The Myth of Old West Gun Violence

Lots of opins, very little links to support facts. Course none of us were there.

Personnally I doubt gundowder and lead or cartridges were in very short supply, only have to look at what was used during the war between the states and even up to WW1. But this is only my opinion, but hey we do know there was alot of shooting during the Civil War & WW1, thats a known fact. So was ammo commonly available, and inexpensive? Probably.

Snowy

The man who wrote the biography of Wyatt Earp did extensive research to prove and verify what Wyatt said, and it is the truth. The Earp brothers were considered by almost everyone (including many cowboys and outlaws) to be honest and fair lawmen.

How bout some info on this biography, name, authur, date published ect. Not disagreeing with you, but this why I said lots of opins, no facts to back up their claims.

How bout some info on this biography, name, authur, date published ect. Not disagreeing with you, but this why I said lots of opins, no facts to back up their claims.

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As I already said in my first post; the name of the book is "Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal". The author is Stuart Lake.

My first post in this thread was #40.

OK now we have something to research, thanks.

BTW post #40 did not give the authur.

Did a quick google on the books title and authur and man there's some good reading available.

Thanks again trickshot

The vendeta ride as it has been called was no more than wholesale murder on the part of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp

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Often times in the old west, lawmen were scattered so far and wide that the only justice a man could hope for was what he enforced himself. I always figured Earp's killing of the cowboys had a lot to do with revenge. After all, one brother was killed and another was ambushed and crippled for life.
But, as has been said, we weren't there. The fact is that history is written by the victors, and it's unlikely they're gonna want to portray themselves in a bad light.
And yeah, the face off in the street rarely happened. It did though.
Luke Short and Jim Courtright squared off and shot it out. It probably happened in extremely rare cases though.

For those who keep calling it "The war of Northern Aggression" I feel I must remind you. The South fired first!

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And even today, If you're uninvited and unwanted and on my property, I'm only going to demand that you leave just so many times before the lead starts flying. I'm just sayin.....

A dollar a day does not sound like much but it was really a dollar a day plus room and board so it was disposable income. A drover on arriving at the end of a cattle drive was probably the richest he ever was in his life since they got paid on arrival. They spent like sailors on leave after a long sail. If they wanted a gun they bought one and they could afford a nice one.

The man who wrote the biography of Wyatt Earp did extensive research to prove and verify what Wyatt said, and it is the truth. The Earp brothers were considered by almost everyone (including many cowboys and outlaws) to be honest and fair lawmen.

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Historians today do not consider Stuart Lake a historian and point out that his "research" is mostly tall tales.

The Earps may have been fair law men, but there is much written about the exploits of the Earps that may contradict the Honest and fair part.

I will say this, most likely these were oportunists and they played whatever cards that were dealt (no pun intended.

I have read much on the Earps, no I was not there either, but the dealings and such really suggest that they were oportunistic and took advantage of what they could.

We all want to go away with the idea that Wyatt Earp was a great guy.

Who really knows. Theuy did not have forensics back then to prove or disprove who shot what and from where.

In reading many bits and pieces of history, the Earps were not always painted as saints.

Hollywood has made a hero of them though.

Snowy

Many copies of Original news paper clips available online that give some insight into these things.

And even these may certainly be slanted.
The cowboys or whatever were all a bunch of drifters, thieves and riff raff that were certainly not above killing.

History tells many a story of the exploits of this bunch.

A real early form of mobsters.

Doc Holliday was a dentist turned gambler that did suffer from Tuberculosis and moved to the dry desert to try and find respit from his ailment.

He was an alcoholic and definately not the most savory of characters.

His Girl friend, Big Nose Kate was a real piece of work.

No saints in this bunch for sure.

I think after Wyatt hooked up with Josey and moved to LA in his later years, that he was pretty mild.

He was a news paper reporter if memory serves me. He died in 1929 and there were several silver screen actors at his funeral including Tom Mix (spelling??)

I do know this, that trying to turn the life and times of the Earps into a screenplay is/was a daunting task.

Now, I happen to know a distant relative of Wyatt Earp, his name is Grant Earp.

I believe Grant is related to one of the lesser known brothers, not sure. I asked him once and he did say that he was related for sure and NO BS here.

Great topic, love the old west.

Snowy

Lake based most of his "research" on apochryphal tales, anecdotes, and stories handed down for years. Not exactly true historical data.

I read his book and it was not very similar to the stories in the old "Tombstone Epitaph", copies of which were in the archives at Monmouth, Il, library.

GG Sez: "....I would wager that literacy was at 50% or less during the Revolutionary War....."

Bring your money GG !! Actually its a statistics game, IMO ! In the early 18th century only males were counted and most of them did get some schooling. The young "womenfolks" were kept busy learning a far more difficult task - keeping house on the frontier - where you made all of your staples, cleaning supplies, learned to treat wounds and make clothes out of available materials. IOW, women's work was endless, often exacting and vitally important.....

IMO and readings schools were very high on the wish list of all frontier settlements even prior to the revolultion. OTOH, deficiences in literacy weren't neccessarily indicative of a 'lack of larnin'' either. Ciphering, (as it was then called ) was deemed important, but not nearly so as being able to 'do sums' by many frontier communities. You could always get someone to read for you......

Still, if my current daily experience is any indicator, I suspect literacy, (and facility with math and a lot of other everyday science) was probably more prevalent in eras/areas where it often was the difference between living and dying, than in today's "hand it to me" world...... >MW