San Antonio's Most Famous Gunfight

by Kurt House

According to the New Handbook of Texas:

Noted gunfighter, gambler and Austin saloon owner Ben Thompson was a former army buddy of Harris and one of the patrons. In 1880 he spent an evening at the saloon and theater losing heavily while gambling with Harris' partner Joe Foster. Thompson left the saloon after drinking heavily and in a bad mood, issuing threats which continued even after his return to Austin where he ran the Iron Front Saloon on Congress Avenue with Billy Sims. Foster and Harris also made it clear that Thompson was no longer welcome at their establishment.

Ben Thompson (pictured left) was a fearsome gunfighter, the veteran of innumerable bar-room brawls, assaults and deadly gun play. Unusual for a western gunfighter, however, Ben was born in Knottingly, England in 1842 and his family, including his notorious brother Billy emigrated to Austin, Texas when he was a child. By age 17 Ben had shot a youth and killed another man in a knife fight in New Orleans. He enlisted in the Confederacy, and after several more killings, fled to Mexico to fight with Maximillian's forces. After the war, he returned to Texas but soon killed his own brother-in-law and for this crime he was sent in June 1868 to the Texas Penitentiary at Huntsville for two years. Upon release, Thompson went to Abilene, Kansas, and with his partner Phil Coe opened the Bull's Head Saloon. The pair ran afoul with Abilene City Marshal Wild Bill Hickock reportedly because some pious citizens of Abilene objected to the saloon's sign which prominently illustrated a portion of the bull's anatomy. The conflict culminated in Wild Bill killing Phil Coe while Ben was out of town, but a confrontation between two of the foremost shootists of the Old West was averted when each left Abilene in different directions. Ben later worked with Bat Masterson, saving his life and earning the latter’s eternal gratitude. It was Masterson who said of Thompson "He was the most dangerous man with a gun I have ever seen." Thompson eventually returned to Austin to operate the Iron Front Saloon, where his skill with guns impressed townsfolk enough to elect him City Marshal in 1881 (pictured right) Ben's mother still lived in Austin, and he married and raised at least two children.

In 1881 Austin was still a small town, while San Antonio was rapidly becoming the largest city in Texas, a ranking it held until 1920. The livestock market was the leading one in Texas, and the first of the railroads had arrived in 1877. It was the southern hub of the cattle drives. Chester A. Arthur had become President of the United States, and wars in Turkey and Egypt were front page news. Its population approached 20,000, and

Jack Harris had made it clear that Thompson was not welcome at his saloon and Thompson had heard it. Thompson had threatened Harris claiming that he and Foster "lived off the produce of whores" that Harris’ establishment was a whorehouse and that he was going to shut it down. On the fateful day of July 11, 1882 Ben came to San Antonio with a dual purpose; he brought his two children to visit friends and he was looking for a felon with a $1000 bounty on his head. Since it was common knowledge the one place in town "off-limits" to Thompson was Harris' saloon, where would one expect the fearless gunfighter to go as soon as possible?

In the early evening hours, Thompson went to Harris' Saloon telling the bartender to give the message to Foster and Harris that he intended to "...close this damned whorehouse..." Thompson had a drink in the saloon with local jeweler Leon Rouvant then departed. Meanwhile, Billy Simms (pictured left), now Harris' manager,  who had formerly worked for Thompson at the Iron Front, went upstairs, put on his guns and went to warn Harris. Harris had just entered the back door of the saloon on Soledad street which is the door to the far right of (Sim Hart's Tobacco Shop - pictured below)  . He picked up a shotgun and stood behind the ticket counter near the closet behind a screen with the shotgun over his arm, pointing downward at the floor. According to eyewitnesses, here is what happened next:

For unknown reasons, Harris never raised the shotgun, but amazingly, as can be seen in the drawings following one bullet cut along the wall and hit Harris near his heart. He staggered upstairs and collapsed. Dr. Chew was summoned and he was placed on a cot and taken to his house three blocks down Soledad Street where his last words were: "He took advantage of me and shot me from the dark." (T. R. Chew, M.D. testimony, Cude 1978:98) Indeed, according to eyewitness testimonies and as shown in the drawing, Thompson was outside the saloon in the dark where he was not visible to Harris, while Harris was inside the well lit room and an easy target for Thompson. Also of interest to arms collectors is the testimony of another witness, Charles F. A. Hummel, well known Colt dealer, who owned a nearby gun store on Main Street.
      "I know Thompson slightly and he was in my store on July 11th at about 2:00 PM and took a drink with me at Horner's (Saloon). I saw him again about 7:00 or 7:30 PM.  He bought some cartridges from me at about or six o'clock.  To the best of my recollection they were Winchester shells.  He bought ten cents worth, that is five cartridges.  They were central fire forty-four caliber. There is a pistol made that uses that cartridge. It is a Colts (sic). I was standing by when he bought the cartridges. It was about an hour before   I closed…"
 

Following the shooting, Thompson trotted up the street back to his room at the Menger Hotel where he was not molested until the next morning when he surrendered to Bexar County Sheriff Thomas P. McCall and Police Chief Shardien and was placed in the Bexar County Jail to await trial. A small note on the front page also stated, "Ben Thompson brought his two children with him yesterday. They have returned home today." And another note "Jack Harris expected to leave today for a trip to New York; he has embarked in a longer voyage." (SA Light, July 12, 1882, page 1) Thompson was eventually acquitted on grounds of self defense, but ill will continued between citizens of Austin and San Antonio, with the Austin Statesman defending Thompson while the San Antonio newspapers proclaimed outrage.

