Timeline of Earth-4 (19th century to 1920s)

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Go to Timeline of Earth-4 (prehistory to 18th century)

• Davy Crockett, frontier fighter, has adventures. [Cowboy Western Comics #26, Davy Crockett #1-8, Wild Frontier #1-6]
• Jim Bowie has adventures in the Old West. [Jim Bowie #16-19]

• Josiah Farnham is born in New England. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #13]

• March 6: Jim Bowie dies at the Battle of the Alamo. [Jim Bowie #16]

• May 27: Wild Bill Hickok is born James Butler Hickok in Homer, Illinois, to William and Polly Hickok.

• Geronimo Jones has adventures in the Old West. [Geronimo Jones #1-9]
• February 26: Buffalo Bill Cody is born William Frederick Cody in the Iowa Territory near Le Clair to Isaac and Mary Cody.

• March 19: Wyatt Earp is born in Monmouth, Illinois, to Nicholas and Virginia Earp. He has several brothers and sisters.

• Bob “Six Gun” Walker, secretly the Phantom XVI, becomes known as the Waco Kid and has adventures in the Old West, eventually meeting Annie Morgan of Texas, who becomes his bride. [Mystery Men Comics #1-3]

• Josiah Farnham, now a rich and ruthless merchant, gives himself a type of immortality by seizing an elixir of life from Chief Tonka of a local American Indian tribe. The elixir causes Farnham to make several skips forward through time rather than allow him to live in normal time, and he quickly finds himself centuries beyond his own time when only minutes have passed through his point of view. Finally, when the elixir wears off, Chief Tonka retrieves it from Farnham, whose jumps through accelerated time has caused him to age into an old man. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #13]

• Kip and Julie Walker, twin son and daughter of Bob “Six Gun” Walker (the Phantom XVI/the Waco Kid) and Annie Morgan of Texas are born.

• Rupert “Tex” Walker is born to Bob “Six Gun” Walker (the Phantom XVI/the Waco Kid) and Annie Morgan of Texas. Later he will adopt the aliases of Tex Dawson and Tex Maxon, and he will fight crime in the West as an unofficial member of the Phantom lineage, as the Phantom Rider.

• January 6: Sherlock Holmes is born.

