Fans of history and the Wild West will remember the infamous showdown at the O.K. Corral between Billy “The Kid” Claiborne and Franklin “Buckskin” Leslie. Billy the Kid lost his life at the hands of the other famous gunman on Nov. 14, 1882 Tombstone, Arizona.
Not much is known about the beginning of Leslie’s life, though he claimed to be born in both Texas and Kentucky, to have studied medicine in Europe, and to have acted as an army scout in the war against the Apache Indians. In 1877, Leslie became a scout in Arizonaand soon after moved to Tombstone. There he opened the Cosmopolitan Hotel in 1880, the same year he killed Mike Killeen in a fight for Killeen’s wife. Leslie later made her his own wife, though they divorced in 1887.
Leslie slowly earned a reputation as a killer, a fact which made him a suspect in the murder of his drinking pal, John Ringo. Though several of Ringo’s friends were convinced of his guilt, one in particular sought his own justice: Billy the Kid publicly challenged Leslie to a duel at the O.K. Corral, unfortunately losing his life on this day in 1882.
The rest of Leslie’s life was lived in much the same way. History books have documented several other murders, violent acts and poor decisions. Leslie headed into the Klondike region before disappearing completely. There is no record of his death.
