Best gunfighter.

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I did a little more checking on this story. There was an inquest the next day, bodies buried, and reports filed. Later the story was questioned and verified to be true. The Capt was a man of high reputation, was modest and did not seek or gain anything. I also read that he already had a reputation as a gunfighter and swordsman. There a few accoints of this story so it appears to be true. More so than of some of the more popular stories.
 
Most historians will call John Wesley Hardin the best, or worst, (depends on your point of view of course) of the old west gunfighters. Earp and Masterson were more well known, but only because of the penny dreadful novels of the day.
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Cousin Wes was good with a gun, no doubt about that. In his autobiograhpy, he claimed to have backed down Hickock while Hickock was marshall of Abilene. At the time Abilene had a city ordinance against carrying guns. Hickock told Hardin to give him his guns. Hardin took them out and handed them to Hickock butt first but did what he called a "border roll" and got the drop on Hickock. Some say that incident didn't happen but it was a fact that Hickock let Hardin keep his guns and even became friends with Hardin.

The general consensus is that Hardin killed around 40 men. The family can overlook that minor character flaw of killing 40 men but toward the end of his life he did something that we just can't forgive. He went too far. It was beyond the pale. He became a lawyer!!!
 
gunfighter as in pistols like draw at high noon or deadliest with their respective firearm? Simo Hayha was a beast but everyone knows of that fellow, same with Zaitsev and the soviet female snipers.
 
Porter Rockwell and Tom ThreePersons probably would fall in this group somewhere.
I have read accounts that certainly put them into the prolific catagory.Perry Owens from AZ knew his way around a gunfight as well.
 
Hardin doesn't count. Good guys not back shooters and murders.
 
Hardin doesn't count. Good guys not back shooters and murders.
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I won't say Cousin Wes was a good person. But I don't believe the original post was looking for good people but people who were good with guns. So far as I know he didn't shoot people in the back. He didn't have to. In fact, one time someone shot him in the back, then he turned around and killed the fellow that shot him.

A deputy sheriff once tried to arrest Hardin. Hardin gave him his gun. Then the deputy said, "Now, I am going to kill you!" But Hardin was able to draw another gun and kill the deputy. That was what Hardin was eventually sent to prison for.

Hardin was killed in El Paso in 1895. John Selman, Sr. shot him in the back of the head in the Acme Saloon. Selman claimed he shot him in the eye and the bullet came out the back of his head. A local newpaper at the time said if he shot him in the eye, it was good marksmanship. If he shot him in the back it was good judgement.
 
gunfighter as in pistols like draw at high noon
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The Hollywood version of the gunfight rarely happened. In fact the fast draw holster is a Hollywood invention. And the so called gunman's walk. Most gunfights took place when the two (or more) protaganists unexpectedly met each other and started grabbing guns. Or else one ambushed the other.

A rare exception to this was the Jim Courtright/Luke Short fight. They met in the street and essentially drew on signal. I don't remember right now who won the fight, but the winner shot the other one's thumb off with his first shot (I am sure not deliberately). The loser then tried to switch his gun to his other hand (single action revolver) but the winner was able to kill him with his second shot.
 
He was from South Carolina (according to the errornet), so California hasn't changed much, unfortunately. We still have a big problem with bands of murderers; usually called gangs now.
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:DHehehehe. Sorry, I'm not laughing at your situation, just your matter-of-fact way of putting it.
 
Some of these stories can be read in a fair amount of detail in Paul Kirchner's books Deadliest Men, and More of the Deadliest Men who ever lived.
I believe the encounter the OP describes is in Kirchner's second book, as is the story of John Wesley Hardin.
Lance Thomas appears in the first book, as do Ned Christie and Sergeant York.
Absent from either are a legendary lawman named Bass Reeves and Cirillo, with whom Kirchner was apparently friends.
Worth mentioning are Ty Cobb(!) and a sheriff named Tom Allen, who had the distinction of never having to kill a man while dispensing justice, and never suffering any serious injury.
 
Simo Hayha. He was a Finnish sniper with over 700 Soviet kills to his name. He had a confirmed 505 kills with an iron-sight Mosin Nagant and an additional 200 plus with a 9mm Suomi. He did all that in about 100 days that had very limited daylight hours. He averaged 7 kills a DAY. He performed all these kills in -20 to -40 degree weather, often packing snow into his mouth to prevent his position from being given away by his breath vapors. The Soviets launched several attempts to kill him with counter-snipers and artillery, and eventually managed to shoot him in the face in an ambush. He survived and recovered from his wound. He died in 2002 at the age of 96. I'm sorry if some people don't want to accept a sniper as a gunfighter, but his 200+ additional kills with a 9mm SMG should qualify him above and beyond that.

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hayha.html
 
Hayha's numbers are impressive but he was fighting in what was probably one of the most target rich environments in modern times.
He no doubt had the key components to being a top notch gunfighter and proved it.
Willing to pull the trigger, accuracy, stealth, nerves of steel and a cold heart. He also was a Patriot and that kind of passion can drive a human to amazing levels.
 
IMHO none of those guys did anything near what Capt Davis did considering the odds and in self defence in single civilian fights. A important fact is his party was ambushed and at a disavantage. Also the event is not colored by dubious morality and ethics on his part. Capt Davis wasn't looking for trouble or gunning men down in ambush and was a Civilian at the time from what I gather. Military fights are a whole different thing and as posted before several known cases denote even greater deeds of skill and valor. Like all the men on the Texas side at the Alamo, Sargent York, Audie Murphy and countless others whose stories are not as well known. Now if Cirillo or others mentioned had been jumped by over a dozen armed men at close range and killed most of them in one fight you'd have something to talk about. Maybe he could have, maybe any number of guys could have, but one guy did.
But I do enjoy hearing about other candiates. I would think Hickock would come to mind.
 
It was not uncommon for men to carry 4 or more revolvers back then bc of the difficulty of reloading. Especially people that had reason to be concerned for their.health
 
fallout mike said:
It was not uncommon for men to carry 4 or more revolvers back then bc of the difficulty of reloading. Especially people that had reason to be concerned for their.health
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As I understand it, after about three or four cylinders' worth of shooting a black powder revolver, they were pretty badly fouled.
So I surmise that "multiple" revolvers were carried not just for an "instant reload" but because they dirtied up rather quickly.
 
In in the early '80s I had the privilege of shaking the hand of Capt. Chuck Johnston, who had recently defeated a column of Israeli Tanks with a M1911A1 Pistol, .45 Caliber.

That ranks pretty high in my book.

But the most impressive modern day pistolero, though he was not one of the good guys, had to be Larry Davis, who shot six NYPD officers and escaped when they raided his apartment (he was aquitted on those charges, as the court found that they were coming in to kill him).
 
Not interested in criminals like Larry Davis. But I did look up Capt Chuck Johnson. Amazing bravery. I like that guy. Good to know.
 
Not interested in criminals like Larry Davis. But I did look up Capt Chuck Johnson. Amazing bravery. I like that guy. Good to know.
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A fine officer,an outstanding Marine. One of the truly good guys.

Scuttlebutt has it that he was forced into an early retirement due to the Reagan Administrations desire to down-play the conflicts between the USMC and the IDF in that theater.
 
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