# John Ringo Cashes In explained — Tombstone

> Chapter companion for Tombstone by Walter Noble Burns.

## What happens

John Ringo, in a ten-day drunken stupor, rides out of Tombstone with Buckskin Frank Leslie and Billy Claibourne, ending in his mysterious death under a live oak tree. The chapter presents conflicting evidence of suicide versus murder, with Leslie later killing Claibourne and eventually dying in obscurity.

## Themes in this chapter

### Violence and Death

Ringo's mysterious death, Leslie's multiple killings, and the unresolved question of suicide versus murder dominate the chapter.

### Character and Reputation

Ringo's melancholic, intellectual outlaw persona contrasts with Leslie's lighthearted but murderous reputation, and the community's belief in Leslie's guilt shapes the narrative.

## Character check-ins

### John Ringo

Drinks heavily for ten days, rides to his death, found with a bullet wound to the head, possibly suicide or murder.

### Buckskin Frank Leslie

Accompanies Ringo on the spree, later kills Billy Claibourne and Diamond Annie, serves prison time, dies a pauper.

### Billy Claibourne

Joins the drinking bout, later killed by Leslie, claims with dying breath that Leslie murdered Ringo.

## Key lines

> Ringo drank like a crazy man the two days he was at my place. He was blind drunk both nights when he went to bed. Leslie was tapering off. He slyly threw much of his liquor on the floor, and I don't think he was so drunk as he pretended to be.

Mrs. Patterson recalled that Ringo drank excessively and was incoherent, while Leslie feigned drunkenness by secretly discarding his drinks.

_Widow Patterson's account highlights Ringo's severe intoxication and Leslie's calculated sobriety._

> I killed thirteen men and never once saw the inside of a prison. It was my fourteenth that caused all my trouble. But my fourteenth was a woman.

Leslie boasted that he had killed thirteen men without consequence, but his murder of a woman led to his imprisonment.

_Leslie's remark underscores his callousness and the societal taboo against killing women._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tombstone_se/chapters/xvi-john-ringo-cashes-in
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tombstone_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tombstone_se/chapters