Joseph Lowe aka "Rowdy Joe" Lowe, was a gambler and saloon keeper/owner of the Old West. Although sometimes described as a gunfighter, he did not historically fit into that category.

Originally from Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Lowe and his wife Katherine, aka "Rowdy Kate", moved to Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

 following the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. They opened a saloon in Delano, Kansas, which at that time was a small town located 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...

 from Wichita

Wichita, Kansas

Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

, a business venture that at first was extremely profitable. On October 27, 1873, Lowe shot and killed fellow saloon owner Edward "Red" Beard

Ed Beard

For the football player of the same name see Ed Beard .Ed Beard, or Edward Beard, aka Edward "Red" Beard, was a gambler and saloon keeper of the Old West....

 after Beard stormed into his saloon shooting at one of Lowe's "girls". Beard hit another girl with one shot, and a patron with another before Lowe shot him. This gave Lowe somewhat of a reputation.

However, after numerous complaints of cheating and under handed card deals, Lowe's business began to suffer. The couple moved to 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...

, where they rode, on occasion, with the Sam Bass

Sam Bass

Sam Bass was a nineteenth-century American train robber and outlaw.-Early life:Bass was orphaned at the age of 10. For the next five years, he and his siblings lived with an abusive uncle. In 1869, he set out on his own and spent the next year in Mississippi...

 gang. The couple began drifting, gambling and occasionally working in saloons in numerous towns of the Old West. On February 11, 1899, Lowe was drunk in the Walrus Saloon in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

. He began insulting a man named E.A. Kimmel due to his disapproval of Kimmel being a policeman

Police officer

A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

. Kimmel, knowing Lowe had a reputation as a gunman, drew his pistol shooting and killing Lowe, who turned out to be unarmed.