AWESOME Ralph Hooker US Marshal Spotted Highback SADDLE Start Price USD 9,995.00 Current Price USD 9,995.00 Time Left 4 days 12 hours 40 minutes Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, September 16, 2008 End Time Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Location CENTRAL MISSOURI See more about 'AWESOME Ralph Hooker US Marshal Spotted Highback SADDLE' Description  Feel Free to ~MAKE AN OFFER~ On any of our items in our eBay store! Visit our eBay store just click here!>Be sure to add me to your favorites list! and Check out my other items! Many Beautifull Items listed in our eBay Store dtoday! Ralph Hooker was one of the oldwest living US MARSHALS Large brass spotted highback with outstanding color and patina.  Includes matching saddle bags and large tapedaros! This wonderful Saddle that Ralph made has been in our Museum for the past 10 or so years.  He was very proud of this saddle and the purchase will include a signed copy of his book "BORN OUT OF SEASON". Shipping in the USA runs about $65 to most states via UPS Here is a little information on Ralph 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 fledged 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.”     Ralph 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) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALSO FOR SALE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OLD WEST ~REAL COWBOY~ MUSEUM     we have FOR SALE, a ONCE IN A LIFE TIME CHANCE to own your OWN MUSEUM!   We are NOT going out of business just selling our MUSEUM.  We will still publish our Catalog and have our Store & Show Room here at our Ranch.  Due to health and other reasons we are selling the Museum.  One big reason is that I wish to complete my book on SADDLE MAKERS STAMPS that I have been working on the past 12 years.   We hope that someone will puchase it with as much love as we have for the real OLD WEST!   After purchasing, pay instantly with your credit card through PayPal! 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