Town Square Shootout

Clover the Killer was a hardened outlaw who rode into the dusty streets of Jackson, ready for a fight with anyone who stepped in his way. He was the meanest, ugliest, no-good, hoss-thief this side of Teton Pass.  

Clover the Killer was no match for the Cache Creek Posse, however. The good guys were the ones who protected the women, children, and citizens of Jackson. Every night throughout the summer, starting in June 1956, the Posse would drag Clover the Killer into Town Square in an attempt to hang him. Undoubtedly, Clover never felt the noose tighten around his neck.

Either his thieven' friends would come a ridin' with their six guns and steal Clover right out from underneath the Posse or the rope would break or somethin' would happen. This was the beginning of the Shootout Gang.

How it all started can be debated. Whether a group of businessmen concocted the idea at the local Tavern or Clover Sturlin (A.K.A. Clover the Killer) came up with the story all by himself, one thing is for certain: The Shootout was an immediate success and remains one–the Jackson Hole Shootout is reportedly the longest continually running gunfight in the United States, having begun in 1957.

If your smoking gun of interest has yet to cool off, further your ride with local author Alexandra Fuller’s Cowboys and Immigrants: An African Emigre’s Jackson, Wyoming. Fuller explores the Jackson Hole Shootout and other old-west traditions of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in National Geographic. Read the story at nationalgeographic.com.