8 Of the Most Notorious Outlaws In Texas History

4. Sam Bass 1851-1878

Though he’s probably one of Texas’s most famous outlaws, Sam Bass is widely regarded to have been a rather inept criminal. Bass’s one and only big haul was in September of 1877 when he and his gang netted $60,000 in gold from robbing the Union Pacific Railroad gold train out of San Francisco.

Bass died in a Round Rock shootout with the Texas Rangers and Williamson County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy A.W. Grimes was shot and killed in the melee. As Bass fled he was shot by Texas Rangers George Herold and Richard Ware.

At the time of his death, Bass was only 27 years old. He claimed only to have ever killed one man.

5. Emmanuel “Mannen” Clements 1845-1887

Though he was never as well-known in the newspapers as Sam Bass — the head of the brutally infamous Clements family — Emmanuel “Mannen” Clements was the linchpin in the small world of Texas outlaws. Not only was he the cousin of John Wesley Hardin, he was the father-in-law of Jim “Killer” Miller.

Clements was a cattle rustler and a ruthless gunslinger known to have killed a pair of brothers for challenging his authority on a cattle drive, but that didn’t stop him from running for Sheriff of Runnels County in 1877, an election he lost. He died in 1887 at the hands of Joseph Townsend, the city Marshal of Ballinger.

6. King Fisher 1854-1884

As a young man, King Fisher spent time in prison for horse theft. After being released, he began work as a cowboy breaking horses. It wasn’t long before Fisher started running with a posse, sending raids into Mexico to rob and loot. After an altercation, Fisher killed three of his compatriots and assumed leadership of the gang.

Although he was a well-known cattle rustler and bandit, Fisher was popular in South Texas because he carried out most of his raids across the border in Mexico. In 1884, Fisher was murdered in San Antonio when he was ambushed in a theatre, along with Austin city Marshal Ben Thompson. The assailants were doling out what they saw as retribution for the death of a friend, who had previously been killed by Thompson.