NEW MEXICO’S OLD TIMES & OLD TIMERS by Don Bullis, New Mexico Author DonBullis.biz
Abe Gerden Graham, AKA John “Shotgun” Collins
Little Known New Mexico Lawman/Outlaw
J
ohn Collins was born as Abraham “Abe” other well-known owl-hoots John Ringo Gerden Graham in 1851 in Horry County, (1850-1882) and Mannen Clements (1845South Carolina. By 1859 he, along with 1887), and others. He was alternately an his family, had moved west to Limestone outlaw and a lawman throughout his life County, Texas, south of Dallas. History holds and was associated with such notables as that Abe, even at that early age, sometimes Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), William H. Bonney went by the name of John Collins. “Billy the Kid” (1859-1881), Pat Garett (1850Famed Texas killer John Westley Hardin 1908) and “Old” John Selman (1839-1896). (1853-1895) claimed that Graham, aka Collins seemed to be on the outskirts of Collins, married his cousin, Tabitha Cox. Gra- many notable events, but was never a ham’s criminal career also began in Texas major player. and he spent time in jail with Hardin and He also alternated his name back and
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forth between Graham and Collins, and used variations of them both. An early sobriquet was “Gunnysack Johnny”—hard to imagine where that came from—but he ultimately became best known as “Shotgun” Collins because he worked for a time as a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo, in Arizona, during which time he was obliged to use his weapon while in pursuit of his duties. Lincoln County War Historian Fred Nolan asserted that Collins was also called “The Prowler” during the Lincoln County War. The source of that handle is also unknown but it does seem to be pejorative. Graham/Collins migrated to what was then western Socorro County, New Mexico—it became part of Catron County in 1921—toward the middle of the 1870s; to the Elk Mountains; specifically, according to historian Bob Julyan, a point between Eagle Mountain and O Bar O Mountain, near the Continental Divide. It came to be called Collins Park. He apparently had a family by then, but he did not spend all of his time there. On December 27, 1875, he undertook to kill one James Smith in Silver City. Grant County Historian Bob Alexander wrote: “Collins shot Smith in the head. The wicked powder-burning gunshot was not fatal…. Thankfully, Smith wasn’t sent home on a shutter. Later, Sheriff [Harvey] Whitehill [1837-1906] arrested Collins and … locked him up. Next morning, ...Collins was fined $60 for carrying and mishandling a deadly weapon and sent on his way.” No one seems to know what caused the affray or what became of Smith. While historians have not done much looking into the eclectic life of Abe Graham, AKA John Collins, he was apparently fairly well known in his own lifetime, and his name appears as a participant in several significant events including the Lincoln County [New Mexico] War (1878) and the Dodge City [Kansas] Peace Commission (1883). Some have claimed that he rode with Billy the Kid, but then just about anyone who happened to be in southern New Mexico in the years between 1878 and 1881 is said to have rode with the Kid at one time or another. It is noteworthy, though,
