He was born "David Monticello Ballew" in Fannin County, TX, in 1877, and by the 1890s, the Ballew family had crossed the Red River to what was then "Indian Territory", living on a ranch in the Ardmore area. Both father and son had the nickname "Bud". Ballew would have learned his expert skills as a horseman here at a young age, and by 1910, he had married and was living on a ranch in Lone Grove. He also speculated in the oil fields west of here, and once his ranch was running smoothly, he sought other diversions.
With the oil strike in Healdton in 1913 came settlement, and with settlement came crime. He befriended Carter County Sheriff Buck Garrett (whose uncle, Pat, was famous for taking down Billy the Kid), and became a deputy sheriff. Known for his red hair, resounding laugh, and floppy hat, most of Ballew's work with his .45 involved rough characters from the oilfields. His first shooting took place in 1915 when he interrupted Pete Bynum committing a robbery in Wirt, fatally wounding Bynum and taking a severe shot to the stomach himself.
After he recovered, it wasn't long before Ballew's pistol went to work again. He earned a reputation for shooting first when outlaw Steve Talkington resisted arrest, and when the previous city marshal at Wirt refused to vacate his position after being fired, also refusing to pay Ballew for bringing in Talkington, Ballew took him out as well. An escaping prisoner and a troublemaker in an Ardmore barbershop were next, followed by Ballew's rescue of his boss, Garrett, who was attempting to disarm two highwaymen.
While the Bynum shooting made Ballew a household name, it was the shooting of Dow Braziel that brought him national attention. Braziel was a former U.S. deputy marshal and U.S. Internal Revenue Service Prohibition Agent, and bad blood existed between him and Ballew and Garrett, whom Braziel felt were somewhat lax in their enforcement of prohibition laws against bootleggers. On January 31, 1919, Ardmore Chief of Police Les Segler met Ballew after reports of shots being fired at the California Cafe in Ardmore. There, they found Braziel, who fired two shots at Ballew, who then emptied his .45 into Braziel. Ballew was taken into custody but released due to his having self-defense as an alibi, and Segler among his witnesses.
Ballew and Garrett drew further national attention after the Jake Hamon Shooting -- "The Crime of the Century" followed by "The Trial of the Century" -- in 1920. Garrett was more prominent in the story, refusing to divulge that Hamon's killer, his mistress, Clara Hamon, had fled to Mexico, and then escorting her back to Ardmore for trial, but Ballew certainly earned attention for being Garrett's right-hand man. News stories of the time traveled as far away as China and England, noting that these 1920s lawmen were almost something out of the Old West of the 1880s.
Unfortunately, the press went to Ballew's head. He was already no stranger to saloons and gambling parlors, and he was also fond of more than just a little alcohol. He had begun to take drunken rides through the streets of Ardmore and other county towns, making noise and firing his pistol. His fame only increased his revels, and while Ballew was well-respected as a lawman, onlookers weren't impressed by his attempts to bolster his Wild West image when he was supposed to be upholding the law.
In February of 1922, Garrett was ousted as sheriff for non-enforcement of laws and his refusal to tolerate the Ku Klux Klan. His deputies resigned as a show of support, and Ballew was not long for this world. In May, he traveled with his son to Wichita Falls to see a rodeo, and he apparently raised a little too much commotion at the Denver Domino Parlor one day. Police were called in to quell the disturbance, and that's where things become hazy. According to Chief of Police J.W. McCormick, he and his partner informed Ballew of his arrest for causing a disturbance, to which Ballew responded "You're out of luck", going for his pistol. McCormick fired five shots at Ballew, killing him immediately. However, a later examination in Ardmore suggested that Ballew had been shot in the back, with one bullet possibly not having even been from McCormick's gun. An expert gunfighter, Ballew's pistol never left the holster. Garrett protested the killing, which made newspapers as far away as New York, Houston, and Sacramento, to no avail: McCormick was never the subject of any serious scrutiny. Garrett died in 1929.