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The line between being a good guy or bad hombre was a little fuzzy when it came to defining John King Fisher. Historians have described him both as a good lawmen and a mean outlaw. Although his life was a short one, he called many parts of Texas home, so his address changed pretty often.
Joby and Lucinda Fisher were parents of this bouncing baby boy when he made his entrance into the world in Collin County northeast of Dallas in 1854. Murmurs of the impending Civil War triggered a move to Florence in Williamson County by the Fisher family. Florence was not too far from Austin, so King Fisher should have been at least reasonably aware of Texas law. But supposedly King Fisher left home by age 11 and didn't think much of obeying the law. As a 15-year-old, he took a horse without telling the owner he had borrowed it. A posse caught him, but the owner of the horse didn't want to press charges against the teenager, so he helped Fisher escape.
Fisher's next caper near Goliad was housebreaking. This time. King Fisher actually saw the inside of a prison cell, but only for four months.
When he received a pardon for breaking into somebody's house, he headed to an area of Texas where outlaws were the primary inhabitants; he became a citizen of the Nueces Strip. This area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande was a no-man's land. Ten years after the Battle of San Jacinto, the strip contained Mexican soldiers who felt that this area was still a part of Mexico. Along with them lived outlaws who couldn't make a go of living under the new sheriffs and lawmen who were very visible in most Texas towns.
The third occupants of the Nueces Strip were raiding Lipan Apaches and Kickapoo. They continued...