Jim McKinney, Porterville's "Jekyll and Hyde," a soft-
spoken man was liked by many, but when drunk was dangerous, always armed and looking for trouble. On the night of July 27, 1902, on a drunken rampage he went totally bad and shot up Scotty's chop house, two doors South on Main Street, then went on a
rampage through the streets of town on a stolen horse and buckboard, shooting at everyone he saw. Five men were wounded and one was killed. Billy Lynn, the man killed, was one of McKinney's close friends. Three of the wounded were the town's lawmen:
Marshall John Willis, Deputy Johnny Howell, and Deputy Billy Thompkins who tried to calm him but ended up in a shootout. McKinney escaped to Arizona where he killed twice more, then returned to
Bakersfield where he was cornered and killed in a
shootout in a Chinese Joss house in April 1903. Sadly
Kern County Sheriff T. J. Packard and Deputy W. E.
Tibbet were killed in this battle.

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Time Marches On
Elisha Packwood
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Dr Samuel Gregg George
Tule River Stage Station
Gabriel Moraga
The Tule River Stage Station
Vandalia
Porterville Area Vietnam Memorial, a War Memorial
Tule River Indian Reservation

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