Bad Man from Bodie

The Bad Man From Bodie was a mythical figure borne from the lawlessness of an east California mining town, and one obtuse cowboy, John Franklin Showers, adopted this moniker as his own. In 1883, he eagerly joined a conniving Los Gatos saloonkeeper and his trusty sidekick who concocted a plan to rob William P. Renowden in the hills above Lexington.

Showers suggested that they torture the old man to convince him to reveal where his treasure was hidden, which meant they would have to kill him. In the wake of this evil scheme, two peaceful men met a brutal death that was, at that time, unparalleled in the Old West.

Santa Clara County was outraged, and one newsman aptly described the incident as, "One of the most revolting murders ever committed in any country. "