Hank Vaughan

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Henry Clay Vaughan, known as Hank Vaughan, was born on April 27, 1849, in the Willamette Valley of the Oregon Territory. He became an infamous outlaw and gunfighter in the American West.

At 18, Vaughan and Dan Burns rustled Cayuse horses from the Umatilla. Sheriff Frank Maddock and Deputy O. John Hart hunted them to Burnt Creek. On May 1, 1865, a gunfight began. Hart and Burns were killed; Maddock was wounded. Vaughan was hurt but escaped, later captured and jailed in Auburn, Oregon, where a citizen named John Hailey protected him from a lynch mob. He was sentenced to eight years in the Oregon State Penitentiary.

After prison, Vaughan led a colorful life around Pendleton, often involved in gunplay and spending money on medical care and tavern damage, without a clear income. He even got a lifetime railroad pass after a train robbery briefly interrupted his trip home from Spokane.

Vaughan married into the Umatilla tribe and settled on his wife’s ranch on the reservation.

In 1891, the New York Times reported an auction incident on land once part of the Umatilla Reservation. Vaughan had a lawyer bid for him; during the bidding, a gunfight broke out behind the building. Vaughan’s agent bought the land at a surprisingly low price, with no injuries and the shots described as blanks.

Vaughan died on June 15, 1893, when his horse on Pendleton’s first concrete sidewalk slipped and he struck a telephone pole, fracturing his skull. At his death, his private safe contained 6,000 dimes, seal rings, a large gold nugget, and several revolvers.