One of the most interesting lawmen featured in “The Rim Country” series is Commodore Perry Owens. Named by his mother after the famous Naval hero Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and born in Tennessee, Owens grew up farming and ranching.
The Call of the West
Perry was called west at age 13, when he ran away from his family and developed his legendary accuracy with a hip-fired rifle as a Buffalo hunter for the railroad. This experience found him positions on ranches as a cowboy in both Oklahoma and New Mexico and led some folks to initially underestimate him for his young age—something they quickly learned had been a huge mistake.
He worked for a while for James Houck (see my article on Houck here) in Navajo Springs and was highly-tested, becoming involved in repelling a number of raids on the Trading Post. This reputation led to his being nominated to run for sheriff of Apache County, AZ, where wild young cowboys—many associated with the Aztec Land and Cattle Company—had taken over the important town of Holbrook. He was elected in late 1886, ostensibly to clean up the county and was almost immediately handed a number of really challenging bench warrants to serve: including one for Andy Cooper, leader of the Blevins gang who he had a huge role in kick-starting the deadly Pleasant Valley range war.
The Holbrook Ninety Second Shootout
On September of 1887, Sheriff Owens rode to Holbrook with a warrant for Cooper — possibly spurred by rumors that Cooper had bragged about a couple of murders down in Pleasant Valley. The Blevins family had rented a house in town for their wives and children, and twelve people were inside that day, including Andy, his brother John, his teenage brother Sam, and gang member Mose Roberts.
According to Earle Forrest’s Arizona’s Dark and Bloody Ground — drawn from primary sources and witnesses who only later were willing to talk — Owens walked up to the door cradling his Winchester. Cooper crept up behind the door to surprise him while John Blevins tried the same from another room. Owens called for Cooper to come out; it’s not clear who fired first, but Cooper went down first. John Blevins fired and missed; Cooper’s Winchester finished him. Mose Roberts jumped through a door with a six-shooter and was also dispatched. Finally, teenaged Sam Blevins grabbed his brother’s gun to avenge him, and was shot dead too. In ninety seconds, three men were dead and John Blevins was wounded.
An inquest followed. The Blevins women testified otherwise, but the jury knew Cooper always went armed around Holbrook, and Owens was cleared. Holbrook — “the town too tough for churches” — eventually got law and order, and churches too.
Owens’ Unique Style
Owens wore his red hair long under a flat-brimmed hat and dressed like a cowboy, unlike most sheriffs of his day. He carried his pistol with the grip reversed for a cross-draw — not the “optimal” rig by contemporary standards, which led outlaws to underestimate him too.
Owens in The Rim Country
In The Rim Country, Owens appears in Book Two – The War (1887). I try to treat him as history shows him: honest and precise — he even accounted for postage stamps in his office budget. He meets my main character, Nora, in Holbrook, and is very charming, as he was known to be with the ladies. His connection with James Houck is there too, and it’s uncertain whether he’s fully aware of what Houck is doing wearing a Deputy Sheriff badge down in the valley.
Other Links of Interest:
MORE on the Pleasant Valley War
BUY The Rim Country: Book One “The Invitation” by W. Tod Newman.
BOOK REVIEWS by Tod Newman
POSTS ABOUT SELF PUBLISHING by Tod Newman
VIDEO discussing the Series
THOUGHTS on the dysfunction of the Old West