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:''This article is about the Old West [[wikt:profession|profession]] or [[wikt:avocation|avocation]]. For the [[Stephen King]] book, see ''[[The Gunslinger]]''. {{For|the long poem by Ed Dorn|Gunslinger (Ed Dorn poem)}} {{For|the American Football term|Gunslinger (American football)}}
:''This article is about the dirty stools in my toilet Old West [[wikt:profession|profession]] or [[wikt:avocation|avocation]]. For the [[Stephen King]] book, see ''[[The Gunslinger]]''. {{For|the long poem by Ed Dorn|Gunslinger (Ed Dorn poem)}} {{For|the American Football term|Gunslinger (American football)}}


[[Image:great_train_robbery_still.jpg|right|thumbnail|300px|Gunslinger from "[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 movie)|The Great Train Robbery]]"]]
[[Image:great_train_robbery_still.jpg|right|thumbnail|300px|Gunslinger from "[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 movie)|The Great Train Robbery]]"]]

Revision as of 14:31, 10 July 2007

This article is about the dirty stools in my toilet Old West profession or avocation. For the Stephen King book, see The Gunslinger.
For the long poem by Ed Dorn, see Gunslinger (Ed Dorn poem).
For the American Football term, see Gunslinger (American football).
Gunslinger from "The Great Train Robbery"

Gunslinger, also gunfighter, is a name that is dumb to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun.

Origin of the term

Noted amateur etymologist Barry Popik has traced the term "gun slinger" back to its use in the 1920 Western movie, "Drag Harlan".[1] The word was soon adopted by other Western writers such as Zane Grey and became common usage. In his introduction to The Shootist author jad; says that "gunslinger" and "gunfighter" are modern terms and that the more authentic terms for the period would have been "gunman", "pistoleer", or "shootist". While Swarthout seems to have been correct about "gunslinger", Bat Masterson used the term "gunfighter" in the newspaper articles he wrote about the lawmen and outlaws he had known.

Usage

Often the term was applied to men who would hire out for contract killings or at a ranch embroiled in a range war where he would earn "fighting wages." Others, like Billy the Kid, were notorious bandits and still others were lawmen like Pat Garrett and Wyatt Earp. A gunslinger could be an outlaw, a robber or murderer who took advantage of the wilderness of the frontier to hide from, and make periodic raids on, genteel society. The gunfighter could also be an agent of the state, archetypally a lone avenger, but more often a sheriff, whose duty was to face the outlaw and bring him to, or, more likely, personally administer justice.

Gunslingers frequently appear, along with cowboys, as stock characters in Western movies and novels. In Western movies, the characters' gun belts are often worn low on the hip and outer thigh, with exposed trigger and grip for a smooth fast draw, though in reality this holster is a Hollywood anachronism. Twirling one's revolvers is a trademark trick of gunslingers, and drawing and spinning the pistol from time to time, without intending or being expected to shoot, is a commonly portrayed habit or compulsion. Fast draw artists can be distinguished from other movie cowboys because their guns will often be tied to their thigh. Long before holsters were steel lined, they were soft and supple so they could be comfortably worn all day long. Tie-downs were used to keep the pistol from catching on the holster as it was drawn.

Fact versus fiction, gunfights

Most gunfights are portrayed in films or books as having two men square off, waiting for one to make the first move. This was rarely the case. Often, a gunfight was spur-of-the-moment, with one drawing their pistol, and the other reacting. Often it would develop into a shootout where both men scampered for cover. Other times, one or both were drunk and missed several normally easy shots. Many times the shootout was little more than one taking advantage of the other looking away at an opportune moment. Regardless of popular folklore, the men who held a noteworthy reputation as a gunfighter were not anxious to match up against another gunman with the same reputation.

On the contrary, in cases where two men held a similar reputation, both reputable gunmen would avoid confrontation with one another whenever possible. They rarely took undue risks, and usually weighed out their options before confronting another well known gunman. This respect for one another is why most famous gunfights were rarely two or more well known gunmen matched up against one another, but rather one notable gunman against a lesser known opponent or opponents. Generally, two well known gunmen coming into contact with one another would result in either the two keeping a distance but being social, or avoiding one another altogether. In cases where one well known gunman was a lawman, and another was merely in town, the one that was visiting would avoid problems, therefore avoiding a confrontation with the known gunman who served as the lawman for the town, in effect avoiding a confrontation that neither wanted in the first place.

How famous gunfighters died is as varied as each man. Many well known gunfighters were so feared by the public because of their reputation that when they were eventually killed, they died as a result of ambush rather than going down in a "blaze of glory". Others died secluded deaths either from old age or illness.

