34. Frank Eaton won favor as detective after gunning down cattle thieves.
When Frank Eaton rode into the clearing where Shannon Campsey had his cabin, Campsey grabbed a rifle. Frank called out “Hello, Shan – don’t you know me?” Campsey began to take aim, but before he could draw a bead, Frank whipped out a pistol and shot him dead. He found his other target, Doc Ferber, tending cattle nearby, and killed him as well. Pistol Pete had just earned the first two notches on his pistol.
Doc Ferber and Shannon Campsey had been known cattle thieves, and gunning them down favorably impressed the local Cattleman’s Association. So they hired Frank as a detective. That gave him the perfect cover to go after the rest of his father’s killers and continue exacting payback. Within three months, he would put paid to three more of them.