In the vast, rugged expanse of Humboldt County, Nevada, a life that had straddled both sides of the law came to a violent end on November 8, 1908. William Larkin Stiles, a 37-year-old White/Caucasian man with a past as an outlaw and a present as a lawman, was shot and killed while in the service of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. At the time of his death, he was serving as a deputy sheriff under the name William Larkin.
On that fateful Sunday, Stiles, who had once ridden with the
notorious Burt Alvord gang robbing trains in Arizona, was on official business. He had been tasked with serving civil papers at a remote ranch located approximately 90 miles northwest of Winnemucca. As he walked from the ranch house toward the barn, the quiet of the afternoon was shattered by the report of a gun. Stiles was struck three times and fell to the ground, mortally wounded. In his final moments, he managed to draw his own revolver and fire a single shot at his assailant, but the bullet missed its mark.
The man who opened fire on Deputy Sheriff Stiles was identified as Charles "Charlie" Barr, a vaquero who worked at the ranch. The motive for the killing was believed to be revenge. Barr was reportedly an associate of a desperado named Jim Taylor, who had been killed by law enforcement earlier that year. It was said that Barr had sworn vengeance against those involved in Taylor's demise, and Stiles, who had worked as a detective on the case, was his first target. An eyewitness to the shooting, the ranch foreman, reported that after shooting Stiles, Barr went into the ranch house and confiscated all the firearms before taking the best saddle horse and fleeing.
In the aftermath of the shooting, a suspect was apprehended and charged with the murder of Deputy Sheriff William Larkin Stiles. Despite the eyewitness account and the purported motive, the legal proceedings took an unexpected turn. At the conclusion of the trial, the man accused of killing Stiles was acquitted of the crime. William Larkin Stiles, a man who had lived a life of both crime and law enforcement, was reportedly laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the Old Pioneer Cemetery in Winnemucca, his violent death a final, brutal chapter in a life lived on the edge of the American frontier.
