Jack Johnson (posseman)

"Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson (c.1847– c.1887) was an American bookkeeper, lawyer, cowboy and lawman. He rode with Wyatt Earp as a member of the posse during the Earp Vendetta Ride.

Jack Johnson was thought to be a former bookkeeper and lawyer, coming from Missouri. Wyatt Earp believed that Johnson's real name was John Blunt, but there is no evidence to support this and Blunt was not a gunman. And it is known that in 1881 he was 34 years of age. He and his brothers are alleged to have fled Missouri after being involved in a violent street clash in the mining town of Webb City, Missouri. His supposed brother, Bud Blunt, a known drunkard who had killed a man in Tip Top, Arizona in 1881, was sent to Yuma Prison. Johnson was not actually a "gunman" in the traditional sense, as most history books note him as, inaccurately portrayed in Stuart N. Lake's mostly fictional book. Wyatt Earp claimed to use him as an informer on the "Cowboys".

Johnson supposedly spent some time in Deadwood in the Dakota Territory in 1876. He is said to have participated in a gunfight in 1876, where he calmly and slowly used two pistol shots to kill two men at a distance of 30 yards after allegations of cheating were charged following a game of poker. They were both trying to kill him with multiple pistol shots - their mistake was trying to use a "quick draw" while moving towards Johnson. Their spray of shots went wild. Johnson simply turned sideways to make himself a smaller target, raised his opposite arm to use as a gun rest and took a bead on each man, killing them with one shot apiece. It is debated as to whether this actually occurred, but town historians and modern day event enactors stated publicly in August, 2013 that there were not one but two separate stories published about this gunfight in the Deadwood town newspaper in the days following its occurrence. There is also a record of a Marshal named Jack Johnson who killed a desperado named Mike Fitzgerald in a gunfight in 1872, in Nebraska. This same man named John Johnson was possibly in Tombstone according to the 1880 Census and may have ridden with Wyatt Earp, indicating "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson and John Johnson, the marshal, are likely one and the same.

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