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Jimson, Carl

Corrupt saloon owner, politician and businessman[1] in Silver Springs, New Mexico Territory in 1878. (October 17, 1845 – who-knows-when)[2]

Owner of the Square Deal Saloon and mayor of Silver Springs.[1]

In August of 1877, Jimson met Donna Seely who had just moved to Silver Springs from Clovis, Arizona Territory.[2] Jimson was attracted to Donna and began courting her. He kept his darker side from her, as he did from most people. He used his relationship with her to further his reputation in town as an honest and respectable businessman.[1]

Jimson employed two brace men, Connors and Ferguson, to cheat honest and unsuspecting poker players at the Square Deal Saloon. He often extended small loans to his patrons, giving the impression of being honest and concerned for the townsfolk, but he knew the money would be gambled and lost back to him down the line.[1]

Although the reputation of the Square Deal Saloon was that of an honest gambling hall to the townsfolk of Silver Springs,[1] it did not go unnoticed by some wandering professionals that it was a brace joint. Jimson's crooked operation came to the attention of Mandy Packer in 1877, but her involvement in running the Red Ox Saloon in Sweetwater, Arizona Territory, prevented her from taking steps.[2]

In June of 1878,[2] Jimson's reputation as an honest man, along with the love of Donna Seely, won him the mayorship of Silver Springs.[1] After election day, when the polls confirmed Jimson had won the office of Mayor, he proposed to Donna who eagerly accepted.[2]

In July of 1878,[2] Bret Maverick played in a poker tournament at the Red Ox Saloon. During his stay, Mandy Packer confided in Bret about Jimson's brace joint. Unable to resist exposing a crooked gambling operation, Bret traveled to directly Silver Springs. There, he quickly discovered Connors and Ferguson's methods of cheating Jimson's customers. Jimson himself sat in on a game with Bret to control the situation and shot Bret in the shoulder over a disagreement about the proper rules of the game. Bret forced himself to recuperate quickly to frighten Jimson into exposing himself as a crooked businessman. But in more gunplay between Bret and Jimson, Jimson accidentally shot and wounded Donna severely. With Donna unconscious and no other witnesses to the event, Jimson claimed Bret had shot Donna with the intent to kill her. Knowing that if Donna recovered from her injury, she would be able to indentify Jimson as the real culprit, so Jimson fled town on the ruse of going to Crown City to bring back a doctor to help Donna pull through. Bret tracked Jimson across the desert and, with the help of Fatima, brought Jimson back to Silver Springs.[1]

Donna recovered and identified Jimson as the one who shot her.[1] Bret was able to expose the Square Deal Saloon as a brace joint, and Jimson went to jail. Bret testified that Jimson's shooting Donna was an accident. Donna refused to press further charges but ended her relationship with Jimson. He was released from jail, but his reputation was shattered. Jimson left the mayorship in disgrace and sold his saloon and other properties in the area and moved out of the territory to start anew where his sullied reputation was unknown.[2]

See: Relic of Fort Tejon