King Fisher - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

John King Fisher is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery found at 500 N Park Street, Uvalde, TX 78801. A TX historical marker about him is on the east end of the cemetery, close to the curb along N Park Street and near the intersection of N Park Street and W Leona Street. However, his gravesite is on the west end of the cemetery, next to a giant oak with one large limb missing.

John King Fisher, who often went by the shorter name of just King Fisher, was a man conflicted. On the one hand he committed crime but rarely got punished. On the other hand, he was protective of his friends but bullied his friends into submission. He was a deadly accurate shot as a gunfighter but raised 4 daughters and was devoted to his wife. He was trying to reform in his later years as he was reaching his prime in Life. However, Fate caught up with him when he fell back in with formerly disreputable people he used to run with in earlier years. Fisher became a deputy sheriff of Uvalde County who went to Austin on official business as the 'Acting' sheriff of Uvalde. While in Austin, he encounter Ben Thompson (another former badman turned peace officer) who was then the city marshal of Austin. Ben Thompson had just been acquitted in a trial in San Antonio, but wanted to go back to tie up loose ends there. Since John King Fisher was passing through San Antonio on his way to his house in Uvalde anyway, he joined up with his buddy Ben for the trip. The evening they stayed in San Antonio, Fisher and Thompson decided to go see the show at the local Vaudeville Theater. While in the theater, they were attacked in an ambush intended for Thompson but both men were shot dead.

Originally buried at his ranch in Eagle Pass, Fisher's body was later moved to a gravesite that was then part of the Pioneer Cemetery, but is now across the street in the nearby neighborhood. He was moved to this present site when housing development encroached upon his previous resting place. When first buried in Uvalde, he was placed next to a large oak tree that became known as the Tombstone Oak because it was the visual marker for Fishers grave, which was helpful when he was exhumed and moved to his present location. The large oak called the Tombstone Oak blew over in a storm in 2017 and is no longer there. There is a very large oak tree next to where Fisher rests now, but this tree is not the original Tombstone Oak tree. But who know, this giant oak tree may soon assume the tombstone Oak title to keep the legend of John Fisher King alive for future generations.

For more details of John King Fisher's life, look at the links that follow:

Link to Wikipedia entry on John King Fisher:
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Link to Frontier Times article of King Fisher's life:
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Link to FaceBook page showing King Fisher's photo:
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Link to the story of the Tombstone Oak:
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Marker Number: 2946 Marker Text: (1854 - 1884) Celebrated outlaw who became a peace officer. Once undisputed ruler of a 5,000-square-mile area of Southwest Texas, centered in Eagle Pass and known as King Fisher's Territory. Son of Jobe and Lucinda Fisher, at age 17 Fisher settled on Pendencia Creek in Dimmit County, hired by ranchmen to guard their herds from bandits who frequently raided from Mexico, across Rio Grande. A complex and forceful individual, he imposed order in lawless border area. His henchmen rustled cattle and terrorized resisting settlers but also protected them from outside intruders. Near his ranch was sign reading: "This is King Fisher's Road. Take the other". Many prominent men, including Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico, counted him a friend. Tall, charming, and quite handsome, Fisher wore fine clothes and tiger skin chaps. An expert shot - with either hand - he was indicted on six murder charges and 15 lesser counts but was never convicted. Devoted to wife and daughters, he reformed after being arrested in 1876 by Ranger Capt. L. H. McNelly. He was acting Uvalde County sheriff, when, on March 11, 1884, he and the notorious Ben Thompson were killed from ambush at a vaudeville theater in San Antonio. (1973)

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