Josiah Horner better known as Frank M. Canton, was a famous American Old West

American Old West

The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

 lawman, gunslinger

Gunslinger

Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...

, cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

 and at one point in his life, an outlaw

Outlaw

In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...

.

Early life

Josiah Horner was born on September 15, 1849, in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, Horner drifted into Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 working as a cowboy. In 1871, he started robbing banks

Bank robbery

Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...

 and rustling cattle, which at the time was a capital offense. On October 10, 1874, Horner got into a gunfight with some Buffalo Soldier

Buffalo Soldier

Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas....

s, killing one and wounding the other. In 1877, he was arrested for robbing a bank in Comanche, Texas

Comanche, Texas

Comanche is a city located in Comanche County in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 4,482 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Comanche County. The town square has been renovated and is becoming a popular tourist attraction. With "Star Beaus" and "karens" on the square and their...

. He escaped from Texas Ranger

Texas Ranger Division

The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...

 custody and moved to Ogallala, Nebraska

Ogallala, Nebraska

Ogallala is a city in Keith County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,737 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Keith County. In the days of the Nebraska Territory, the city was a stop on the Pony Express and later along the transcontinental railroad...

 and took up a herd of cattle. While in Nebraska, he officially changed his name to Frank M. Canton and vowed to give up his outlaw ways.

Johnson County War

Frank Canton hired on as a stock detective for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association

Wyoming Stock Growers Association

The Wyoming Stock Growers Association is a historic American cattle organization created in 1873. The Association was started among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry, but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de facto territorial...

. He was also elected sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

 of Johnson County, Wyoming. In 1885, Canton married and had 2 children, one of whom died early in childhood. Canton resigned the sheriff's job and returned to working for the W.S.G.A., and at the same time working as a U.S. Deputy Marshal.

During the Johnson County War

Johnson County War

The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River, was a range war which took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County in the U.S. state of Wyoming...

, Canton signed on as one of Frank Wolcott

Frank Wolcott

Frank Wolcott was an officer in the Union Army, a law man and also an outlaw-Early life:Frank Wolcott was born in 1840 in Canandaigua, NY. He served in the Union Army in the Civil War, and was promoted to the rank of Major before being discharged in 1866 after the end of the war. He attempted to...

's Regulators. On April 9, 1892, Canton led the Regulators to the "KC Ranch", where Nate Champion

Nate Champion

Nathan "Nate" D. Champion was a key figure in the Johnson County War. Labeled falsely by the wealthy cattlemens association in Wyoming as a rustler, Champion was the first person murdered by a band of hit men hired by the cattlemen...

 and Nick Ray were staying. Two other men at the ranch that day were captured as they emerged shortly after the Regulators arrived. Ray was shot and killed in the opening minutes of the ensuing gunbattle. Champion, a one time friend of Canton's, held off the regulators in a gunbattle for most of the day, killing at least four of the Regulators and wounding others. At 5:00 p.m., Canton set the house on fire. Nate Champion soon burst out of the house firing his Winchester rifle

Winchester rifle

In common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...

. Champion was shot 28 times.

A few days later Nate Champion's friends, led by Sheriff Angus, trapped the Regulators at the "TA Ranch". When the battle was all but over, the U.S. Cavalry came in and saved the Regulators. Canton was released from custody but reportedly regretted the incident with Champion. Also while working for the cattlemens association, Canton was involved with the clashes between the wealthy cattlemens association and Cattle Kate

Cattle Kate

Ellen Liddy Watson was a female pioneer of Wyoming who became better known as Cattle Kate, a post-claimed outlaw of the Old West. The "outlaw" characterization is a dubious one, as she was not violent and was never charged with any crime during her life...

, which eventually resulted in her lynching

Lynching

Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...

. He was not involved in her hanging and reportedly felt uncomfortable with that situation. It was following those incidents with both Champion and Cattle Kate that Canton left the cattlemens association.

Oklahoma

Canton traveled to Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, and became a respected U.S. Marshal under Judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 Isaac Parker

Isaac Parker

Isaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years and also one-time politician. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion...

, based out of Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...

. He worked with other famous lawmen such as Heck Thomas

Heck Thomas

Henry Andrew "Heck" Thomas was a lawman on theAmerican frontier, most notably in Oklahoma.-Biography:Thomas was born in 1850 in Athens, Georgia, the youngest of five children of Lovick Pierce Thomas, I and Martha Fulwood Bedell.At the beginning of the American Civil War, at age 12, he accompanied...