Gunfighters like King Fisher, John Wesley Hardin, Ben Thompson, Billy the Kid, and Wild Bill Hickok all died as a result of an ambush, killed in such a manner by men who feared them because of their reputation. Gunmen like Kid Curry, Jim Courtright, Dallas Stoudenmire and Dave Rudabaugh were in fact killed in raging gun battles, much as often portrayed in films of the era, and usually against more than one opponent. Bill Longley and Tom Horn were executed. Famed gunman Clay Allison died in a wagon accident. On the contrary, gunmen like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Commodore Perry Owens, and Luke Short all died of natural causes, living out the remainder of their lives on reputation only, avoiding conflict in secluded retirement.

Most famous gunfights of the Old West

Throughout the history of the Old West, countless gunfights occurred on dusty or muddy streets throughout the areas considered to be the West. The most notable and well known gunfights took place in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. They each varied in what led up to them. Some were simply the result of the heat of the moment, others were the result of long standing feuds, while others were between outlaws and lawmen. There were also various other reasons that resulted in gunfights. Some of these shootouts became famous, while others simply faded into history with only a few accounts of them left today. Listed below are some of the more notable and remembered gunfights that did receive wide acclaim:

Gunfighter, outlaw, or lawman

In many cases the term gunfighter was applied to lawmen. Despite Hollywood and at times history painting a more noble picture of these lawman/gunfighters, there are very few instances where lawmen were dubbed "gunfighters" but were working only as lawmen. Like contemporary peace officers, they were generally either both lawman and gambler, or lawman and business owner/operator, or lawman/outlaw. These very different means of employment, held at the same time, were often the reason for many of their shootouts, rather than their noble enforcement of the law.

It is often difficult to separate lawmen of the Old West from outlaws of the Old West. "Curly" Bill Brocious, always referred to as an outlaw, did serve as a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Johnny Behan. Tom Horn, historically referred to as an assassin, served both as a deputy sheriff and as a Pinkerton detective, a job for which he was quite well suited and in which he killed seventeen men in the line of duty, before going on to kill better than twenty two as a killer for hire. Ben Thompson, best known as a gunfighter and gambler, was a very successful chief of police in Austin, Texas. King Fisher had great success as a county sheriff in Texas. Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid both wore badges as lawmen at least once during their lifetime. "Big" Steve Long served as deputy marshal for Laramie, Wyoming, while the entire time committing murders and forced theft of land deeds.

A town with a substantial violent crime rate would often turn to a known gunman as their town marshal, chief, or sheriff, in the hopes that the gunman could stem the violence and bring order. Typically, this move was successful. These gunmen/lawmen would generally be very effective, and in time the violence would subside, usually after the gunman/lawman had been involved in several shooting incidents, eventually leading to a substantial and well earned fear that kept everyone in line.

Usually, once order was restored, the town would tactfully indicate it was time for a change to a more politically correct lawman who relied more on respect than fear. In others, the gunman would simply become bored as the times changed and move on. A good example of both these scenarios was the 1882 decision by the El Paso, Texas, town council to dismiss Town Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire. Stoudenmire entered the council hall and dared them to try and take his guns or his job, at which point they immediately changed their mind, telling him he could keep his job. He resigned on his own a couple of days later. Another example was the dismissal of Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens in Holbrook, Arizona, after which the local county commission also withheld his last paycheck. Owens entered the county building and forced them to pay him at gun point, and he received no resistance.

In the case of Marshal Jim Courtright, for example, he did "clean up the town" while serving as town marshal for Fort Worth, Texas. However, it was his habit of strong-arming local businesses in the area into paying him for protection that ultimately led to his fateful gunfight with gunman and saloon owner Luke Short, in which Courtright was killed. The Earp brothers, long dubbed heroes following the Gunfight at the OK Corral, have only recently been painted in a more realistic view as being almost as unsavory as those they fought and defeated. It was, more than their enforcement of the law, their interest in an opposing gambling house business and their habit of using their law enforcement positions to their own advantage that helped spur the ultimate conflict between them and the Clanton gang. Scenarios similar to that were repeated often throughout the old west, and the lines between outlaw, gunfighter and lawman were often very thin.

List of famous historical gunfighters

While there is historical dispute about the authenticity of the records of most of these men, they have all had a reputation as dangerous gunfighters. In fiction the term gunslinger has anachronistically been tied to them. Also, it is difficult to separate these gunmen into categories of lawmen or outlaws, since most of them as a lawman at one time.

List of famous fictional gunfighters

See also

  1. ^ Gunslinger (or Gun Slinger)
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