DESCRIPTION: MULE SKINNER JIM WAS BORN JULY 25, 1847. HIS NAME AT BIRTH WAS JAMES THOMAS FOWLER. HE HAD AN OLDER BROTHER NAMED JOHN HENRY AND A YOUNGER SISTER NAMED NELLIE IRENE. HIS MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME WAS LEONA FAY WATKINS AND HIS FATHER'S NAME WAS BENJAMIN CLIFFORD THE FAMILY LIVED ON A FARM IN PEA RIDGE MISSOURI. WHEN THE CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT JIM'S FATHER AND BROTHER WENT OFF TO FIGHT THE UNION ARMY. JIM WAS THIRTEEN AND HE HAD TO STAY BACK WITH HIS MOTHER AND SISTER. IT WAS HARD TAKING CARE OF THE PLACE BUT somehow HE DID.

HE RAISED MULES FOR THE WAR AND KEPT THINGS GOING FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS. BY NOW HE WAS FIFTEEN AND MUCH BIGGER THAN MOST MEN. HIS MOTHER BECAME ILL THAT WINTER AND DIED OF PNEUMONIA, THAT'S WHEN HE DECIDED TO JOIN UP WITH HIS BROTHER'S OUTFIT. FIRST HE SENT HIS SISTER TO LIVE WITH THEIR UNCLE LUKE AND HIS FAMILY IN FREEDONIA KANSAS. HE CAUGHT UP WITH THE OUTFIT AND JOINED THE RANKS WITH HIS BROTHER. WITHIN TWO WEEKS THEY WERE IN A BATTLE AT BOONVILLE FIGHTING SIDE BY SIDE. IT WAS ABOUT TEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING ON THE THIRD DAY OF THE FIGHT WHEN JOHN HENRY WAS HIT BY CANNON FIRE. JIM WAS LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. ONE MINUTE HE WAS THERE...THE NEXT GONE! NOTHING LEFT WHAT SO EVER. JIM WENT ABSOLUTELY CRAZY WITH RAGE. HE BROKE RANKS AND CHARGED STRAIGHT FOREWORD THROUGH THE LINE OF UNION SOLDIERS KILLING EVERY MAN HE CAME IN CONTACT WITH UNTIL HE GOT TO THE ARTILLERY. HE KILLED THE MEN WHO FIRED THAT FATAL ROUND. HE THEN TURNED THE CANNON ON THE ENEMY AND OPENED FIRE. BY TWELVE NOON IT WAS ALL OVER AND JIM'S LIFE HAD CHANGED FOE EVER. HE HATED EVERY THING AND EVERY BODY, BUT MOST OF ALL HE HATED THAT DAMN WAR BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH.

IN 1865 WITH THE WAR OVER, JIM WENT BACK TO THE FARM. WHEN HE GOT THERE THE ONLY THING LEFT WAS THE OLD BARN...WHAT THE UNION ARMY HAD NOT DESTROYED THE CARPET BAGGERS WERE ABSCONDING WITH. HE WAS TAKING ONE LAST LOOK WHEN HIS OLD NEIGHBOR CAME UP TO HIM AND TOLD HIM THAT HIS FATHER HAD BEEN THERE JUST LAST MONTH. THINKING BOTH SONS WERE DEAD HE WENT WEST. THEN THE NEIGHBOR TOLD JIM HE HAD JIM'S TWO MULES. JIM THANKED MR. HARRIS, TOOK THE MULES, AND JOINED THE CROW MIGRATE WAGON TRAIN. HE HANDLED THE MULES AND HORSES FOR THE TRIP. HE LIKED THEM BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE ANYWAY. AS THE TRAIN HEADED WEST JIM WOULD ASK ABOUT HIS FATHER, BUT TO NO AVAIL. SOMEWHERE AROUND NEW MEXICO HE FOUND OUT THAT HIS FATHER HAD BEEN KILLED BY SOME DRUNK INDIAN THAT KILLED HIM BY MISTAKE. THEY HUNG THE INDIAN THE SAME DAY. THE NEWS WAS JUST TOO MUCH FOR JIM. HE STARTED DRINKING AND STAYED DRUNK FOR A WEEK. NOW THERE WAS STILL HIS SISTER TO FIND BUT THE FAMILY IN KANSAS HAD GONE WEST TOO. HE NEVER SAW OR HEARD FROM HER OR HIS UNCLE'S FAMILY AGAIN IT WAS IN DEATH VALLEY WHERE JIM LEFT THE WAGON TRAIN AND PICKED UP THE NAME "MULE SKINNER JIM".

THE FOREMAN FROM THE BORAX MINING CO. CALLED HIM THAT AND IT STUCK. MULESKINNER JIM WORKED FOR BORAX AS A TEAMSTER, SCOUT AND ANIMAL DOCTOR. BUT MOST OF ALL HE WAS TO KEEP ORDER. IF ANY ONE GOT OUT OF LINE MULE SKINNER JIM WOULD BEAT THE HELL OUT OF THEM. IF THEY CAME BACK FOR MORE HE HAD NO PROBLEM KILLING THEM; IT ALWAYS WAS IN SELF DEFENSE. HE WORKED THE EASTERN SIERRAS NORTH AS FAR AS VIRGINIA CITY NEVADA AND SOUTH AS FAR AS MOJAVE. THE YEARS WENT BY. THE PAY WAS BETTER AS AN ENFORCER EITHER ON ONE SIDE OF LAW OR THE OTHER IT DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM AS LONG AS HE GOT PAID.

