Private George R. "Red" Bingham

George R. "Red" Bingham

Texas Ranger Captain Dan W. Roberts of Company D received a telegram from Fort Stockton asking for help. The last of the “Billy the Kid” bunch, Jesse Evans, John Gross (alias Gunter) and three of the Davis brothers, had sacked the town and headed to Fort Davis. Evans had escaped from jail and was wanted in New Mexico for murder. Captain Roberts dispatched a sergeant and several rangers to Fort Davis. They arrested some county officials and put some rangers in charge of the jail.

The rangers received word that four members of the gang was on the road near Presidio del Norte, an old town on the Rio Grande River. Two sergeants, Edward A. Sieker and L. B. Caruthers, four privates, R. R. Russell, D. T. Carson, S. A. Henry and George Bingham, and Presidio County deputy sheriff Olito Herredia, started in pursuit of the gang. After a discussion to pursue the outlaws into Mexico if necessary, Private Bingham reportedly told Sergeant Caruthers, “Sergeant, I guess I’ll be in Mexico or hell before night.”

Shortly after noon on July 3, 1880 they spotted the outlaws a mile ahead of them, and the men fled to a canyon gulch ahead of the rangers and dismounted. Private Carson’s horse was hit with two bullets and a bullet went through his hat brim. Private Carson wounded George Davis and Sergeant Sieker shot and killed him. Private Bingham was shot in the chest and killed. The remaining outlaws surrendered.

The rangers summoned a coroner who arrived on July 4. Since the remains of the dead men could not be moved, they buried Davis and Bingham by the side of the road between Fort Davis to Presidio del Norte, 18 miles from the Rio Grande River. Bingham was given a Ranger funeral with three volleys fired over his grave. One account states the citizens of Fort Davis gave the rangers reward money and promised to bury Bingham in the city.

On October 15, 1880 John Gross (alias Gunter) was convicted and sentenced to a long term in the state penitentiary, but served only three or four years. Jesse Evans received 10 years in prison. He escaped on May 23, 1882, and vanished into history. The two remaining Davis brothers (real name Graham), secured bond and apparently were never tried.

George R. “Red” Bingham was reportedly from Missouri. He was about 28 years of age at the time of his death. No other information located as to whether he had any surviving family. Bingham was mustered into Company D, Frontier Battalion, under Captain Dan W. Roberts about August 6, 1878. His last monthly pay muster was July 3, 1880 for $33.