Thompson returned to Austin to a welcoming crowd, but never really recovered from the experience. He resumed his heavy drinking and bad habits and eventually resigned from the marshal's office. According to one writer,

"...he was irritable and easily offended. Instead of the courteous, affable man he had been, Thompson was now arrogant and overbearing. Suffering from insomnia he spent most nights roaming the town (Austin), shooting off his pistol with a perverted sense of humor. The feud with Harris was kept alive by statements from Joe Foster that Thompson had better not return to the Vaudeville. Billy Simms, executor of Harris' estate, was running the saloon in partnership with Foster. In both cities, the feeling persisted that the rising of tension would be broken only by more gunfire...The illness and death of his mother added to his depression..." (Evett 1982:30)

On March 11, 1884, Ben was joined in Austin by his old friend John "King" Fisher (pictured right)  and the two passed several hours talking and drinking. For reasons unknown, the pair decided to take the train to San Antonio and continue their carousing. Some writers have recorded that Ben merely agreed to accompany Fisher as far as San Antonio while Fisher was to continue on to his ranch near Uvalde. Others contend that Fisher was acting as a sort of peacemaker, trying to end the feud between Thompson, Foster, Simms and the remainder of the Jack Harris faction. "King" Fisher was neither a panty-waist himself, nor a lily-white law abiding citizen, for his biography is replete with sordid deeds, accusations, incarceration and arrests by Texas Rangers. It was early evening when the pair arrived in San Antonio and they attended the Turner Hall Opera House as well as Gallagher's Saloon, at which time they decided to take a hack over to the Vaudeville, arriving about eleven o'clock.

Simms and Foster already knew the pair was in town, having received a telegram that Thompson was "roaring drunk and headed south." The San Antonio police, Sheriff McCall, Constable Alfredo Casanova and Vaudeville bouncer Jacobo Coy were all alerted, and the latter two went on watch at the theater. When Thompson's old friend Billy Simms greeted them at the door, everyone seemed friendly enough to have a drink at the bar before proceeding upstairs to the balcony where they all sat at a table. Present at the table were Simms, Thompson, Fisher and Coy. Joe Foster watched the stage show below sitting at the front of the balcony. The conversation was calm until it turned to Jack Harris, whereupon the tension mounted as Thompson offered to shake hands with Joe Foster. Foster quietly refused. Thompson's temper immediately flared and he slapped Foster's face with his left hand and drew his revolver with his right. Again according to court testimony,

The firing then began on both sides and immediately Foster was hit in the leg, probably by Thompson's second shot attempt. When the firing ceased Thompson, Fisher and Coy were down, the latter still holding the barrel of Thompson's pistol. Coy did not even know he was hit until later. According to his testimony:

And according to Shardein:

Foster was carried down the street where his leg was amputated but he died from loss of blood. According to various sources, Thompson had been hit eight times, Fisher had been hit thirteen times. At the inquest, people wondered why there were so many holes in the bodies of Fisher and Thompson when supposedly only 3 six shooters or 18 shots total were capable of being fired by the opposition in the room. According to author Charles Merritt Barnes, the bartender had fired a double barrel shotgun loaded with buckshot.

Thus ended the lives of two of the most notorious gunfighters Texas had ever known; Ben Thompson and "King" Fisher strangely died together in San Antonio’s most famous gunfight, a gunfight of which few remember the details. Ironically, when it was discovered in 1982 that the grave of Jack Harris was unmarked, a local group known as the "Do-Nothing Gang" caused a tombstone to be erected in the City Cemetery, and a re-enactment of the famous gunfight was held on the centennial anniversary, July 11, 1982. At eight o’clock in the evening, a wake was held for Jack Harris and on Sunday, July 11 the San Antonio mayor issued a proclamation, followed by a funeral procession to the cemetery where the headstone was unveiled.

The gunfight is portrayed accurately at the new exhibit entitled "Gunfighters: Outlaws and Lawmen of the Old West" at the Buckhorn Museum, 301 E. Houston Street, San Antonio, Texas until November 2003. The exhibit is also sponsoring a symposium of six speakers on gunfighter-related topics and the exhibitors are currently engaged in an effort to place a state historical marker on the site of Jack Harris Vaudeville Theater.

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References Cited

Cude, Elton. 1978 The Free And Wild Dukedom of Bexar, Munguia Printers, San Antonio, Texas

Evett, Alice 1982. Fatal Corner. San Antonio Monthly Magazine, July, 1982.

Hunter, J. Marvin and Noah H. Rose. 1951. The Album of Gunfighters.

New Handbook of Texas, Texas Historical Association, 2000. Six volumes, sections on Jack Harris, King Fisher and Ben Thompson.

The Evening Light, San Antonio newspaper, July 12, 13, 14, 1882.