THE MULESKINNER GOT MARRIED IN 1875 IN VIRGINIA CITY TO A WOMAN NAMED RUBY SUE ADAMS. SO NOW HE LOVED ONE PERSON AND STILL DIDN'T THINK MUCH OF THE REST OF THE HUMAN RACE. THEY STAYED THERE IN THE NEVADA TERRITORY FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS.

MULE SKINNER JIM WAS MAKING A TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO WHEN HE ALMOST DIED. HE WAS BY HIMSELF TRAVELING THROUGH THE WASHAW VALLEY WHEN A RATTLE SNAKE SPOOKED HIS HORSE. AND THREW JIM OFF RIGHT NEXT TO THAT DAMNED SERPENT AND AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, HIS HEAD HIT A FLAT ROCK. AFTER ALL THE FIGHTS, HORSE BREAKING, AND JUST PLAIN HARD LIVING THAT SIX FOOT FIVE INCH MAN HAD DONE ALL HIS LIFE; HE WAS KNOCKED OUT COLD FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME AND THEN BIT BY A RATTLER. HIS HORSE HAD RUN OFF LEAVING HIM OUT IN THE SAGE WITH NO WATER OR WAY TO GET HELP. WHEN MULE SKINNER CAME TO HE KNEW HE'D BEEN BIT AND IT WAS WAY TOO FAR TO WALK IN ANY DIRECTION TO GET HELP. HE KNEW TOO THAT IT WAS WAY TO LATE TO SUCK THE POISON OUT. IT WAS IN HIS BLOOD AND HE WAS GOING TO DIE. HE MADE PEACE WITH HIS MAKER AND GOT UP AND STARTED TO RUN HE KNEW DEATH WOULD COME QUICKER THAT WAY. THAT WAS THE LAST THING HE REMEMBERED TILL HE CAME TO IN A CHINAMAN'S TENT.

THE CHINAMAN SAID HELLO AND INTRODUCED HIMSELF AS DR. WOO. HE TOLD MULE SKINNER THAT HE HAD BEEN SLEEPING FOR TWO DAYS. HE TOLD MULE SKINNER TO REST AND THAT THEN THEY WOULD TALK. AFTER SLEEPING AND RESTING SOME MORE DR.WOO TOLD MULE SKINNER JIM HOW HE FIRST FOUND HIS HORSE AND THAT HE COULD HAVE FOUND HIM SOONER BUT THAT HE HAD RUN THE OPPOSITE WAY FROM THE HORSE.

JIM STAYED WITH DR WOO FOR ABOUT A WEEK TILL HE HAD RECOVERED. DR WOO TOLD JIM OF HOW HE HAD COME OVER FROM CHINA TO HELP HIS PEOPLE THE ONES THAT LAID THE TRACK FOR THE RAILROAD. MANY WERE ADDICTED TO SOMETHING CALLED OPIUM. JIM ONLY SAW DR WOO TWICE. THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN HE SAVED HIS LIFE FROM THE SNAKE BITE AND THE SECOND TIME WAS 10 YEARS LATER. THE MULE SKINNER WAS IN TOMBSTONE SELLING SOME SNAKE OIL THAT HE CALLED DR.WOO'S MAGIC ELIXIR. THE MULE SKINNER WAS TRYING TO GO KINDA STRAIGHT. HE WAS TIRED OF HURTING OR KILLING PEOPLE FOR MONEY. SO HE CAME UP WITH A SCAM OF SELLING THIS SNAKE OIL TO HELP HIS WIDOWED SISTER-IN-LAW WHOSE DECEASED HUSBAND WAS A PREACHER CARRY OUT HIS VISION OF BUILDING A SANCTUARY FOR UNWED MOTHERS, ORPHANS, AND WAYWARD WOMEN.

IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE OF JIM'S SPIELS SOME OUTLAWS, THAT THE MULE SKINNER HAD HAD A FALLING OUT WITH FROM THE OLD DAYS, PULLED OUT THEIR GUNS TO ROB JIM AND HIS SISTER-IN-LAW PENELOPE. RUNNING OUT FROM THE CHINA PART OF TOWN CAME DR.WOO. HE JUMPED IN FRONT OF MULE SKINNER JIM. ONE OF THE OUTLAW'S GUNS WENT OFF. THE BULLET MEANT FOR MULE SKINNER JIM HAD KILLED DR WOO. EARP SHOT DOWN TWO OF THEM THE OTHERS GOT AWAY. JUST THINK TO BE SAVED BY THE SAME MAN TWICE THE SECOND TIME LOSING HIS OWN LIFE. THAT JUST GAVE THE OLD MULE SKINNER A REASON TO THANK GOD BUT HE SWORE THAT HE WOULD GET EVERY LAST ONE OF THE OUTLAWS THAT KILLED DR WOO.

IT'S REPORTED THAT HE NEVER TOLD THE NAMES OF THOSE OUTLAWS TO ANYONE JUST SO HE COULD KILL THEM HIMSELF. SO IF YOU'RE OUT THERE AND YOU'RE ONE OF THEM; LOOK OUT 'CUS THE MULE SKINNER IS GONNA GET YA!