• The Cheyenne Kid has adventures in the Old West. [Wild Frontier #7, Cheyenne Kid #8-99, Sheriff of Tombstone #4, Billy the Kid #19, Lash LaRue Western #75, Outlaws of the West #24, Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal #49, Six-Gun Heroes #80, Billy the Kid #117-118, 139]
• Black Fury, the wonder horse, has adventures in the Old West. [Black Fury #1-57]
• Mark Stone, maverick marshal, has adventures in the Old West. [Maverick Marshal #1-7; Kid Montana #20; Sheriff of Tombstone #8, 10; Black Fury #24, 26; Billy the Kid #23, 24, 26; Outlaws of the West #26; Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal #32; Cheyenne Kid #26]
• Les Wilcox becomes the Masked Raider, accompanied by Talon, a golden eagle, and has adventures in the Old West. [Masked Raider #1-7, Masked Raider v2 #14-30,etc]
• Young Falcon, last of the Truefeather tribe of American Indians, has adventures in the Old West. [Rocky Lane Western (Charlton) #59, 61; Tex Ritter Western (Charlton) #23, 24, 25; Lash Larue Western (Charlton) #49; Cowboy Western #50; Gabby Hayes (Charlton) #52, 53, 55]
• Young Eagle, American Indian sleuth, has adventures in the Old West. Note: This is the Earth-4 version of the Young Eagle of Earth-S, whose adventures were published by Fawcett Comics. [Davy Crockett (Charlton) #6; Young Eagle (Charlton) #3-5, Cowboy Western #66; Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal #19; Texas Rangers in Action #11]
• Texas Rangers have adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #?-?]
• The Vigilantes have adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #?-?]
• Rod Kline, U.S. marshal, has adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #33-?]
• Bill Bent, border sheriff, has adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #38-?]
• Mickey and Sitting Bull have adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #38-?]
• Ranger Ridley of Shadow Valley has adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #38-?]
• The Prince Albert Kid has adventures in the Old West. [text stories from various Charlton western comics: Cowboy Western Comics #39; Rocky Lane Western #61; Cowboy Western #50, 67; Tex Ritter Western #27; Outlaws of the West #12, 16; Billy the Kid #10, 48; Texas Rangers in Action #11, 49; Cheyenne Kid #14; Six-Gun Heroes #56]
• Red Roan, wild horse, has adventures in the Old West. [text stories from various Charlton western comics]
• Sgt. Norton has adventures in the Old West. [Death Valley (Comic Media) #6; Death Valley (Charlton) #7-9]
• Kid Montana has adventures in the Old West. [Kid Montana #9-50, Outlaws of the West #68-81]
• Clay Boone, apprentice gunsmith, becomes Gunmaster and has adventures in the Old West town of Rawhide. After some time, he opens up his own shop and begins working as a gunsmith. He is also soon accompanied by Bob Tellub, who becomes Bullet, the Gun-Boy, Gunmaster's teenaged crimefighting partner. Note: Bob Tellub's true last name is unknown; “Tellub” is merely the word “bullet” backwards. [Six-Gun Heroes #57-83, Gunmaster #1-4, Gunmaster v2 #84-89]
• A one-armed veteran of the Civil War named Elias Dunne, called Captain Doom, has adventures in the Old West. [Outlaws of the West #64-72, 75]
• Vance Curtis, sharpshooter, has adventures in the Old West. [Outlaws of the West #73-74]
• Col. Rutherford Riley, Hunk Houghton, and Jess band together as Riley's Rangers and have adventures in the Old West. [Texas Rangers in Action #60-67, 70-75, 78]
• The man called Loco has adventures in the Old West. [Texas Rangers in Action #65-78]
• John Lind, the tenderfoot sheriff, has adventures in the Old West. [text stories from various Charlton western comics]
• Apache Red has adventures in the Old West. [Cheyenne Kid #88-99, Billy the Kid #112, 114-116, 119-123]
• Shawn O'Meara, bounty hunter, has adventures in the Old West. [Billy the Kid #66-78, 80-81, 83, 87]
• Bullseye, a western scout whose everyday identity is Panhandle Pete, has adventures in the Old West. [Bulls-Eye (Mainline) #1-5, Bulls-Eye (Charlton) #6-7]
• Buffalo Bill Cody, known in his youth as Cody of the Pony Express, has adventures in the Old West. [Columbia Pictures serial; Colossal Features Magazine #33-34; Cody of the Pony Express (Fox) #1; Black Fury #3; Cody of the Pony Express (Charlton) #8-10; Lash Larue Western #78; Outlaws of the West #58; Phantom (Charlton) #45; Cowboy Western Comics #21]
• Jesse James has adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #17-25, 31, 32, 34, 38, 39; Cowboy Western #50-58; Outlaws of the West #11, 58, 69; Six-Gun Heroes (Charlton) #46-47]
• Annie Oakley has adventures in the Old West. [Cowboy Western Comics #17-24, 31-34, 38, 39; Cowboy Western #51-65; Six-Gun Heroes (Charlton) #46-60, 63-83]
• An old scientist named Dr. Hugo Van Steiger, assisted by his daughter Ophelia Van Steiger, seeks to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Victor Frankenstein by creating a new man using body parts from corpses. But when he kills a Bavarian Gypsy to use his brain in the creature's body, the Gypsy brain transfers the lycanthropy it was afflicted with to the new body, and it becomes a huge werewolf during the full moon and kills the scientist and his daughter before fleeing. [“Brain Fever,” Haunted #27 (May, 1976)]

• Captain Nemo, on board the Nautilus, meets Professor Pierre Aronnax and Ned Land. Note: Navy Jones met Captain Nemo in 1940 in Science Comics #5, which means the Jules Verne novel takes place on Earth-4. [Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870 novel by Jules Verne)]

• After several earlier tries, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok becomes a lawman for the first time when he is elected sheriff and city marshal of Ellis County, Kansas.

• Wyatt Earp becomes a constable in Lamar, Missouri, after his father Nicholas resigns from the position to become the justice of the peace.

