Jesse Evans.
Jesse Evans was an outlaw and gunman of the Old West and the leader of the Jesse Evans Gang.
Thought to have been born in Missouri or Texas in 1853, Jesse first came into conflict with the law when he was arrested with his parents on June 26, 1871, in Elk City, Kansas, for passing counterfeit money. In 1872, he drifted into New Mexico, where he worked on John Chisum’s ranch. He found cow handling too hard, so he soon became an outlaw, committing cattle rustling and armed robbery with Billy the Kid, Frank Baker, Pony Deal, Tom Hill, and others. Leading a gang of other outlaws, the men roamed New Mexico, often working with other gangs in search of easy pickings.
When the Lincoln County War erupted, the Murphy-Dolan faction hired the Evans Gang as enforcers; interestingly, Billy the Kid was on the opposing side. Later, when a price was placed on his head, Evans fled to Southwest Texas, where he and his cohorts resumed cattle rustling. However, they were finally tracked down by Texas Rangers near Presidio on July 3, 1880. In the ultimate gunfight that occurred, Jesse Evans shot and killed Texas Ranger George Bingham, and the Rangers killed gang member John Gross. The members of the gang were finally forced to surrender. Evans was sentenced to prison in Huntsville but escaped from a work detail in May 1882 and was never heard from again.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
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