Doc Scurlock

Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock (January

11, 1849 – July 25, 1929) was an
American Old West figure, cowboy, and
gunfighter. A founding member of the
Regulators during the Lincoln County War
in New Mexico, Scurlock rode alongside
such men as Billy the Kid.
 Doc Scurlock

Doc Scurlock, circa 1877

Born January 11, 1849

Tallapoosa County,
Alabama, USA

Died July 25, 1929

(aged 80)
Eastland, Texas, USA

Resting place Eastland City Cemetery

Nationality American

Occupation Gunman, outlaw,

cowboy, vigilante

Known for Lincoln County

 Regulators

Early life
He was born in Tallapoosa County,
Alabama, the sixth of 11 children born to
Priestly Norman Scurlock (July 3, 1806 –
June 22, 1876) and Esther Ann Brown
(May 19, 1819 – June 1, 1903). Josiah
was said to have studied medicine in
New Orleans, thus receiving his
nickname "Doc".

Described as 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall,

weighing 150 pounds (68 kg), with brown
eyes and dark blond hair, Doc went to
Mexico in about 1870. While there, he
and another man had an argument over a
card game and drew their pistols. The
other man shot first and the bullet went
through Doc's mouth, knocking out his
front teeth and coming out the back of
his neck without any more serious
damage. He quickly returned fire and
killed the man who shot him.

Cowboy
Scurlock returned to the United States in
1871 and went to work as a line rider for
John Chisum. He and other riders were
also used to defend Chisum and his
cattle holdings in the event cattle rustlers
attempted to prey on them. Sometime
during 1873, he and Jack Holt were
surprised by a group of Native Americans
and Holt was killed. Scurlock found
refuge among some rocks and, after a
protracted fight, he killed the Native
American leader. During the night he
slipped away and walked 20 miles
(32 km) for help. At some time after the
fight, Holt's body was presumably
partially dismembered, as its right arm
was removed at the elbow.

In September 1875, Scurlock's riding

partner, Newt Higgins, was killed by
Native Americans. Scurlock was so upset
over this incident he told Chisum he
wanted to quit. Chisum, however, would
not hear of it and refused to pay him.
Scurlock then made the newspapers
when he stole three horses, two saddles,
and a rifle and left for Arizona. Chisum
sent some of his men after Scurlock and
they caught up with him, but when he
explained that he took the things
because Chisum would not pay him, they
agreed with him and let him go.

In Arizona, he met Charlie Bowdre and

the two men opened a cheese factory on
the Gila River. Some of Scurlock and
Bowdre's descendants have said that one
of their first employees was Billy the Kid.
After they closed the cheese factory in
the spring of 1876, Scurlock and his best
friend, Bowdre, returned to Lincoln
County, New Mexico, where they bought
a ranch on public domain land on the Rio
Ruidoso from L. G. Murphy on credit,
which made them victims of the L. G.
Murphy & Co. monopoly.

Scurlock, Bowdre, Frank Coe, George

Coe, and Ab Saunders stormed the very
weak Lincoln jail on July 18, 1876, freeing
cattle rustler Jesus Largo from the
custody of Sheriff Saturnino Baca. They
took Largo outside of town and hanged
him. Scurlock accidentally shot and killed
his friend, Mike G. Harkins, manager of
John H. Riley's store at Blazer's Mill, while
he was examining a pistol on September
2, 1876.
On October 19, 1876, Scurlock and María
Antonia Miguela Herrera (June 13, 1860
– November 27, 1912) were married in
Lincoln, New Mexico. (Around the same
time, Antonia's sister, Manuela Herrera,
married Charlie Bowdre, which made
Bowdre a brother-in-law of Scurlock.) Ten
children were eventually born of Scurlock
and Antonia's union.

Lincoln County War

For over a year, Scurlock was in several
posses to pursue and arrest horse
thieves. He, Bowdre, and others lynched
some of the thieves they caught. In
January 1877, Scurlock and a neighbor,
George Coe, were arrested by Sheriff
William J. Brady for suspicion of
harboring a murdering fugitive and
member of the Jesse Evans Gang named
Frank Freeman. For the next few days,
Scurlock and Coe received very harsh
treatment from Brady. They were
allegedly tortured, but were eventually
released. In October 1877, the Evans
Gang stole horses belonging to John
Tunstall, Alexander McSween, and
Richard "Dick" Brewer from Brewer's Rio
Ruidoso ranch. Scurlock and Bowdre, as
well as Brewer, went off in pursuit of the
Evans Gang and located them, but were
unable to regain possession of the stolen
horses.[1]
After Tunstall was murdered in February
1878, Scurlock became a founding
member of the Regulators and was
involved in most of the battles of the
Lincoln County War. In the Gunfight of
Blazer's Mills on April 4, Scurlock was
shot in the leg by Buckshot Roberts.
Scurlock later became the third and final
leader of the Regulators, after prior
leaders Dick Brewer and Frank McNab
had been killed.[2]