• Bob “Six Gun” Walker, the Phantom XVI, is murdered by “Cactus” Kirby. Kip Walker becomes the Phantom XVII.
• Julie Walker, twin sister of Kip Walker, rescues her brother as the first female Phantom. She has adventures as the temporary Phantom in Bangalla while her brother recuperates from his injuries, and she is considered as the Phantom XVIII. [The Phantom (Charlton) #30]

• Wyatt Earp marries his first wife, Urilla Sutherland. She contracts typhus and dies later this year, devastating Earp. Although he wins the election for constable in November, beating his brother Newton for the office, a heartbroken Earp gets in trouble with the law in early 1871 and finally leaves town in June, 1871. He spends time hunting buffalo and adventuring for the next two years, during which time he meets Bat Masterson. Note: The Earth-4 Wyatt Earp is largely based upon the 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake. Historically, Wyatt Earp was charged with two lawsuits and a charge of horse-theft in early 1871, and he disappeared from history until his reappearance in Wichita, Kansas, in October, 1874, after which time his career as a frontier marshal really began. Historians have speculated about Earp's activities during that time, suggesting he was hunting buffalo during those years and acted as a lawman in Ellsworth, Kansas, in 1873. But all known evidence refutes this idea. The Wyatt Earp on Earth-4 is, of course, completely heroic and innocent of any charges against him.

• An American traveler named Mr. Johnston meets the ghost of Count Jorga, a nobleman who had “cured” himself of vampirism by allowing himself to die of starvation. [“Enter Freely and of Your Own Will,” Haunted (Charlton) #21]

• James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok is elected U.S. marshal of Abilene, Kansas, and has adventures in the Old West, riding a horse named Buckshot. He was often accompanied by sidekick Deputy Marshal Aloysius P. “Jingles” Jones, who rode a horse named Joker. Note: Although historically Hickok was the marshal of Abilene, the figure of Jingles Jones is completely fictional. In fact, the Earth-4 version of Hickok's life includes some of the events of the television and radio series both named The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, starring Guy Madison as Wild Bill and Andy Devine as Jingles; however, while not every single one of the TV/radio adventures necessarily take place on Earth-4, all of the comic-book adventures based on them do. [Atoman Comics #1; Cowboy Western Comics #17-21, 23, 25, 31-34; The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951 ABC television series); The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951 Mutual Broadcasting radio series); Cowboy Western #55-57, 59-67; Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #68-75; Six-Gun Heroes #38-43, 46-56, 58, 60, 62-64, 68; Lash Larue Western #62, 77; Texas Rangers in Action #20, 22; Cheyenne Kid #21, 23; Masked Raider #27, 28]

• October 8: E-Man and Rosemary Bennett, a time-traveler from the 30th century, travel through time from the year 1984. They visit Chicago and witness the beginning of the Great Chicago Fire. [E-Man (First) #18]

• Joe Slidell becomes sheriff of Conchero County with his headquarters at Wilton City. He remains sheriff there until 1890 and has several adventures in the Old West. [Six-Gun Heroes #69 and text stories from various Charlton western comics]
• At 14 years old, marksman William H. (Billy) Bonney (later known as Billy the Kid) joins the League of Infinity, comprising members from several historical and future eras. Note: This Billy the Kid is not the same man as Henry McCarty, the younger outlaw also called Billy the Kid. [speculation]

• Wyatt Earp becomes a marshal in Ellsworth, Kansas, beginning his career as a frontier marshal in several towns in Kansas, including Ellsworth, Wichita, and Dodge City, as well as towns in Arizona, including Tombstone. Note: According to the 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake (largely responsible for Wyatt Earp's fame), Earp was responsible for the arrest of gunman Ben Thompson in Ellsworth, Kansas, on August 15, 1873. However, this theory is insubstantiated with evidence and is disproven by all other accounts, including Thompson's. The Earth-4 Earp, however, is considered to be a marshal in Ellsworth, Kansas, at the time. [Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal #12-72]

• Rupert Walker, using the alias of Tex Dawson, avenges the murder of his father “Six Gun” Walker by “Cactus” Kirby. Later, he adopts the alias of Tex Maxon and works for a number of ranches over the next three years. Note: While using the alias of Tex Dawson, he is briefly married, but his wife leaves him without letting him know she bears his son. Their son becomes the grandfather of reporter Smash Dawson and his brother Deep Sea Dawson, who are active in the 1940s. [Wonder Comics #1-2, Wonderworld Comics #3-10]
• Elias Bolt, an eccentric criminal genius known to have performed forbidden experiments on people, is killed by the townspeople of Soulbridge, New York, when they storm Bolt Manor and set it on fire. A century later in 1975, his great-grandson Malachi Bolt attempts a revenge scheme on the citizens' descendants. [“Incident at Soulbridge,” Beyond the Grave #3]

• Wyatt Earp officially joins the marshal's office in Wichita, Kansas, remaining there for one year.

