Walt Rauch
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2004
- Messages
- 126
Manyirons, the "Indian" that you disparage -Ira Hayes- happens to have been one of the Marines that raised the flag on Mount Surabatchi, on the island of Iwo Jima. (in World War II by the way.)
Wyatt Earp's views on gunfighting
- Thread starter Volkolak
- Start date
- Status
Ultima-Ratio
Member
Interesting Subject Gunfighters & Such-
I'm interested in more history on the man that supposedly sent over 200 souls onward and upward, he allegedly made Hickok and the rest look like beginners.
I read some olde newspaper account that actually used the term high capacity(probably the first time in media?) weapons when describing the mans guns. Hollywood only made one low budget flick about this gunfighters life and the powers that be in Salt Lake discourage public discourse about his many killings tho i beleve his statue still stands?
I'm interested in more history on the man that supposedly sent over 200 souls onward and upward, he allegedly made Hickok and the rest look like beginners.
I read some olde newspaper account that actually used the term high capacity(probably the first time in media?) weapons when describing the mans guns. Hollywood only made one low budget flick about this gunfighters life and the powers that be in Salt Lake discourage public discourse about his many killings tho i beleve his statue still stands?
oldwheat
Member
.....Actually it was under 100 & nobody that didn't need 'killin' 
...............................
...............................bluto
Member
Great reading Volkolak. Thanks.
I have to agree with packarat. Recent movie representations of the gunfight (especially Tombstone)) don't seem all that embellished. I just got back from Tombstone the week before last. The backstory to the shoot-out may or may not have to do with protecting rustling interests. But the incident itself has to do with threats to the Earps and carrying weapons on the streets of Tombstone. The shootout itself really is the stuff of legend.
A copy of the Tombstone Epitaph printed the day after the fight containing a description from eyewitnesses is available to all visitors. I have a copy in front of me. Testimony as to who drew first runs both ways depending upon whether the witness is a friend of the Clantons or the Earps.
This is a typical entry:
H.F. Sills (Locomotive Engineer on furlough and visiting Tombstone):
"On October 26, 1881, saw four or five men standing in front of O.K. Corral. They were talking of some trouble they had with Virgil Earp;made threats they would kill him on sight; someone of the party said they should kill the whole party of Earps. I made enquiries to know who Virgil Earp was; a man pointed out Virgil Earp as the town marshal; I called Mr. Earp to one side and told him of the threats I had heard; said one of the men in the party had a bandage around his head. A few minutes later I saw a party start from Fourth street; followed them as far as the post office; then saw the party I had heard making the threats. I saw the marshal and his party go up and speak to the other party; I saw them pull their revolvers immediately. The marshal had a cane in his right hand. He threw it up and spoke. By that time Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns; the marshal changed his cane to his other hand and pulled his revolver out. He seemed to be hit and fell down; got up and went to shooting. The shooting became general. I know it was Billy Clanton because I saw him after he was dead and recognized him as the one who fired at Wyatt Earp."
The opinion of Justice Wells Spicer in releasing the Earps is amazingly eloquent, even poetic, in a way that reinforces and sums up what is uniquely viewed as the "Code of the West":
"In view of the past history of the country, and the generally believed existence at this time of desperate, reckless and lawless men in our midst, banded together for mutual support, and living by felonious and predatory pursuits, regarding neither life or property in their career, and at this time for men to parade the streets armed with repeating rifles and six-shooters, and demand that the chief of police of the city and his assistants should be disarmed, is a proposition both monstrous and startling. This was said by one of the deceased only a few minutes before the arrival of the Earps.
Another fact that rises up pre-eminent in the consideration of this sad affair, is the leading fact that the deceased from the very first inception of the rencounter were standing their ground and fighting back, giving and taking death with unflinching bravery. It does not appear to have been a wanton slaughter of unresisting and unarmed innocents, who were yielding graceful submission to the officers of the law, or surrendering to, or fleeing from their assailants, but armed and defiant men, accepting the wager of battle and succumbing only in death."
Not all western frontier myth is puffery.
P.S. I wish Judge Spicer was still a sitting judge.
I have to agree with packarat. Recent movie representations of the gunfight (especially Tombstone)) don't seem all that embellished. I just got back from Tombstone the week before last. The backstory to the shoot-out may or may not have to do with protecting rustling interests. But the incident itself has to do with threats to the Earps and carrying weapons on the streets of Tombstone. The shootout itself really is the stuff of legend.
A copy of the Tombstone Epitaph printed the day after the fight containing a description from eyewitnesses is available to all visitors. I have a copy in front of me. Testimony as to who drew first runs both ways depending upon whether the witness is a friend of the Clantons or the Earps.
This is a typical entry:
H.F. Sills (Locomotive Engineer on furlough and visiting Tombstone):
"On October 26, 1881, saw four or five men standing in front of O.K. Corral. They were talking of some trouble they had with Virgil Earp;made threats they would kill him on sight; someone of the party said they should kill the whole party of Earps. I made enquiries to know who Virgil Earp was; a man pointed out Virgil Earp as the town marshal; I called Mr. Earp to one side and told him of the threats I had heard; said one of the men in the party had a bandage around his head. A few minutes later I saw a party start from Fourth street; followed them as far as the post office; then saw the party I had heard making the threats. I saw the marshal and his party go up and speak to the other party; I saw them pull their revolvers immediately. The marshal had a cane in his right hand. He threw it up and spoke. By that time Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns; the marshal changed his cane to his other hand and pulled his revolver out. He seemed to be hit and fell down; got up and went to shooting. The shooting became general. I know it was Billy Clanton because I saw him after he was dead and recognized him as the one who fired at Wyatt Earp."
The opinion of Justice Wells Spicer in releasing the Earps is amazingly eloquent, even poetic, in a way that reinforces and sums up what is uniquely viewed as the "Code of the West":
"In view of the past history of the country, and the generally believed existence at this time of desperate, reckless and lawless men in our midst, banded together for mutual support, and living by felonious and predatory pursuits, regarding neither life or property in their career, and at this time for men to parade the streets armed with repeating rifles and six-shooters, and demand that the chief of police of the city and his assistants should be disarmed, is a proposition both monstrous and startling. This was said by one of the deceased only a few minutes before the arrival of the Earps.
Another fact that rises up pre-eminent in the consideration of this sad affair, is the leading fact that the deceased from the very first inception of the rencounter were standing their ground and fighting back, giving and taking death with unflinching bravery. It does not appear to have been a wanton slaughter of unresisting and unarmed innocents, who were yielding graceful submission to the officers of the law, or surrendering to, or fleeing from their assailants, but armed and defiant men, accepting the wager of battle and succumbing only in death."
Not all western frontier myth is puffery.
P.S. I wish Judge Spicer was still a sitting judge.
- Status
