Buckskin Franklyn Leslie (March 18, 1842 – after 1920) was a U.S. Army scout, gambler, bartender, rancher, miner, gunfighter, and con-man. He was known for his fringed buckskin jacket. He became well-known in Tombstone, Arizona, for killing two men in self-defense. He married the widow of one of his victims eight days after killing her husband. Following their divorce, Leslie later shot and killed a woman he lived with at his ranch while drunk and in a fit of jealousy. He was sentenced to life in prison, but only served six years before he was pardoned. He was last listed in the U.S. Federal Census on January 27, 1920, in Sausalito, California. No public records of him have been found after this date, and it is not known when he died.
Early life
Born in Texas
Leslie was born as "Nashville Franklyn Leslie" near San Antonio, Texas. Conflicting accounts of his early life exist. In 1913, Leslie wrote on his marriage certificate that he was the son of Bernard Leslie from Virginia, and Martha Leslie of Kentucky.California State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Certificate of Marriage No. 14014938 - Nashville F. Leslie to Elnora Cast, November 6, 1913.Register of Customs Employees at Small Ports, Vol. 4, No. 6. Letter from the Collector of Customs, El Paso, Texas, to Secretary of the Treasury, enclosing Nashville Franklyn Leslie's application for employment dated March 10, 1886. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C The Tombstone Daily Prospector reported on July 15, 1889 that Leslie was born in Galveston, Texas in 1842 where he supposedly grew up. They stated that his father was Thomas Kennedy and his mother was Martha Leslie. The story reports that he took his mother's last name after a falling out with his father, though they did not provide any sources. In terms of his height, which is an important historical aspect for some, as stated above, he grew to 5’7”, a relatively robust height (N.B. Average height of this era is based on data which is largely unsubstantiated from an evidentiary perspective) for this era.
Imaginative personal history
Nothing has been documented concerning Leslie's first 36 years, although he told some colorful and improbable stories concerning those missing years. On two separate occasions, Leslie told writers his version of incidents from his early life. In 1880, Leslie said, "in 1861 I joined the Southern Army, and continued with it till April 9th 1865, when I was attached to General Gordon's division as a First Lieutenant, in the 10th Cavalry." He claimed he "was Deputy Sheriff of Abilene... under the notorious lawman J.B. Hickok or 'Wild Bill,' "and that he was a "rough rider in Australia," and a [ship] pilot in the Fiji Islands and that he "has exhibited, as a fancy rifle shootist in different parts of the world."Arizona Quarterly Illustrated, July 1880, p. 11. Huntington Library, San Marino, California
In 1893, he related another story to W.H. Cameron of the San Francisco Chronicle, in which he claimed that the story of his life was a romance. Born in Virginia [sic] in 1842 of a good family, he went to Heidelberg to study medicine. At the same time, his brother attended West Point for a military education. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Frank returned to his old home in Virginia [sic] and entered the Confederate Army as a bugler while his brother joined the Union forces.San Francisco Chronicle, December 2, 1893
Leslie also claimed that he served as a scout for the U.S. Army in Texas, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas during the 1870s, but no documentation has been found.Rickards, Colin. Buckskin Frank Leslie: Gunman of Tombstone, El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1964, p. 3
San Francisco
Leslie was first recorded in San Francisco in 1878 where he was employed as a barkeeper in Thomas Boland's saloon at 311 Pine Street. He lived in San Francisco at 732 Howard Street.1878 San Francisco City Directory, p. 515 In 1879 he was a "bookkeeper," which may have been a typo for "barkeeper," since he worked at Kerr & Jurado's Saloon & Billiard Room.1879 San Francisco City Directory, p. 527 The next year he was again listed as a barkeeper in the same establishment and was living at 746 Folsom Street.1880 San Francisco City Directory, p. 546 In mid-1880, he moved to Tombstone, Arizona.
