14 Facts About Frank Eaton

Frank Boardman "Pistol Pete" Eaton was a scout, sheriff, and cowboy.

When Frank Eaton was eight years old, his father, an abolitionist, was shot in cold blood by six former Confederates, who during the war had served with the Quantrill Raiders.

At the age of fifteen, before setting off to avenge his father's death, Frank Eaton said he visited Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, a cavalry fort, to learn more about how to handle a gun.

Frank Eaton was said to have been given a cross by a girlfriend, which he wore around his neck and which saved his life when it deflected a bullet during a gunfight.

Frank Eaton would write later that, "I'd rather have the prayers of a good woman in a fight than half a dozen hot guns: she's talking to Headquarters".

Frank Eaton settled southwest of Perkins, Oklahoma, where he served as sheriff and later became a blacksmith.

Frank Eaton was married twice, had nine children, 31 grandchildren, and lived to see three great-great-grandchildren.

Frank Eaton died on April 8,1958, at the age of 97.

The common saying in the mid-western United States, "hotter than Pete's pistol", traces back to Frank Eaton's shooting skills, along with his legendary pursuit of his father's killers.

Frank Eaton wrote two books that exemplify the life of a veteran of the Old West.

Frank Eaton's first, was an autobiography titled Veteran of the Old West: Pistol Pete, which tells a tale of his life as a Deputy United States Marshal and cowboy.

Campfire Stories is a collection of yarns and recollections that Frank Eaton would tell to the many visitors that came to sit on his front porch in Perkins, Oklahoma.

In February 2025, Frank Eaton was inducted into the Oklahoma State University Hall of Fame.

Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton in the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza in Perkins, Oklahoma is a 12' sculpture by Oklahoma artist Wayne Cooper.