Texas Jack Vermillion John Wilson Vermillion ( 1842 – 1911 ) , alias " Texas Jack " and later as " Shoot - Your - Eye - Out " Vermillion , was a gunfighter of the Old West known for his participation in the Earp vendetta ride and his later association with Soapy Smith . Early life . Vermillion was born in 1842 in Russell County , Virginia , the second of 12 children born to William and Nancy Vermillion ( née Owens ) . He was a Confederate civil war veteran and fought under the command of General J . E . B . Stuart . After the war , Jack went to Indiana where he married Margaret Horton in September , 1865 . They moved to Missouri where Jack accepted the position as Territorial Marshal for the eastern section of Missouri . Jack ' s wife and two young children ( a daughter and son ) died in a diphtheria epidemic in Missouri , while Jack was away . Out West . Jack eventually wound up in Kansas in the late 1870s . He went to Tombstone , Arizona ( Arizona Territory ) , from Dodge City , Kansas , where he possibly previously knew the Earps and also perhaps Doc Holliday . He was listed by Virgil Earp as special policeman ( i . e . , deputy city policeman ) June 22 , 1881 . This is the day of the large Tombstone fire of 1881 , with which Virgil had to cope as acting city marshal ; the date suggests that Jack is one of the extra men Virgil hired to help cope with looting , during and after the disaster . The origin of Texas Jack , Vermillion ' s nickname , is unknown , but he is first listed by this moniker on a wanted poster , for shooting a man during an argument at cards . When asked about why he was called Texas Jack , he replied " Because I ' m from Virginia . " Earp Vendetta Ride . Vermillion did not accompany Virgil Earp as a member of the protective squad which escorted him to Tucson , March 20 , 1882 . Instead , Vermillion joined the vendetta posse March 21 , 1882 in Tombstone , a day after the killing of Frank Stilwell in Tucson , thus Vermillion was not one of the 5 men indicted for Stilwell ' s killing . He presumably did participate in the killing of Florentino Cruz on March 22 , and he had his horse shot out from under him during the fight at Iron Springs ( March 24 ) , in which " Curly Bill " Brocius was killed . Vermillion was himself not hit in that fight , but he had to be picked up by Doc Holliday after exposing himself to fire from the cowboys , while trying to retrieve the rifle wedged under his fallen horse . This episode , combined with Wyatt ' s memory in the Flood manuscript , suggests that Vermillion may have participated in the Earp posse more as friend of Holliday , who was also a Methodist and fellow southerner . Note that Holliday ' s father had also served as a Confederate soldier . Vermillion family history also suggests a friendship between Holliday and Texas Jack . In the unpublished 1926 John H . Flood manuscript of Wyatt Earp ' s biography , Vermillion is mentioned ( as " Texas Jack " ) several times as not being a close friend of the Earps , but rather a relative stranger . This fact caused Wyatt some chagrin in memory , since Vermillion stayed by him at Iron Springs when the other three men in his posse at the time ( Doc , Johnson , and McMasters ) fled under fire ( Warren Earp was away on an errand for the posse ) . Dodge City war . In 1883 , Vermillion was involved with the Dodge City War . Sometime during Jack ' s stay in Dodge he killed a card cheat . This is when he appears on the wanted poster as Texas Jack Vermillion . Sometime between 1883 and 1889 , perhaps due to this charge , his handle of " Texas Jack " changed to " Shoot - Your - Eye - Out - Jack " Vermillion . Reportedly , he had shot a man in the eye . Soapy Smith gang . In 1888 , he joined the Jefferson Randolph Soapy Smith gang in Denver , Colorado in which he worked as a booster and shill . In August 1889 he was with Soapy Smith , Bascomb Smith , and " Fatty Gray " Morris at the Pocatello , Idaho train depot shootout , where a rival bunco gang tried to assassinate Soapy . His name is not mentioned in newspapers in Denver again . Later life . Sometime around 1890 Vermillion returned permanently to Virginia , settling near the town of Big Stone Gap and working as a Methodist preacher . His second wife ( 1883 ? ) was Nannie Fleenor . They became the parents of a son , Opie Vermillion , and a daughter , Minnie Bell Vermillion . Death ( and some open historical identity questions ) . Vermillion is said in many sources ( including Earp biographer Flood , who is probably the primary source for the information ) to have drowned in Lake Michigan near Chicago , about 1900 . Young states that Vermillion ' s body was returned to Virginia for burial , but Flood does not say this , and Young does not cite his source . Young may have assumed the body was returned , since there is evidence that Vermillion is buried in Virginia ( see below ) . Vermillion family records suggest that Jack Vermillion died peacefully in his sleep in 1911 , not 1900 . A photograph of him and his second wife ca . 1910 survives in the family record . A John W . Vermillion ( farmer ) is also listed in the 1910 census in Washington Co . , Virginia ( this is just South of Russell County and the town of Big Stone Gap ) . This man , listed as aged 66 , is listed as being born in Virginia , married in Virginia , 35 years ( ? ) to wife Nannie . Whether this is the same man is not definitely known . The implied birth date would be wrong , but reasonably close ( about 1844 not 1842 ) ; however the given marriage date would be far off ( 35 years from 1910 is 1875 , not 1883 ) . The place of residence is in the same relatively small area in the western tail of Virginia where Texas Jack was born , and is said in other sources to have returned . The issue is not resolved . Visually , the elderly man in the 1910 photograph could well be the young J . W . Vermillion from the Civil War photo ( see comparison photo ) . According to Vermillion family history , Jack killed a man in a gunfight in 1890 , and was forced to move 60 miles east to Mendota , Virginia , in Washington County ( which fits with the census report ) , where he spent the rest of his days . John W . Vermillion ' s grave and that of his wife is in the Mendota Cemetery . John W . Vermillion ' s closest living relative is a T . R . Vermillion II , resident of Savannah Ga . Film representations . Vermillion appears as a minor character in most Wyatt Earp films . In the 1967 film " Hour of the Gun " , he is played by actor William Windom . Texas Jack is played by Peter Sherayko in the film " Tombstone " .