This is the story of an Arkansas outlaw known as Texas Jack

His name was Nathaniel Reed, but in his autobiography, The Life Of Texas Jack - Eight Years a Criminal - 41 Years Trusting in God, he readily admitted that he was the notorious Texas Jack, who for eight years rode the outlaw trail. Nate wasn’t born bad, he sort of fell into the life by being in the wrong places at the wrong times. Like many youngsters born in the Civil War years in Arkansas, he had a rough childhood. Both Yankees and Confederates rode roughshod over the state, stealing food, killing animals, raping women.

His father died two years after Nate was born, a casualty of that bloody conflict. His mother remarried William Cochran and had several more children. Nate had one full-blood brother, William Elijah. His step-father was said to have been kind to him until after Nate’s mother died and he remarried a woman with thirteen children. Then he turned cruel, so at the age of thirteen, a miserable Nate left home, stayed with his aunt a while, then with his grandmother for four years.

Soon after Nate turned eighteen, he went back to Missouri to be with his brother William. Nate was about to make a decision that would send him on the outlaw path. He was working on a farm where he heard lots of tales about the buffaloes, wonderful adventures and great opportunities in the far west. Not yet twenty years old, he took off for the west and in the spring of 1883 found himself roughing it out on the prairie near Pueblo, Colorado where he worked on a horse ranch drawing $40 a month. Unhappy with that job, he quit and caught a train to Colorado Springs.

Finally he ended up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he got a job driving a ten-mule-team military freight wagon. He was to drive three hundred miles to deliver supplies to Fort Arnold. The Indians caused a lot of trouble, and the soldiers had several skirmishes with them. It took six weeks to make the round trip back to Cheyenne. Nate didn't want anymore of that, and drew his pay.

Over the next year, he worked in a coal mine in Rock Springs, Idaho making $3.65 a day, but left after he got into a squabble with a Chinaman who called him a vile name. Nate hit him over the head with a lump of coal. That upset the Chinese workers so badly that Nate feared for his life. His employers hid him out until dark, provided him with a disguise and put him on the train for Denver. His adventures were bringing him ever closer to beginning his outlaw life.

He worked on a cattle ranch until the spring of 1884, then backed out of a deal where he would have to join a Mexican gang and steal some horses, and went to Texas where he helped drive a herd of cattle into Oklahoma. Sometime in 1885 Nate was finally led astray. He was working for the Flying “V” Ranch near El Reno, Oklahoma. Thirteen of the ranch hands were picked to leave camp and go on a roundup. Nate was one of them. They took two days rations, but after the food ran out they were still riding away from camp and no cattle were being rounded up.

On the evening of the fourth day the crew was lined up at gunpoint, given ammunition and assigned their duties in a planned robbery of the Santa Fe Express. So, according to Nate, he was forced into his outlaw ways and had little choice.

His job was to stand on the rear platform of the last coach, kick on the door, shoot and yell. He claims that only the safe was robbed and all the passengers were allowed to keep their valuables. Back at the camp, he was given his share: $6,480.00. That was a lot of money, so he was terrified at having committed such a large crime. He quit his job, a guilty conscience chasing him to a small out-of-the way place called Corbin, Kansas. He deposited $6,000 in the bank at nearby Caldwell.

Corbin would provide a brief respite for this outlaw. He married, went into the livery business and made friends. He appeared to have shrugged off his past.

Then, in July of 1886, a man rode into the livery stable. He was on his way to Wichita to see if he could help Tom Colley who had been arrested in connection with the Santa Fe Express robbery. He threatened to turn states evidence if he didn’t get out on bond. Nate soon learned that Colley hadn’t made bond. The man would name all the participants. Terrified, he left his young wife weeping and rode away. But he missed her so badly, that three months later he sneaked back into town to gather her up and they relocated to another state. There is no more record of her or a child she supposedly had.

Nate only escaped the outlaw life until 1888 when a messenger found him and gave him an ultimatum. Join a gang of outlaws or be snitched on and go to jail for the Santa Fe Express robbery. The gang was short of men because some of them had been killed. Reluctantly he joined them hoping to later escape their clutches. That was not to be and the gang began committing robberies all over the west. A stage in Colorado, and a train near Phoenix. Then Nate went to Tennessee for the winter. By spring he was in Dallas, Texas, then rejoined the gang in Michigan where they managed to stay out of sight for about a year. But this would not last.

Next Month: Texas Jack gets his name and builds his reputation.