Burton C. Mossman (April 30, 1867 – September 5, 1956) was an American lawman and cattleman in the final years of the Old West. He is most remembered for his capture of the notorious border bandit Augustine Chacon in 1902, though he was also a successful businessman who owned the large Diamond A Ranch in New Mexico.
Biography
Burton C. Mossman was born on April 30, 1867, at farmhouse near Aurora, Illinois. In 1873, he and his family moved to Missouri and in 1882 they moved again, this time to New Mexico. Sometime after 1884, Mossman became a cowboy employed by the Hashknife Outfit, a large cattle company in northern Arizona Territory. Mossman was somewhat popular and respected. By the age of twenty he was the ranch foreman and in 1897 he was promoted to superintendent. During this time, Mossman was occupied with fighting cattle rustlers or pursuing private business ventures. Aside from ranching, Mossman and a partner operated a stagecoach line and in 1898 he was elected sheriff of Navajo County. That same year, Mossman and three of his associates built a brick opera house in Winslow, but he soon sold his share and built a store in Douglas, which was later sold as well, for $13,000. Mossman is said to have joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in 1898 and fought in the Spanish–American War; however, author Bill O'Neal makes no mention of this in his Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters and it seems Mossman was already very busy managing the Hashknife Outfit, serving as sheriff, and pursuing personal business interests. By 1901, banditry was widespread in Arizona so the territorial governor, Oakes Murphy, authorized the re-establishment of the Arizona Rangers. Because of his popularity, as well as past exploits, Mossman was appointed to be the first captain of the new unit.
Shootings
Mossman was involved in at least five shootings during his time as a rancher or a lawman. The first recorded in Bill O'Neal's Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters occurred in the summer of 1896. By this time, the Aztec Land & Cattle Company was in trouble so Mossman drove a herd of cattle south to Mazatlan, in Sinaloa, Mexico, to sell it. While in a Mazatlan cantina, Mossman quarrelled with a Mexican Army captain, who challenged him to a pistol duel. Mossman accepted and on the following morning the two men met, loaded their weapons with a single bullet, and then took fifteen steps away from each other. The captain was armed with a German Luger and Mossman had a short-barrelled Colt .45. When the two men turned around, both fired their weapons at the same time. The captain's shot missed, but Mossman managed to strike his opponent's shoulders. Mossman spent the next month in a Mexican jail, until he made his escape with the help of a friend.
On March 17, 1898, after becoming sheriff of Navajo County, Mossman was out searching for a gang of cattle rustlers with Deputy Sheriff Joe Bargeman and a treacherous Mexican guide. In Walter Canyon, the posse found a cabin and a slaughtered cow, at which time the guide tried to make a run for it with his horse. Mossman chased the man down and knocked him off his horse with his Winchester rifle. Then, as he dismounted to help the guide to his feet, three other Mexican men opened fire on Mossman from 100 yards away. One bullet grazed Mossman's nose, one knocked off his saddle horn, and a final bullet cut his reins. Deputy Bareman had opened up by this time and, with covering fire, Mossman was able to take the guide prisoner and bring him to the cabin. The outlaws briefly laid siege to the cabin, but they soon retreated and the policemen made it to Holbrook, sixty miles away.
Mossman was involved in another shooting that year. One fall night, Mossman was undressing in the second-floor room of a hotel in Springer, New Mexico when a bullet came up through the floor near his chair. Then, as he began rolling up his mattress for protection, a second shot came in. Angrily, Mossman armed himself with his rifle and began firing through the floor and into the bar below. According to O'Neal, the bar was vacated immediately and nobody was harmed. A bullet did, however, put a hole through the brim of a man's hat and a second one smashed a glass out of another man's hand.