Hank Vaughan, Infamous Outlaw, Led Gang in Chinese Massacre During Oregon Gold Rush
Hank Vaughan, a notorious outlaw and gunfighter of the American West, was part of a gang responsible for the Chinese Massacre in May 1887. This gang, led by Bruce Evans and including J.T. Canfield, C.O. LaRue, Carl Hughes, Hiram Maynard, and Robert McMillan, robbed, murdered, and mutilated between 10 and 34 Chinese employees of the Sam Yup Company along the Snake River in Wallowa County, Oregon. The motive was gold, with estimates of the stolen value ranging from $4,000 to $50,000. J.T. Canfield, entrusted with the gold dust, double-crossed the rest of the gang and fled the county. Vaughan, born in 1849 in the Willamette River Valley, had a troubled past, including an early shooting incident at age 15 and an eight-year sentence in the Oregon State Penitentiary for horse theft, where he learned various trades and how to read and write before being pardoned. 
