Dallas Stoudenmire: city marshal, notorious gunfighter for his speed and precision, and allegedly gunned down “four men in five seconds”.Notable/notorious wild west members were: Early in EPPD history, the city marshal was often the “worst of the worse”, due to the necessity of the city marshal having to always display a 'rough' reputation so they would not be challenged by the “bad guys”. This exaggeration was intended for the benefit of the folks back east, those not adventurous enough to “tame the west”. The newspaper stories of the late 1800’s were very colorful and often contained considerable exaggeration which makes it hard to tell fact from fiction. At that time El Paso was on the “edge” in the westward movement and violent. These marshals (most former Texas Rangers) were chosen for their ability to control the rough persons attracted to the 'untamed' west. EPPD has been in existence since the late 1800’s and was formally “established” in 1884 led by rapidly-rotating city marshals.
The El Paso Police Department's history relates to and intertwines with more popular 'old-west' history due to its over 120 year history.
