Texas Jack Vermillion

[citation needed] The origin of Texas Jack, Vermillion's nickname, is unknown, but he is first listed by this moniker on a wanted poster, for shooting a man during an argument at cards.

[citation needed] Vermillion did not accompany Virgil Earp as a member of the protective squad which escorted him to Tucson, on March 20, 1882.

[citation needed] Vermillion had his horse shot out from under him during the fight at Iron Springs (March 24), in which "Curly Bill" Brocius was killed.

Vermillion was himself not hit in that fight, but he had to be picked up by Doc Holliday after exposing himself to fire from the cowboys, while trying to retrieve the rifle wedged under his fallen horse.

This fact caused Wyatt some chagrin in memory, since Vermillion stayed by him at Iron Springs when the other three men in his posse at the time (Holliday, Johnson, and McMasters) fled under fire.

Sometime around 1890, Vermillion returned permanently to Virginia, settled near the town of Big Stone Gap, and worked as a Methodist preacher.

[1] A John W. Vermillion (farmer) is also listed in the 1910 census in Washington Co., Virginia (this is just South of Russell County and the town of Big Stone Gap).

The place of residence is in the same relatively small area in the western tail of Virginia where Vermillion was born and is said in other sources to have returned.

According to Vermillion family history, Jack killed a man in a gunfight in 1890 and was forced to move 60 miles east to Mendota, Virginia, in Washington County (which fits with the census report), where he spent the rest of his days.