Scurlock served as a deputy sheriff under

Sheriff John Copeland, who was a
McSween partisan and replaced Sheriff
Brady. On May 14, 1878, he led a posse
of 18 to 20 men, which included Billy the
Kid, Bowdre, George Coe, Brown, and
Scroggins, to the Dolan-Riley cattle ranch,
ostensibly in search of those implicated
in the killing of MacNab and the
wounding of Saunders. According to
Riley, they drove off 26 horses and two
mules, killed a herder named Wair; a
Navajo Indian employed at the ranch as a
cook; and a 15-year-old boy called
Johnny. However, W.T. Thornton, Thomas
B. Catron's law partner, reported that the
latter two were only wounded. Writer
Robert M. Utley says that they captured a
man named "Indian" Manuel Segovia, the
likely shooter of McNab, but he was shot
while allegedly trying to escape.[2]
Since Catron had foreclosed on the
property of J. J. Dolan & Co., the horses
appear to have been his property. As a
result of his strong protest to the
governor, Copeland was removed as
sheriff due to his refusing to side with the
Murphy-Dolan faction. The raid by the
Regulators resulted in the removal of one
of their partisans from a position of
authority and his replacement with
George Peppin, who was just as strongly
attached to the other side.

When Billy attempted to make a deal with

Governor Lew Wallace, Scurlock was
captured and held in custody with him.
He was held on suspicion of the murder
of "Buckshot" Roberts. When Wallace's
deal fell through, Billy and Scurlock were
told they were going to be charged.
Faced with extradition for a murder, on
June 17, 1879, Billy and Scurlock rode
out of Lincoln. Sheriff Kimball did nothing
to stop them.[3] In August Billy and
associates stole a large number of cattle
from Chisum. After Chisum sent a posse
after them, Scurlock decided to leave the
gang.[4]

Later life
In about October or November 1879,
Scurlock moved to Texas, where he
settled down and became a highly
respected citizen. On the 1880 census in
Potter County, Texas, he was keeping the
mail station.

Doc Scurlock died at age 80 from a heart

attack in Eastland, Texas. He is interred
in Eastland City Cemetery, along with his
wife and other family members.

Movie portrayals
In the western film, Young Guns, Scurlock
was portrayed by actor Kiefer Sutherland,
as a polite, moral, poetry writing cowboy.
At the end of the film, Scurlock left Billy
the Kid's posse, fleeing from New Mexico
with an Asian woman he fell for earlier in
the movie in the hopes of starting a new
life in the East.

In the sequel, Young Guns II, Scurlock

(again played by Sutherland) is serving
as a school teacher in New York City
when he is arrested and taken back to
New Mexico, where he is saved from
hanging by The Kid. He rejoins Billy's
posse and is mortally wounded in an
ambush led by John W. Poe, played by
Viggo Mortensen, when he steps out of
their hideout. Back inside, he staggers
out again to be killed in a hail of bullets.
This is based on the death of Charlie
Bowdre in an ambush organized by Pat
Garrett. In fact Scurlock was married to a
Spanish woman in 1876 and died
peacefully in Texas many years after the
period of time covered by the movie. The
original "Young Guns II" screenplay
accurately portrays Scurlock as heading
off to Texas with his bride. It has been
reported that Kiefer Sutherland, faced
with scheduling conflicts, refused to
return to the Young Guns franchise
unless his character died in the movie's
"Stinking Springs Shoot Out". Writer John
Fusco fought against this demand, but
ultimately rewrote the scene to
accommodate Sutherland's schedule.

References
1. Joel Jacobsen, Such Men as Billy the
Kid: The Lincoln County War
Reconsidered, University of Nebraska
Press, Lincoln, 1994, p.32
2. Robert M. Utley, Billy the Kid: A Short
and Violent Life, University of Nebraska
Press, 1989, p.82.
3. Robert M. Utley, Billy the Kid: A Short
and Violent Life, University of Nebraska
Press, 1989, p.119-23.
4. Jon Tuska, Billy the Kid: His Life and
Legend, Greenwood Press, Westport,
1994, p.259

External links
Gunmen of the Old West
 Educated Gunman
Chronology of Billy the Kid
Eastland Cemetery Index
Doc Scurlock at Find A Grave

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Doc_Scurlock&oldid=833019590"

Last edited 3 months ago by Oshw…

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.