the
leaders of the Strip, and his ranch
became a haven for drifters, criminals,
and rustlers in the region.
He apparently
rode with Mexican rustlers, even
killing as many as ten before emerging
as the leader of the bunch, which
sometimes amounted to as many as one
hundred. It was reported that he traded
stolen Mexican cattle for stolen Texas
cattle with the eventual president of
Mexico, Porfirio Diaz
He was an
imposing figure, once described by
Texas Ranger N. A. Jennings as wearing
an ornamented
Mexican sombrero, a black Mexican
jacket embroidered with gold, a crimson
sash, and boots,
with two silver-plated, ivory-handled
revolvers swinging from his belt
[also
Bengal tiger skin
chaps].
In the section where
he reigned, Fisher
was feared and respected. A certain
road branch bore the sign: "This is
King Fisher's
road. Take the other." Fisher
reportedly placed the sign to
distinguish between his private
road and the
public road, but many at the time
viewed it as evidence of the extent of
Fisher's power
and control.
In addition to
operating his ranch, Fisher was
evidently engaged in cattle rustling in
Texas and Mexico, and his escapades led
more than once to violence. He was
arrested at various times by the famous
Texas Ranger captain Leander McNelly
and his successor Lee Hall. Charged
with murder and horse and cattle theft,
he managed to avoid conviction, but his
legal ordeals took their toll, and
Fisher decided to live a quieter life.
He married in April 1876 and later
bought a ranch near Eagle Pass.
At some point
during this period, he owned the Sunset
Saloon.
In 1881 he was
appointed deputy sheriff of Uvalde
County. He became acting sheriff in
1883 after the sheriff was indicted. He
turned out to be an efficient and
popular lawman and made plans to run
for the office in 1884. But on the
night of March 11, 1884, in the
Vaudeville Variety Theater in San
Antonio, Fisher and his companion,
noted gunman Ben
Thompson,
were involved in a shootout brought on
by a quarrel between Thompson and the
theater's owners. Both Fisher and
Thompson were killed in the melee.
"FISHER,
JOHN
KING."
The Handbook of Texas
Online.
