[WESTERN AMERICANA]. Sixth plate tintype of Jacob "Jake" Q. Shoup, "Battle of Cimarron, Kansas" Gray County Commissioner. Ca 1880.

22 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. tintype showing Shoup at left with unidentified man. (A few bends to plate). Shoup wears a hat, checkered shirt, and belt with a holstered knife and handgun. His friend, with his hand resting on Shoup's shoulder, wears a hat, glove, fur chaps, and has a handgun tucked in his belt.

J.Q. “Jake” Shoup was an Agent for the Santa Fe Railroad who settled in Cimarron, Kansas. He later became the leader of the Gray County Commission, which represented the town of Cimarron as the county seat in their violent clash with the neighboring town of Ingalls, Kansas.

Shoup personally held the door when the courthouse was stormed by Ingalls deputized gunfighters, led by legendary William “Bill” Tilghman, and including “Bat” Masterson’s brother Jim Masterson, later Indian Territory U.S. Marshal Neal Brown, and later Arizona Territory U.S. Marshal Ben Daniels who fired the shot that killed Cimarron citizen Will English, along with six other noted Kansas gunmen. The resulting shootout between the citizens of Cimarron and the gunfighters killed English, severely wounded several others, and led to the arrest of four Ingalls gunmen, in what became known as the “Gray County Seat War”, also known as “The Battle of Cimmaron”.

The battle is detailed in the book, Ballots and Bullets – The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas by Robert K. DeArment, a copy of which is included in this auction.

“The return fire from the town’s defenders was devastating. From behind doors and windows, Cimarron citizens poured a hail of lead at the Ingalls deputies exposed in the street. According to the newspaper reports, fully 200 took part in the shootout, including three shotgun toting women who joined the fray.” pg. 52.

From the ‘Jacksonian’ newspaper on the Ingalls gunfighters, “They scattered like so many birds and run (sic) for their lives. They had come prepared for the occasion, however, having several Winchesters and shot guns with them, and would stop at intervals and return fire at some of the citizens, who, crazed over the killing of their comrade (Will English), were ‘pumping’ lead into them thick and fast”. pg. 53.

“Bat” Masterson’s brother Jim was one of the Ingalls men who was later arrested, and soon “Bat” sent at telegraph to Cimarron stating he would come with many gunman and “blow Cimarron of the face of Kansas” if his brother was not released. The prisoners were eventually turned over to the Gray County Sheriff Joseph N. “Buffalo Joe” Reynolds, along with Ford County Sheriff Hamilton “Ham” Bell.

Lot includes the following reference texts:

DeArment, Robert K., Ballots and Bullets – The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas, 2006, University of Oklahoma Press. (J.Q. Shoup pg. 51, 58-59)

Lot includes the following:

Affidavit of Fact signed by great grandson Mark Shoup June 10, 2007 stating the tintype is J.Q. Shoup. Original auction records, listing, and correspondence.

Copy of Family Genealogy of Jacob Shoup including noted life events, family, cemetery details.
Copies of original 1894 newspaper obituary of Jacob Shoup, detailing over 1,000 attendees.