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of these officers brought a frontier mentality
to the war on booze. For some, it was a code of
honor that prohibited asking or giving quarter;
for others, it was unimpeachable honesty...Tom
Threepersons was one of these men... A Texas
Ranger captain once related, ‘El Paso was one of
the toughest towns I’d ever been in. There was a
gunfight for 236 straight nights.’ ” This was Tom
Threepersons beat.
While serving as a law enforcement official in
and around El Paso, Threepersons was involved
in several shootouts and hair raising encounters
with outlaws and contrabandistas (smugglers
from Mexico). Because of his, shoot first, ask
questions later methods, he was often referred to
as a throwback from the old West, and to this day
is considered by many as the last of the old-time,
frontier lawmen.
Also, as a way to improve his ability to get his
gun out quickly when needed, Tom is credited
with designing the first true “quick draw” holster.
He approached Sam Myers, an El Paso saddle
maker about his design. Myers and Threepersons
worked together, and by the mid-20s, the S.D.
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Myers catalog offered the “Threepersons quick
draw holster.” Myers later sold his business to
El Paso Saddlery, and the holster was offered
in their catalog as well. Today, an original
Threepersons holster by S.D. Myers or a vintage
one by El Paso Saddlery is a highly sought after
western collectible.
In spite of his ‘legend-in-his-own-time”
status, Tom was reluctant to discuss most of his
numerous gunfights publicly. He said once in an
interview, “I never had any desire to be placed in
a class with Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, or any
of the so-called Western bad men. My desire was,
and still is, to be classed as a respectable officer of
the law and its enforcement.”
When asked about the numerous death
threats he received from contrabandistas, the
brave Threepersons responded, “It doesn’t disturb
my sleep.” However, smugglers were said to have
put a $10,000 bounty on Tom’s head during
the height of prohibition enforcement—a few
unfortunate souls tried to collect it.
In 1929, Tom decided to retire from law
enforcement. He had taken two bullets—even
one in the chest, and was run down by a car—all
in the line of duty. He sold his guns to an El Paso
collector, a Mr. Powers, who also owned guns
formerly belonging to Pat Garrett, John Wesley
Hardin and John Selman (the man who killed
John Wesley Hardin). Powers valued the guns of
Tom Threepersons, equally, with those other Old
West legends.
Threepersons and his wife Lorene moved to
the Arizona-New Mexico border region where
he worked as a cowboy and she worked many
years for the Silver City enterprise. Tom worked
for many ranches over the next forty years in the
rough NM/AZ border area and he died in Safford,
Arizona on April 2, 1969.
Both “Tom Three Persons” and “Tom
Threepersons” were examples of Native
Americans who left their