Батыс жұлдызы: «Техас Джек» Вермильонның өмірі мен қаһармандығы

Confederate Army soldier, posse member of Earp Vendetta Ride

John Wilson Vermillion (c. 1842–1911), also known as "Texas Jack" or later as "Shoot Your Eye Out Vermillion", was a gunfighter of the Old West known for his participation in the Earp Vendetta Ride and his later association with Soapy Smith.

Vermillion was born in about 1842 in Russell County, Virginia, the second of 12 children born to William and Nancy Vermillion (née Owens). He was a Confederate Civil War veteran and fought under the command of General Joseph Wheeler and Nathan Bedford Forrest. After the war, Vermillion went to Indiana, where he married Margaret Horton in September, 1865. They moved to Missouri, where he accepted the position as Territorial Marshal for the eastern section of Missouri. Vermillion's wife and two young children (a daughter and son) died in a diphtheria epidemic in Missouri, while Jack was away.

Vermillion wound up in Kansas in the late 1870s. From Dodge City, Kansas, he went to Tombstone, Arizona (Arizona Territory), where he possibly previously knew the Earps and Doc Holliday. He was listed by Virgil Earp as special policeman (i. e., deputy city policeman) June 22, 1881. This is the day of the large Tombstone fire of 1881, with which Virgil had to cope as acting city marshal; the date suggests that Vermillion was one of the extra men Virgil hired to help cope with looting, during and after the disaster.

The origin of Texas Jack, Vermillion's nickname, is unknown, but he is first listed by this moniker on a wanted poster, for shooting a man during an argument at cards. When asked about why he was called Texas Jack, he replied: "Because I'm from Virginia".

Vermillion did not accompany Virgil Earp as a member of the protective squad which escorted him to Tucson, on March 20, 1882. Instead, Vermillion joined the vendetta posse March 21, 1882 in Tombstone, a day after the killing of Frank Stilwell in Tucson; thus Vermillion was not one of the five men indicted for Stilwell's killing. He presumably did participate in the killing of Florentino Cruz on March 22. Vermillion had his horse shot out from under him during the fight at Iron Springs (March 24), in which "Curly Bill" Brocius was killed. Vermillion was himself not hit in that fight, but he had to be picked up by Doc Holliday after exposing himself to fire from the cowboys, while trying to retrieve the rifle wedged under his fallen horse. This episode, combined with Wyatt's memory in the Flood manuscript and Vermillion's family history suggest that Vermillion may have participated in the Earp posse more as a friend of Holliday's, who was a fellow Methodist and fellow southerner. Note that Holliday's father had also served as a Confederate soldier. to have drowned in Lake Michigan near Chicago, about 1900. Young states that Vermillion's body was returned to Virginia for burial, but Flood does not say this, and Young does not cite his source. Young may have assumed the body was returned, since there is evidence that Vermillion is buried in Virginia (see below). In contrast to the ca. 1900 drowning theory, Vermillion family records suggest that Jack Vermillion died peacefully in his sleep in 1911. A photograph of him and his second wife ca. 1910 survives in the family record.

Vermillion appears as a minor character in most Wyatt Earp films. For example, he is portrayed in Hour of the Gun (1967) by actor William Windom, in Tombstone (1993) by actor Peter Sherayko and (in a cameo appearance) in Wyatt Earp (film) by Adam Taylor (actor).