, Chris Madsen

Chris Madsen

Chris Madsen was a lawman of the Old West who is best known as being one of The Three Guardsmen, the name given to Madsen and two other Deputy US Marshals who were responsible for the apprehension and/or killing of several outlaws of that era...

, and Bill Tilghman

Bill Tilghman

William Matthew "Bill" Tilghman was a lawman in the American Old West.-Early life :Bill Tilghman was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on July 4, 1854. He became a buffalo hunter at age 15 and claimed he killed over 1000 bison over his five years of activity...

 during that time. In 1895, Canton joined a posse

Posse comitatus (common law)

Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...

 that tracked down Bill and John Shelley, who had escaped from the Pawnee

Pawnee, Oklahoma

Pawnee is a city in Pawnee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,230 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pawnee County.-Geography:Pawnee is located at...

 jail and barricaded themselves in a cabin across the Arkansas River

Arkansas River

The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...

. After 5 hours and more than 800 shots fired, Canton sent a burning wagon into the cabin, and the outlaws surrendered.

On November 6, 1896, Bill Dunn

Dunn Brothers (bounty hunters)

The Dunn Brothers were a group of brothers from Pawnee, Oklahoma who worked as Old West bounty hunters. They are best known for having killed George "Bittercreek" Newcomb and Charley Pierce, members of the Wild Bunch....

, a man whom Canton had arrested for rustling

Cattle raiding

Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle.In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the person as a duffer...

 previously, rode into Pawnee, Oklahoma, intent on killing Canton. Dunn was a brother to Rose Dunn

Rose Dunn

Rose Dunn , also known as Rose of the Cimarron, was best known for her good looks and for her romantic involvement with outlaw George "Bittercreek" Newcomb when she was a teenager during the closing years of the Old West....

, who had been the girlfriend to outlaw George "Bittercreek" Newcomb

George Newcomb (Outlaw)

George "Bittercreek" Newcomb was an American outlaw of the American Old West. He was a member, first, of the Dalton Gang but after being called "too Wild" by Bob Dalton, he and Bill Doolin started the Wild Bunch gang.-Early life & career:...

 of the Doolin-Dalton Gang

Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang or the Oklahombres, was a gang of outlaws based in the Indian Territory that terrorized Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were...

, and whose older brothers were bounty hunter

Bounty hunter

A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...

s that had killed Newcomb in 1895. As Canton walked from dinner, Dunn drew his pistol and fired at Canton, missing. Canton drew his own revolver and shot Bill Dunn in the head, killing him instantly. The shooting was ruled self defense.

Later life

In 1897, Canton went to Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 to follow the gold rush

Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...

 but instead became a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He returned to the states in 1907 and became Adjutant General for the Oklahoma National Guard. At some point during this time, Canton arranged a meeting with the Governor of Texas

Governor of Texas

The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...

. He confessed that he was secretly Joe Horner, and the governor took his law enforcement service into consideration and granted him a pardon

Pardon

Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...

. He chose to be known as Frank Canton for the remainder of his lifetime.
Canton died on September 27, 1927, in Edmond, Oklahoma

Edmond, Oklahoma

Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 81,405, making it the sixth largest city in the state of Oklahoma....

.

Television and Movies

• Frank Canton is played by Sam Waterston
  Sam Waterston
  Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
  
   in the movie Heaven's Gate
  Heaven's Gate (film)
  Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
  
  , in which he is the main antagonist.
• Frank Canton is the basis for Jesse Jacklin in the 2002 television movie Johnson County War.
• Frank Canton, played by Ed Nelson
  Ed Nelson
  Edwin Stafford Nelson is an American actor.Nelson has appeared in numerous television shows, more than fifty motion pictures, and hundreds of stage productions. Until 2005, he was teaching acting and screenwriting in his native New Orleans at two local universities there...
  
  , is a guest character in the "What Happened at the XST?" episode (1972) of Alias Smith and Jones
  Alias Smith and Jones
  Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of Western cousin outlaws trying to reform...
  
  .

External links

• Gunslinger.com
• http://www.fpcc.net/~sgrimm/frank_canton.htm
• Wyoming tales and trails
• El Buscaderos-Cowboy Action Shooting-Feature at www.netw.com
• thewildest.org
• Legends of America
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Canton, Frank