Marshal Stoudenmire started his tenure in El Paso on Monday , April 11 , 1881 . He was the sixth town marshal in eight months . The City Council asked him to take the city jail keys from deputy marshal and town drunkard Bill Johnson . Witnesses alleged that Stoudenmire approached an intoxicated Johnson asking for the jail keys . Johnson mumbled that he would go home and figure out which keys were his and which were the city 's . Stoudenmire became impatient and demanded he hand over the keys right away . When Johnson demurred , the marshal physically turned Johnson upside down , grabbed the keys , then threw him to the ground . Johnson was publicly humiliated . On Thursday , April 14 , 1881 , only three days into his new job , Stoudenmire became involved in one of the most famous gunfights in Old West history , called the " Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight " . This gunfight was well publicized in newspapers in cities as far away as San Francisco and New York City . The events began a mile ( 1.6 km ) south , at the Rio Grande which divided the U.S. and Mexico . Roughly 75 heavily armed Mexican cowboys galloped into El Paso , looking for two missing young Mexican cowboys , Sánchez and Jauregui , plus thirty cattle stolen from a ranch just across the river . The missing animals belonged to a wealthy Mexican who hired an armed posse to recover them . El Paso County Constable Gus Krempkau was asked by the Mexican leader to lead them to a possible location . Krempkau agreed . The bodies of the two missing Mexicans were discovered near Johnny Hale 's ranch about northwest of El Paso . Hale was a ranch owner and cattle rustler
Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
Dallas Stoudenmire