• Wyatt Earp becomes a deputy marshal in Dodge City, Kansas.

• August 2: Wild Bill Hickok is killed in Deadwood, South Dakota, when he is shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall.

• Wyatt Earp takes a leave of absence from Dodge City to travel to make money in Deadwood, South Dakota, returning to Dodge City early the following year.

• While on a gambling trip throughout Texas, Wyatt Earp meets dentist and gambler John Henry “Doc” Holliday in Fort Griffin, Texas.

• Rupert Walker, using the alias of Tex Maxon, adopts the masked identity of the Phantom Rider in honor of his lineage. [Wonderworld Comics #11-27]

• After Englishman J.H. Tunstall of the Tunstall-McSween Ranch is murdered by men working for Maj. L.G. Murphy, 20-year-old gunfighter Billy Bonney – an employee of the ranch who is already known as “Billy the Kid” by this time – attempts to arrest Murphy for the murder. Murphy then surrounds Alex McSween's house, and Billy engineers an escape for McSween and his wife. He then rides away, thinking his presence had only brought trouble to his friends. Note: The Billy the Kid of this series is on the side of the law, regularly helping lawmen apprehend outlaws. Since the depicted adventures of the heroic Billy the Kid are vastly different from the outlaw Henry “Billy the Kid” McCarty, and Bonney is older than McCarty, it is our opinion that William H. Bonney was a different man entirely, whose name McCarty borrowed as an alias. McCarty knew Bonney because the two both worked at the Tunstall-McSween Ranch. [“Escape,” Masked Raider #6]
• William Bonney, known as Billy the Kid, begins adventures as a wandering gunfighter. [Masked Raider #6-8; Billy the Kid (Charlton) #9-123]

• Wynnwar, an extraterrestrial galactic merchant from the planet Sirius 5 (a Syrian), crash-lands his spaceship on Earth near the Texas-Mexico border after being attacked by space pirates. He befriends a prospector named Jeb Dooley, who gives him the name Wander. Possessing extra-human strength, invulnerability, and speed, Wander has adventures in the Old West. Unfortunately, Wander's strange manner of speech (Chaucerian Middle English learned from a previous Syrian visitor to Earth some 500 years earlier) doesn't help him blend in. [Cheyenne Kid #66-78, 80-83, 85-87]

• Wyatt Earp resigns from the Dodge City police department.

• Wyatt Earp is appointed deputy sheriff of Pima County, which at that time contains Tombstone, Arizona, but resigns three months later.

• Sherlock Holmes, detective, meets Dr. John Watson. The two collaborate on several cases over the next several years. [A Study in Scarlet (1887 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)]

• Acting as deputies, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday assist marshals Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp against the Clanton gang during the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

• A.J. Raffles, master thief, has his first known exploit. Note: Raffles exists in Earth-4's history since he is treated as a historical figure in “Mr. Moody's Amazing Hats,” Beyond the Grave #2. [The Amateur Cracksman (1899 short story collection by E.W. Hornung)]

• Wyatt Earp's brother Morgan is murdered in revenge for the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Wyatt Earp goes on a vendetta and kills Curley Bill, then leaves Arizona territory for good in April.

• Luke Spade, son of “Fat Jack” Spade, is hired as the pint-sized sheriff of Tombstone, Arizona. Note: Technically, Spade is the sheriff of the newly created Pima County, which contains Tombstone, after Johnny Behan's end of term. In actual history, Johnny Behan was the sheriff of Tombstone from February, 1881, until November, 1882, when he was forced out because of his corruption as well as his involvement with the Clanton gang and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. [Sheriff of Tombstone #1-17]

• Wyatt Earp briefly returns to Dodge City, Kansas, to act as a lawman in the bloodless Dodge City War.

