# John Slaughter — Tombstone character guide

> John Slaughter in Tombstone by Walter Noble Burns.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Slaughter, John

**First appearance:** 0002-tombstone

## Snapshot

A hard-riding sheriff with a pearl-handled six-shooter who tracks criminals alone across desert and mountain, becoming the law itself when courts fail.

## Who they are

Slaughter is the rancher-turned-sheriff who brings order to the Tombstone region after the Earps depart, a frontiersman who reads deserts and mountains like a printed page and follows trails invisible to less keen eyes. He rides alone, tracks men step by step, and usually ends his pursuits with a fugitive's surrender or death, sometimes ordering undesirables out of the country on the strength of his own authority rather than any statute. His fierce, czarlike justice and his silence about the men he has killed make him a legend of the later Tombstone peace, the quiet enforcer who outlasts the era of the gunfight.

## Relationships

### [Wyatt Earp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/wyatt_earp)

_friendship_

Fellow lawman and ally who respected Wyatt's toughness and shared his frontier justice views.

### [Patchy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/patchy)

_professional_

Sheriff and his loyal deputy, working together to enforce law in the borderlands.

### [Wyatt Earp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/wyatt_earp)

_friendship_

Fellow lawman and ally who respected Wyatt's toughness and shared his frontier justice views.

### [Patchy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/patchy)

_professional_

Sheriff and his loyal deputy, working together to enforce law in the borderlands.

### [Wyatt Earp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/wyatt_earp)

_friendship_

Fellow lawman and ally who respected Wyatt's toughness and shared his frontier justice views.

### [Patchy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/patchy)

_professional_

Sheriff and his loyal deputy, working together to enforce law in the borderlands.

## In the story

### [XVIII: The Honeymoon Cattle Drive](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/chapters/xviii-the-honeymoon-cattle-drive)

Protagonist of the chapter; his early life, cattle drives, confrontations with outlaws, and eventual role as sheriff are detailed.

### [XIX: The Round Table’s Last Knight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/chapters/xix-the-round-table-s-last-knight)

Sheriff of Tombstone, described as a man of iron will and courage, who cleaned up the town with uncompromising law enforcement.

### [Patchy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/chapters/xx-patchy)

Acts as scout and guide for the Seventh Cavalry, discovers the Apache baby, adopts her, and brings her to San Bernardino ranch.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters/john_slaughter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tombstone_se/characters