Tombstone, Arizona
Leslie arrived in Tombstone, in July 1880 dressed in the buckskin attire of a scout.Arizona Quarterly Illustrated, July 1880, p. 11 He was tall and weighed about . When he arrived in Tombstone, he traded his frontier clothing for gentleman's attire like that worn in San Francisco. He complemented his city dress with a fringed buckskin vest that furthered his reputation as "Buckskin Frank" Leslie. In Tombstone, he entered a partnership with William H. Knapp, and opened the Cosmopolitan Saloon next door to the Cosmopolitan Hotel at 409 Allen Street.DeMattos, Buckskin Frank Leslie Revealed, p. 6
Kills Mike Killeen
Leslie was attracted to a chambermaid at the Cosmopolitan Hotel named Mary Jane "May" Killeen. He attended her wedding to Mike Killeen on April 13, 1880, in Tombstone, and was one of the two witnesses listed on the marriage record.Certification by Rev. J.V. McIntyre, dated May 15, 1880, that he married Mary Jane Evans and Michael Killeen, who were both from Virginia City, Nevada, at Tombstone on April 13, 1880. The handwritten document is in the collections of the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, Phoenix, AZ. Mike Killeen was jealous of the relationship between May and Leslie.May Killeen was born Mary Jane Evans in Kentucky on May 25, 1856. Michael D. "Mike" Killeen was born in Illinois in 1848. Killeen was then employed as a bartender at Lowry and Archer's Saloon in Tombstone. DeMattos, Buckskin Frank Leslie Revealed, p. 19
Late in the evening of June 22, 1880, Leslie had his arm around May as they sat on the front porch of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. George M. Perine, a friend of Leslie, saw May's husband approaching, and warned Leslie, but not before Killeen fired his gun twice. The bullets grazed Leslie's head, and stunned him. Killeen attacked Leslie, and began clubbing him with his revolver when Killeen was shot, and mortally wounded. Before he died five days later, on June 28, Killeen told E.T. Packwood that Perine had shot him. Both Leslie and Perine were charged with murder, but Leslie claimed he had fired in self-defense, and that Perine had not fired his weapon. The court accepted Leslie's explanation, and dismissed charges against both men.DeMattos, Buckskin Frank Leslie Revealed, pp. 6–7, 19
Marries Mary Killeen
Eight days after her husband's death, Mary Killeen married Leslie. For the second time (within 84 days), 13 year-old Louisa E. Bilicke Louisa Emma Bilicke (1867-1930) was the daughter of Carl Gustave "Gus" Bilicke (1831-1896), the owner of Tombstone's Cosmopolitan Hotel. served as the bride's maid of honor.Docket "A", p. 159, Precinct 17, Pima County, Arizona. Records of the Justice's Court of James Reilly, Cochise County Recorder's Office, Bisbee, Arizona The Tombstone Epitaph reported:
Confrontations with James Young
James Young had two encounters with Buckskin Frank Leslie and Leslie backed down both times. Young was an early arrival in Tombstone, Arizona and had worked in the Contention mine, and staked a claim nearby. When he found that Leslie had jumped his claim, Young approached him with a shotgun, and beckoned him to go back to town quickly. Leslie shrugged it off, and explained that he had heard that some others were about to jump Young's claim, and he had gone there to help him stand them off. When the news about the stand-off went around town, James Young's prestige rose, and Frank Leslie's faltered some. Later, when Leslie met Young, unarmed and with his back turned, in a store, Leslie pulled his gun out of its holster and was about to use it. The woman store owner screamed and jumped between the two men. Again, Buckskin shrugged it off and said he was just checking his six-gun to see that it was in good working order.
Kills Billy Claiborne
A major fire swept Tombstone on May 26, 1882, which destroyed Knapp & Leslie's Cosmopolitan Saloon. The partners decided against rebuilding and Leslie took a job tending bar at the Oriental Saloon, one of the few buildings still standing.
Leslie was tending bar at the Oriental on November 14, 1882, when Billy Claiborne, who was very drunk, began using insulting and abusive language. Leslie asked Claiborne to leave, but Claiborne continued his foul and abusive speech. Leslie grabbed Claiborne by his coat collar and escorted him out. Leslie later testified, "He used very hard language, and as he started away from me, shook a finger at me and said, 'That's all right Leslie, I'll get even on you.' "Tombstone Epitaph, Saturday, November 18, 1882
Within a few minutes, two men told Leslie there was a man waiting outside to shoot him. When Leslie stepped outside, he saw "a foot of rifle barrel protruding from the end of the fruit stand." He tried to talk Claiborne out of shooting, but Claiborne raised his rifle and fired the weapon, missing Leslie. Leslie returned fire, hitting Claiborne in the chest. "I saw him double up and had my pistol cocked and aimed at him again... I advanced upon him, but did not shoot, when he said, 'Don't shoot again, I am killed.' "
Leslie had planned that day to travel to the Dragoon Mountains with George W. Parsons, but the trip was cancelled. Parsons described Claiborne's death, writing that, "Frank didn't lose the light of his cigarette during the encounter. Wonderfully cool man."Diary entry, George W. Parsons. November 14, 1882. Arizona Historical Society The coroner's inquest concluded that Leslie shot Claiborne in self-defense, which "in the opinion of the jury, was justifiable."
The Magnolia Ranch
At the end of 1882, Milton E. Joyce sold his share in the Oriental Saloon and he and Leslie entered a partnership to build a ranch near Arizona's Swisshelm Mountains. The "Magnolia" was located from Tombstone in a very desolate section of southeastern Arizona. Milt Joyce sold Leslie his share of the ranch in 1885.According to his obituary in the Dec. 2, 1889, San Francisco Bulletin, Milton E. Joyce was born in Missouri during 1847, and died in San Francisco on November 29, 1889. His partner, James W. Orndorff, was born in Ohio on April 7, 1834, and died in San Francisco on February 16, 1923
Becomes cavalry scout
From May 20 to June 21, 1885, Leslie became a scout for the 4th Cavalry. In 1886, he applied for a job as a customs inspector and continued some work as a scout.Register of Customs Employees at Small Ports, Vol. 4, No. 6, March 10, 1886. Application for Employment from Nashville Franklyn Leslie to Collector of Customs Joseph Magoffin. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C In the April, 1886 the San Francisco Chronicle reported:
Divorce