And it’s extremely rare because most gunfighters of the time ended up in Boot Hill in their teens or early 20’s. Billy the Kid, for example, was shot down at age 21.

Yet, this gunslinger carried his pair of Colt .45 Peacemakers until the age of 97.

Born in 1861, he died on Easter Sunday 1958 with his custom made knee high size 10 1/2 boots on the way a real Old West gunfighter should. 2008 marked the 50th year of his passing.

He often said his best life insurance was: "Throwin' a lot of lead fast and straight."

Lots More Details Ahead . . .

. . . but first. . . I want to make it crystal clear exactly what these details are all about.

This way you don't waste your time if you’re lookin’ for the made up version of the Old West where a guy wearing a mask firing silver bullets shoots the guns out of the bad guy’s hands.

Or the singing cowboy wearing the white hat rescues the schoolmarm.

This ain’t it.

On the other hand . . .

. . .if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to strap on a big-iron six-gun, walk out on to the dusty streets of Tombstone, Dodge City or Laredo and be in a man-on-man, fast draw, shootout. . .

. . . then this real Old West gunfighter holds nothing back to tell in his own words - -using at times what would be considered today to be “politically incorrect” language - -the brutally honest details that immerse you in what it was like to live - -and die - - in the real, raw, Old West.

OK, if the above didn’t buck you off - -then here’s the fascinating story of tough-as-nails law dawg, cattlemen's association hired gun regulator, and fearless “Injun’” fighter- -

Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton
The Old West's Most Un-Famous, Famous
Gunfighter & Lawman

Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton
The Old West’s most
Un-Famous, Famous
gunfighter & lawman

Un-Famous: Don’t be surprised if you never heard of this grass roots gunfighter because you won’t find him in any of today's western history encyclopedias, studies devoted to the Old West or glorified in TV documentaries.

Famous: But make no mistake about it . . . he was one of the most feared men of his time with 11 notches on the grips of his Peacemaker's he buckled on for the first time when only a boy of 15.

And he had no fear or hesitation of getting up close and personal with his six-guns getting his “Baptism in blood” just a year later when he shot and killed his first man - - a local bad hombre that was armed to the teeth and already had the drop on “Pistol Pete”:

"He had his Winchester leveled, ready for business. But like a rattler, my hand went to my hip." "Before his gun went off there were two forty-fives through his breast." "He fell on his face on the ground with his gun under him."

Pretty ballsy for 16 year old – right?

I don’t know about you, but the most “bad-ass” thing I was doin’ at 16 was sneakin' a smoke in the Boy’s Room at Ft.Lauderdale High School.

"Pistol Pete": An Extraordinary Man

	A dead shot - - despite having a challenging birth defect.
	Perfects a special draw technique so lightning quick it earns him the reputation as: "The boy that packed the truest and fastest guns in Indian Territory."
	Becomes one of the youngest - if not the youngest Deputy U.S. Marshal in Old West history.

If you’d like to skip down the page to the rest of fascinating details of “Pistol Pete’s” spellbinding life then - - >click here.

Or give me just 1 minute 53 seconds (yes, I timed it) and I’ll tell you the really bizarre series of events that lead to my accidentally finding “Pistol Pete’s” memoir in the first place.

It all started while I was spending the weekend at a working cattle ranch in the center of the state in an area the locals call “Yeehaw Junction” living a dream of mine of doing real “cowboyin’." (I got to wear the cowboy hat I have on in my photo)

There was an old barn on the ranch that had been there since the early 1900’s. But, it’d been abandoned for many years.

It was going to be torn down and I wanted to see the old place before it was demolished. One of the ranch hands - - named “Skeeter” - - said he knew a shortcut and he’d take me over to the old place.

Abandoned barn

“Skeeter” ” worked cattle using a special cow whip he always carried wound around his shoulder or hooked to his belt just like the old timey Florida cowboys that were called “cow hunters.”

What makes the cow whip special is its short length- - only 10-12 feet - - compared to the 14 to 16 feet “Indiana Jones” style bull whip. This shorter length gives the cow whip more swing room in Florida’s thick vegetation.

And the distinctive “crack” of the shorter cow whip is the reason the first white Florida settler’s came to be known as “Crackers.”

The shorter 10-12 foot Florida cow whip

The old barn was surprisingly dark and cool inside. “Ahh” what a relief it was to get out of the blast furnace heat of that summers day.

A hole in the roof let in enough light that I could make out a big, very old stagecoach trunk with leather hinges and tarnished brass fittings under a pile of broken roofing material..

Curiosity got the best of me and I started clearing away the roof's rotted wood.

But “Skeeter” and I weren’t the only ones glad to be in the dark and cool of the barn.

So were two rattlesnakes that were hidden under the wood.

They were pissed.

They were coiled.

They were ready to strike . . .

. . . and my legs were as close to ‘em as your face is to your computer screen.

The voice in my head was screaming “SNAKES!!!”

Before I could even think to move, I heard the "crack, crack" of "Skeeter's" cow whip as it cut through the air to take the head off of each snake cleaner than a skilled surgeon using the sharpest German steel scalpel.

Thanks to Mark Kenderdine for this photo

I stood speechless, the little hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up, my eyes the size of dinner plates.

There’s no doubt in my mind that if even one of the rattlers had bitten me . . . I’d been a dead man.

But, this close call with these deadly snakes wasn't the most amazing thing that happened that day.

Finding "Pistol Pete's" memoir inside the old stagecoach trunk was.