He was a teamster for the J.M. Hockaday & Co freight line on the Central Overland route between St. Joseph MO and Salt Lake City UT. Ferrin was shot and killed by Jack Slade, the wagonmaster and Hockaday division agent, in an altercation that arose from the teamsters having broken into the liquor supplies and defying Slade's authority. Although contemporary accounts suggested Slade was justified in killing Ferrin, the incident was later recounted in Mark Twain's book Roughing It. Twain's fictitious account portrayed Slade as a cold blooded killer. The western artist Charles M. Russell, drawing on Twain's embellished story, immortalized the incident in his painting
"Laughed at for His Foolishness and Shot Dead by Slade."
"Laughed at for His Foolishness and Shot Dead by Slade."
He was a teamster for the J.M. Hockaday & Co freight line on the Central Overland route between St. Joseph MO and Salt Lake City UT. Ferrin was shot and killed by Jack Slade, the wagonmaster and Hockaday division agent, in an altercation that arose from the teamsters having broken into the liquor supplies and defying Slade's authority. Although contemporary accounts suggested Slade was justified in killing Ferrin, the incident was later recounted in Mark Twain's book Roughing It. Twain's fictitious account portrayed Slade as a cold blooded killer. The western artist Charles M. Russell, drawing on Twain's embellished story, immortalized the incident in his painting
"Laughed at for His Foolishness and Shot Dead by Slade."
"Laughed at for His Foolishness and Shot Dead by Slade."
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