US Marshal Ralph Hooker Spotted Highback Saddle Bags & Slicker Museum Show piece

Description

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This is a Saddle that means a lot to us but hope we can find a good home for it.  Some place where more people would be able to see it and appreciate the work he put in it
This was made by the late
MARSHAL RALPH HOOKER
He was a good friend of ours and also a: Saddle Maker  Historian  Gun Smith  US Marshal  Author
This was to be the saddle he would take his last long ride on but he was not able to complete it
This saddle is brass spotted and has long Taps on it
Comes with Matching Saddle Bags  and the Slicker tied to the back that he used on his last long ride
The leather is basket tooled and 100% hand made by Ralph
It is currently located in our OLD WEST MUSEUM behind 1880's Jail Cells that we also purchase from our late friend Marshal Ralph Hooker
This is Marked with maker mark of the late Ralph Hooker of the Joplin Missouri area.
Ralph was a retired US Marshal and has written several books including BORN OUT OF SEASON and GUNS AND BADGES.
This has 2 great stamps on this holster and Ralph enjoyed making Holsters and Spur Straps for us several years back before he passed away in his 90's.
Marshal Ralph Hooker Marshal Ralph Hooker was a friend of ours and has been in our store many times and we have done a lot of trading through the years.
Born in the western Missouri outlaw territory in 1906, Marshal Ralph Hooker has had a life which he says “seems unreal.”
He rode with the outlaws, and had been a walking cowboy, a night watchman, a private bodyguard, a policeman, bank guard, city marshal, and a deputy sheriff. The marshal walked the Santa Fe Trail (a mere 800 miles), rode the Chisholm Trail (1,040 miles), and all 2,558 miles of the Ozark Frontier Trail on horseback. And, as if that list of credentials wasn’t enough for one man, Ralph Hooker also prides himself on being a gun maker, an exhibition shooter, a modern mountain man, historian, author, trail rider, and collector of curios and relics. With this multitude of experiences, it is no wonder that when Ralph Hooker speaks, his wisdom is well heeded.
Before becoming a celebrated lawman, the Marshal had humble beginnings as a cowboy in Oklahoma. Although it was an era famed for troubled times, the Great Depression and dust bowl didn’t get Ralph Hooker down. In fact, it was one of the best times of his life. “It was hard, but I was young and doing what I loved to do.” In his book, Guns and Badges: Memoirs of an Old West Lawman, he summed up his feelings on being a cowboy in the Old West, “You freeze your feet lifeless in the stirrups, your hands are numb, but you like it and wouldn’t have it any different. You would do it again if you could. I was hungry, cold, thirsty, and tired on long rides, sometimes sleeping in the saddle.
I look back and wish it was that way again.” Marshal Ralph Hooker went from being a cowboy and riding with the outlaws to being a full fledgeRalph knew relatives of Wyatt Earp, including his brothers. He knew Jim Earp in Oklahoma, Gale Earp in Missouri, and George Earp of Kansas. Of Gale Earp, Wyatt’s third cousin, Ralph said he “was always honest in what dealing we had and like the other Earps, he was not a man to push around.” Gale must have respected Ralph equally, since in 1989, he gave him a Colt Lightening Rifle .38-40 caliber firearm as a present. Ironically, being on the side of the law put his life at greater risk. “When you put on a badge and strap on that pistol, you are fair game for anyone, and don’t believe otherwise.” During his 30 years in law enforcement, the marshal had his life repeatedly put in jeopardy. He wrote, “I have had many bullets pass within inches, been knocked down, cursed, threatened with guns stuck in my face and stomach.” His stories read like an eerie horror movie. Some of the following are his experiences: A man in Missouri snapped a 12 gauge shotgun in Hooker’s stomach, and as he watched him pull the trigger, it misfired.
In Silver Dollar City, an ex-convict snapped a Number 45 New Service in his face at one foot away. Again, it misfired. In Sarcoxie, Missouri, a man aimed a shotgun at his head. Hooker ducked and it barely missed his face. He was arrested, himself, and put in jail in Raton, New Mexico for first degree murder. He was found guilty and just before the hanging, another man confessed. At times, Ralph Hooker looks back at his own life in disbelief, remembering the times that he almost didn’t make it. In his own words, “I think now of the fights alone, dragging someone to jail, so vicious were some of them, really meaner than hell, trying to kill me.” Indeed, it is truly amazing he survived to tell his story. What better window do we have to the Old West, than through someone who actually lived it? We think that Marshal Ralph Hooker’s life can he summed up best in his own words, “It just seems I have done it all.” For more information regarding Marshal Ralph Hooker and his experiences, check out his books, Gun and Badges: Memoirs of an Old West Lawman, and Born Out of Season.*
*This editorial from Hal Hamilton (the owner of Marshal Hooker’s gun  Blue Book Publications) d lawman. By this time, he was a master when it came to using a gun. While traveling around the west and working as a police officer, Hooker participated in over 400 trick shooting exhibitions. The marshal “would shoot small items held in his assistants’ mouths, on their heads, in their hands.” How could he do these amazing feats? By practicing what he preached. As Ralph Hooker said, “being fast is important, but being accurate is far more important.” It was because of his gunwork that Marshal Ralph Hooker was able to meet one of the most famous lawmen of the West, Wyatt Earp. The marshal was “talking guns” in a crowd of men. During their conversation, they got Hooker to show them how he could handle his two single-action Colt six-shooters. When Ralph finished his demonstration, one of the men told him that there was someone he should meet. Ralph tells what happened next, “he brought a nice looking man to me and said, ‘I want you to meet Wyatt Earp.’ I just knew he was setting me up for a big laugh, but sure enough it was Wyatt Earp. We had a very nice visit and he was courteous and bragged a lot on my ability to handle the guns.”
This Saddle is in very good condition and has never been ridden. The ends of the taps have a few water stains on the bottom.
We will ship via USPS or UPS in the lower 48 states.
We would love to see this go to a good home where it would be appreciated