• Abel Young, cub reporter for the Boothill Gazette, has adventures in Texas. He works for editor Max Cogswell. [Billy the Kid #88-110]

• Dr. Henry Jekyll turns into Edward Hyde. [A Star Presentation #3; This is Suspense #23]

• Jack the Ripper brutally murders women in London's Whitechapel district. Note: In 1975, a man named Philip Scott is possessed by what seems to be the spirit of Jack the Ripper and kills two airline stewardesses (see “Nightmare Flight,” Beyond the Grave #1). In 1986, Jason Lincoln – son of the immortal sorceress Morgana le Fay – will claim to have been Jack the Ripper, and not without merit (see “Camelot: In Search of the Truth”). It is probable that Jack the Ripper is actually a spirit being with a close connection to Jason Lincoln.

• Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson take on their most famous case, entitled “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” [The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle); The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 20th Century Fox film)]

• Yang (Chung Hui) leaves China to adventure in the Old West. [Yang #1-13; Charlton Bullseye #3; House of Yang #1-6]

• May: Prof. James Moriarty dies from a fall from the Tower of London in an attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. His crime is stopped by Sherlock Holmes, aided by Dr. John Watson and a young William “Billy” Blake. Holmes notes that he has pursued Moriarty for eleven years (since 1883). Note: It is pure speculation on our part that Holmes' young assistant Billy grows up to become Inspector Blake of Scotland Yard, who appears in Whirlwind Comics and is called the successor to Sherlock Holmes. [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 20th Century Fox film)]

• Frank Merriwell attends Yale University, where he has a variety of adventures. [Tip Top Weekly (dime novel series); Frank Merriwell at Yale #1-4]

• Sir Ralph, an English Lord, and his wife Lady Lydia have a deformed son who grows up to be a hulking monster with great strength, whom they keep locked away. As an adult, the unnamed hulking man escapes from his home and is hunted by the villagers until he finally saves a girl named Meg Brent from a fire. Her father Tom Brent takes the hulking man into his home. Within six months, both Tom and Meg Brent share the hulking man's deformed features, as if they were related to him. [“One of the Family,” Haunted #33 (December, 1977)]

• Cap'n Grim has adventures as a young harbor pilot in the South Seas. [Yellowjacket Comics #6-10]

• February: Burton Parsons learns about the Old Ones in the caverns below the Mountain of Fear. Note: This story, along with others written and drawn by Tom Sutton, establishes that the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft exists in some form on Earth-4. [“Mountain of Fear,” Haunted (Charlton) #20]

• Capt. Rex Royce of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police has adventures in northwestern Canada. [Whirlwind Comics #1-3]

• John Clayton, Lord Graystoke, has first contact with the West. [Jungle Tales of Tarzan #1-4]

• August: Sherlock Holmes retires from sleuthing just after World War I breaks out. Note: He has apparently stopped aging by this point or finds a way to reverse the aging process at some point after this story, since he appears as a relatively young man in 1955, when he should be a hundred years old. [“His Last Bow”]
• Rookie NYPD police officers Michael Garret and Mike Mannigan begin patrolling together as partners. [The Blue Beetle (Fox) #1]

• December 6: Daniel Garret, son of police patrolman Michael Garret, is born. [The Blue Beetle (Fox) #1]

• Chuck Benson becomes famous as a U.S. air ace during World War I, sometimes flying in missions as the masked aviator known as the Phantom Falcon. [Cat-Man Comics #10]
• Dennis Quinn fights as a U.S. air ace during World War I, nicknamed the Golden Eagle. [Contact Comics #1]

• January 13: Wyatt Earp dies at the age of 80 in Los Angeles, California.

• February 14: E-Man and Rosemary Bennett, a time-traveler from the 30th century, travel through time from the year 1984. They visit Chicago during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and meet the Moran Gang. [E-Man (First) #18]

• May 3: Nathaniel Christopher Adam, the future Captain Atom, is born.

Go to Timeline of Earth-4 (1930s to 1950s)

Timeline of Earth-4: prehistory to 18th century | 19th century to 1920s | 1930s to 1950s | 1960s to 1970s | 1980s to present | the future | Special timelines: Timeline of Earth-4 during the Crisis | alternate timelines