Buckskin Franklyn Leslie (March 18, 1842 – after 1920) was a U.S. Army scout, gambler, bartender, rancher, miner, gunfighter, and con-man.

[1][2] The Tombstone Daily Prospector reported on July 15, 1889 that Leslie was born in Galveston, Texas in 1842 where he supposedly grew up.

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.

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.

[notes 1] 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.

Leslie (Nashville Franklyn) was united in holy bonds of matrimony to Mrs. Mary Killeen, (née Evans) by Judge Reilly.

At the conclusion of the ceremony the bridal party and friends repaired to the dining room of the hotel, where a bounteous repast awaited them.

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.

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.

"[17] 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.

Judge William H. Barnes ordered Leslie to pay her $650 in cash and to convey title to a one-fourth interest in the Magnolia Ranch, including 13 horses and 150 cattle.

Leslie then turned and fired two shots at Neil, the first taking effect in his left breast, near the nipple, and the other hitting him in the arm.

Four days after killing Edwards, the coroner's jury reported: After inspecting the body of the deceased and hearing the testimony we find that the person killed was formerly known as Mollie Edwards; that at the time of her death Frank Leslie claimed her as his wife; that on Wednesday, the 10th day of July, 1889, at a place in Cochise County known as "Leslie's Ranch," she came to her death by being shot with a pistol and by criminal means; and that she was, on the day aforesaid, shot and killed by Frank Leslie.

"[25]Leslie plead guilty "to murder in the first degree" on January 6, 1890, The Sacramento Daily Record-Union reported:[26] It is expected he will receive a life sentence at Yuma.

[27] The Mohave Miner, on January 18, 1890, reported "The eleven convicts who were brought here from Tombstone yesterday, arrived in an intoxicated condition.

The Tombstone Prospector (June 29, 1896) reported "It is probable that Frank Leslie, who was sentenced from this county to Yuma for life for murder, is likely soon to be a free man, as the Gazette states that executive clemency is likely to be extended in his behalf by Gov.

On November 17, 1896, Governor Benjamin J. Franklin of the Territory of Arizona granted Leslie a full and unconditional pardon.

[32] Leslie later took a train to Stockton, California, and on December 1, 1896, Belle Stowell, went to the San Joaquin County Clerk's office, and obtained a marriage license.

"[35] In April 1897, Leslie arrived in Fort Worth, where he joined an Arizona friend named John Ralph "Jack" Dean.

On January 17, 1898, the newspaper reported that he and a group of men formed "the charter of the Copper River Gold Mining and Prospect Company of Fort Worth was sent to Austin in charge of F.A.

He was reported to be with "Doctor George Goodfellow and Tom Selby of San Francisco, at Hermosillo preparing for a trip to the interior.

The San Francisco Call later published a lengthy story written by Leslie in which he claimed that "when Roosevelt commenced his recruitment I enlisted in one of the first companies formed in Arizona, and after arriving in Cuba was transferred by my own request to Lawtons's command and remained with him until the end of Spain's dominion in the western hemisphere.

[44] In another incident in December 1902, Leslie asked George V. Fause of Humboldt County for directions to a park in San Francisco.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle: Frank Leslie fell a victim to his own pistol early yesterday morning.

The bullet struck him about four inches above the knee, passing through the fleshy part of the leg, tore his right ear and cut a gash in his scalp.

[48] The most produced photograph of Buckskin Frank Leslie is the one taken at the Yuma Territorial Prison in November 1893, at the request of a San Francisco Chronicle reporter, for an interview.

[49] The actor Anthony Caruso played Leslie in the 1958 episode, "The Gunsmith," of the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.