Pony Diehl

Pony Diehl
Born	Charles Ray Diehl c. 1848 Rock Island, Illinois
Died	c. 1888 (aged 39–40)
Nationality	United States
Other names	Pony Deal
Occupation	Cattle rustler, outlaw
Known for	Membership in various gangs in U.S. Southwest and suspect in attempted assassination of Virgil Earp

Charles "Pony Diehl" Ray (possibly "Deal") was an Old West outlaw in the New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory. He was accused by Wyatt Earp of having taken part in an attempt to kill his brother, Virgil Earp. Diehl was not tried due to a lack of evidence.

Pony Diehl was probably the son of German Americans Jeremiah and Mary Hagler Ray and was born in about 1848 in Rock Island, Illinois.

He first appeared in New Mexico during the 1870s, riding with the John Kinney Gang, then later with the Jesse Evans Gang. While with the Kinney Gang, on December 31, 1875, Diehl, John Kinney, Jesse Evans, and gang member Jim McDaniels entered a saloon in Las Cruces, New Mexico. There, they became involved in a brawl with US Cavalry soldiers from Fort Stanton. A Private was beaten so badly he died four days later. Kinney was also severely injured and his friends carried him outside, only to turn around and shoot through the doors and windows of the saloon at the soldiers. According to different accounts, they killed one or two soldiers and a civilian outright and wounded three soldiers or two soldiers and another civilian. Diehl rode with the Kinney Gang through 1875.

In early 1876 he left the Kinney gang to join Jesse Evans, who had also left Kinney to form own gang. The men were actively involved in cattle rustling and armed robbery, and were joined for a while by Billy the Kid. They were enlisted into supporting the "Murphy-Dolan Faction" in their feud with John Tunstall in Lincoln, New Mexico. Billy the Kid, a friend of Tunstall, left the gang. When the remaining gang members killed Tunstall, they sparked the Lincoln County War, during which Evans and his gang fought Billy the Kid and his "Regulators".

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