Hank Vaughan
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Henry Clay Vaughan (1849 - 1893)

Henry Clay (Hank) Vaughan
Born in Coburg, Lane County, Oregon, USAmap
Ancestors ancestors
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 31 Aug 1878 (to Jun 1883) in Pendleton, Umatilla, Oregonmap
[children unknown]
Died at age 44 in Pendleton, Umatilla County, Oregon, USAmap
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Profile last modified | Created 14 Jan 2019
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Biography

From "Legends of America"(edited):

Born to Alexander and Elizabeth Vaughan on April 27, 1849, Henry Clay Vaughan entered life on the family farm in the Willamette River Valley south of Portland, Oregon, one of seven children.

The family eked out a meager living, with the children spending more time helping out with the farm than they did going to school. Though Hank attended school sporadically, he never learned to write.

When he was 12, the family moved to The Dalles, Oregon, where they lived for five years before moving once again to Canyon City, Oregon, which was in the midst of a gold rush. The Vaughans hoped to profit by starting a ranch to supply beef and horses to the many miners of the area.

By the time Henry grew to be a young man, he was a small unimposing figure who never weighed more than 130 pounds. But, pity the man who underestimated him because he had learned to aim his six-guns with deadly accuracy. Moreover, he had learned to drink with the same enthusiasm, which could often turn the average-looking man into a quick-tempered, gun-toting hell raiser.

Hank got into trouble for the first time at the age of 15. When William Headspot refused to pay for a horse, the pair got into an argument and Hank shot Headspot.

While out on bail, he shot another man who had filed the original complaint. Promptly rearrested, he was taken to jail in The Dalles to await trial. His family soon intervened, pleading with the judge to allow young Hank to enlist in the Army rather than face his punishment.

The judge agreed and Hank was on his way to the Army. However, that didn't last long for the imprudent young man, who was dishonorably discharged 45 days later.

In the spring of 1865, Hank met a horse trader named Dan Burns, and they decided to head to the gold fields of Idaho. Along the way, the pair stole a large herd of horses in Umatilla County, Oregon, and were quickly pursued by Sheriff Frank Maddock and his deputy, O.J. Hart. The lawmen discovered the rustlers camped near the Burnt River. Approaching the camp quietly in the early morning hours, they jerked the blankets off the sleeping men, telling them that they were under arrest. Both outlaws jumped up shooting. In the six-gun melee, Dan Burns and Deputy Hart lay dead on the ground, and both Sheriff Maddock and Hank were wounded. Hank, fearing a larger posse might be on its way, escaped on horseback. However, he was caught several days later and taken to the Baker County jail to stand trial.

He received a life sentence and was sent to the new territorial prison in Salem, where he learned the skills of carpentry, bricklaying, and blacksmithing, as well as how to read and write. When his family intervened once again, he was pardoned by the Governor of Oregon in February 1870.

Working with cattle and horses again, Hank set up shop at Toano, Nevada, and was successful enough that he was able to purchase acreage near Elko. Acting ever the part of the gentleman, he was well liked around town, and in May 1875, he married Lois McCarty, sister of the notorious McCarty brothers.

The couple had two sons, Alexander in February 1876 and Albert in September 1877. But, Hank had a penchant for gambling and drinking and was not home very often. While on drinking sprees, he was known to unnerve many a saloon keeper by riding his horse into the saloon, shooting out lights, and blasting glasses off the bars.

Lois soon left him, taking their sons with her.

He got into more trouble when he was involved in a gunfight in Arizona, where he was shot in the head. Obviously not fatal, he then moved to Pendleton, Oregon, where he once again began to sell horses and cattle to the area ranchers.

He was married again on August 31, 1878, to a Midwest woman named Louisa Jane Ditty.

Hank wasn't always coming by the cattle and horses he traded in a legitimate manner. He made friends with several of the Indians on the Umatilla Reservation who helped him round up strays from cattle drivers in the Blue Mountains. Though several local ranchers began to suspect his activities, they couldn't catch him. His unsavory reputation began to spread, and he soon set up a new operation at Spokane Falls, Washington. The location, on the cattle route to Montana, was ideal. While selling horses to the cattle herders, he began to round up any strays in their herds, and before long his reputation was known there as well. He returned to Oregon where he and Louisa lived in a remote mountain cabin in Sturgill Basin. But before long, Louisa left him, too.

When he heard that a vigilante committee was forming to make things tough on cattle rustlers, he ventured into Prineville, Oregon, to learn more. He went to Graham's Saloon in Prineville, where he searched out a man named Charlie Long, a ranch boss who worked for a man named Colonel Thompson, the leader of the vigilante committee. While playing poker with Long, the game began to get rough and Graham broke it up. The two met again at Til Glaze's saloon, but when Hank bought a round of drinks for the bar, Charlie Long refused to drink. Hank was insulted, and the affair escalated into gunfire. Long shot first at Hank, grazing his head. Hank returned fire, hitting Long four times. However, before Long collapsed on the floor, he hit Hank one last time, in the chest. Miraculously, both men survived. Hank recovered and was tried at The Dalles but was acquitted since Long had fired first.

Soon he moved to Wood River, Idaho. Selling horses once again to the many men that were working on a new railroad, he again became prosperous. Soon he met the widow Martha Robie, who had inherited much money from her husband and owned land on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Though not legally divorced from Louisa, he married Martha Robie who began to travel frequently by train. Soon, he earned a reputation for foiling train robbers, and the railroad awarded him for his deeds with a lifetime pass.

Expanding his operations into Walla Walla and Spokane Falls, Washington, he had become successful enough to hire out his dirty work. But as range lands began to get fenced and railroads sped the posses quicker, cattle rustling was becoming more difficult. Soon, he set up a farm on the Widow Robie's property halfway between Walla Walla, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon.

When his divorce from Louisa was finally legal in June 1883, he could publicly acknowledge his relationship with Martha Robie. Though the pair appeared to get along better than Hank had with his two former wives, he still spent a great deal of time gambling and drinking in saloons.

Although the farm was successful, he wasn't entirely finished with his rustling. Operating primarily at night, he often used his ex-in-laws, the McCarty brothers, to act as lookouts. Eventually, the ranchers began to form new vigilante committees, which stopped most of his rustling activities.

In 1886, Hank humiliated a man named Bill Falwell by shooting at the man's feet to make him "dance." Falwell, not the least bit amused, shot him in the right arm the following day.

Later that same year, he and his new wife sold the farm for a tidy profit and moved to Centerville, Washington, where he continued to shoot up the town.

On June 2, 1893, he went to Pendleton to get his horse shod and visited several saloons while he waited. Later, he galloped his horse up and down Main Street whooping and hollering. Suddenly, the horse slipped and fell, crushing Hank beneath it. Suffering from a skull fracture, he was taken to the Transfer House, where he lay semi-conscious for the next two weeks. He died on June 15, 1893, and was buried at the Olney Cemetery in Pendleton in an unmarked grave. Today, Hank's grave is marked with a badly damaged metal plaque.

His demise was not especially lamented, as he had terrorized the people of Umatilla County for more than 20 years.

Sources

  • Henry Clay “Hank” Vaughan (1849-1893) on Find A Grave: Memorial #50003855 retrieved 14 January 2019
  • Legends of America. Hank Vaughan - An Unhappy Horse Thief. [1]




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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Hank by comparing test results with other carriers of his ancestors' Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Hank:

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Categories: Olney Cemetery, Pendleton, Oregon