Frank Eaton

Frank Eaton
Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton
Born	Frank Boardman Eaton (1860-10-26)October 26, 1860 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	April 8, 1958(1958-04-08) (aged 97) Perkins, Oklahoma, U.S.
Other names	Pistol Pete
Occupation	Author Cowboy Scout Indian fighter U.S. Marshal

Frank Boardman "Pistol Pete" Eaton (October 26, 1860 – April 8, 1958) scout, Indian fighter, and cowboy.

Eaton was born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, and at the age of eight, he moved with his family to Twin Mound, Kansas.

When Eaton was eight years old, his father, a vigilante, was shot in cold blood by six former Confederates, who during the war had served with the Quantrill Raiders. The six men, from the Campsey and the Ferber clans, rode with the southerners who after the war called themselves "Regulators". In 1868, Mose Beaman, his father's friend, said to Frank, "My boy, may an old man's curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father". That same year, Mose taught him to handle a gun, but it would take 19 years for Frank to avenge his father.

At the age of fifteen, before setting off on his mission to avenge his father's death, he decided to visit Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, a cavalry fort, to learn more about how to handle a gun. Although too young to join the army, he outshot everyone at the fort and competed with the cavalry's best marksmen, beating them every time. After many competitions, the fort's commanding officer, Colonel Copinger, gave Frank a marksmanship badge and a new nickname. From that day forward, Frank would be known as "Pistol Pete."

During his teen years, Eaton was reputed to be faster on the draw than Buffalo Bill. From his first days as a lawman, he was said to "pack the fastest guns in the Indian Territory." By the end of his career, Eaton would allegedly have eleven notches on his gun.

Eaton was said to have been given a cross by a girlfriend, which he wore around his neck and which saved his life when it deflected a bullet during a gunfight. He would write later that, "I’d rather have the prayers of a good woman in a fight than half a dozen hot guns: she’s talking to Headquarters".

Eaton would serve as either a marshal, a sheriff or a deputy sheriff until late in life. At twenty-nine, he joined the land rush to Oklahoma Territory. He settled southwest of Perkins, Oklahoma where he served as sheriff and later became a blacksmith. He was married twice, had nine children, 31 grandchildren, and lived to see three great-great-grandchildren. He died on April 8, 1958 at the age of 97.