(Chapter 5 Opener) Number 138813 from a matched pair of Model 1851 Navy Colt revolvers, the backstrap inscribed: J. B. Hickock, 1869. Two full-standing portrait photographs of Hickok, in which he is armed with Navy Colts, the butts thrust forward for quick access, have been identified. This prized icon of the West’s premier gunfighter is displayed by the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum.
The Civil War serves as a ragged dividing line between muzzle-loading arms and the acceleration of advancements in firearms design and ammunition that occurred during and after the conflict. For enthusiasts of the craftsmanship, mechanics, history, and romance of arms, the remaining years of the nineteenth century were the Golden Age of American gunmaking.
These years coincide with the rapid settling of the West. Even during the distractions of the Civil War, migration continued—drawn by the lure of gold and silver strikes. Wagon trains were as long as 1,200 wagons, facing the largely unknown wilderness with guns at the ready and nerves on edge. At war’s end the migration increased dramatically, from both North and South, and was swelled by immigrants from Europe. Federal legislation, notably the Homestead Act of 1862, encouraged the common man to move west, claim a tract of land of up to 160 acres, and own the land after five years, if he made particular improvements and met other reasonable conditions. Special benefits were allowed for Civil War veterans, whose years of military service could be counted against the five-year residency requirement.
The Great Plains beckoned as the last great frontier, and were settled principally in the 1870s and 1880s. That period saw the largest populations of pioneers moving west. At first harboring a vast cattle industry, later the range was substantially replaced by farming. Completion of the transcontinental railroad joined the nation together through the Iron Horse. Improved transportation furthered the Army’s strategy of destroying the vast buffalo herds and weakening the hostile Indian tribes. Barbed-wire fences and changes in the beef industry (including elimination of the long trail drives from Texas) left farmers gradually dominant over ranchers. Droughts, grasshopper plagues, depressions, devastating winters, and range wars, as well as rampaging Indians, outlaws, slick gamblers, gunfighters, and prostitutes, were all components in the taming of the West. Almost to a man (and woman), firearms continued to play a central role.
Hickok expert Joseph G. Rosa dates this famed portrait at c. 1873–74, while Hickok was touring with Buffalo Bill’s Combination theatrical group. The buckskin outfit therefore would be a stage costume. Libbie Custer described Wild Bill: “Physically, he was a delight to look upon. Tall, lithe and free in every motion, he rode and walked as if every muscle was perfection…. He was rather fantastically clad, of course, but all that seemed perfectly in keeping with the time and place. He did not make an armoury of his waist, but carried two pistols. He wore top-boots, riding breeches, and dark blue flannel shirt, with scarlet set-in front. A loose neck-handkerchief left his fine, firm throat free.”
Colts fitted with ivory grips. From top left, .31-caliber Baby Dragoon, Model 1855 Sidehammer, and 1849 Pocket; .36 Model 1862 Pocket Navy and 1862 Police. From top right, 7 1/2-inch-barrel .36 Model 1851 Navy, 1861 Navy; 8-inch-barrel .44 percussion Model 1860 Army, .44 metallic-cartridge Richards conversion, and .44 Model 1860 Army Thuer conversion.
Gunfighters,* gamblers, and outlaws—men of daring, chance, and fate—plied their trades in the era of the six-gun, which lasted from after the Civil War until the early twentieth century. Expertise with firearms was a matter of survival. The preference in handguns was the Colt, and in longarms the Winchester.
Following the Civil War, the muzzle-loading Colts maintained a steady popularity, even as late as the 1870s. John Wesley Hardin’s capture by Texas Rangers in 1877 showed he still had a percussion revolver: “[One of the Rangers asked:] ‘Have you taken his pistol?’ They replied no, that I had no gun. Jack Duncan said, ‘That’s too thin’ [i.e., “I don’t believe it”], and ran his hand between my over and undershirt, pulling out a .44 Colt’s cap-and-ball six-shooter, remarking to the others, ‘What did I tell you.’”
The full array of Civil War and prewar-era arms remained in vogue, partly because of availability, partly because of their merit, and partly because shooters were used to these guns and comfortable with their operation. Further, paper cartridges and loose powder, balls, and caps were commonly purchasable throughout the West. The percussions also offered greater power and punch than most early metallic-cartridge guns.
Smaller-framed arms began the inroads on percussion handguns, and some, like the Sharps .22 and .32 pepperboxes, would reach a total in excess of 140,000 by the inventor’s death in 1874. Remington’s pepperboxes, the Marston multibarrel, and the Reid “My Friend” knuckleduster also had large markets. These arms, and the myriad of deringers, were hardy backups for men who relied mainly on bigger handguns, and for hideaways in the city where only small pistols might be carriable.
Prostitutes with deringers were described by journalist Henry M. Stanley, in Julesburg, Colorado (1867): “These women are expensive articles, and come in for a large share of the money wasted. In broad daylight they may be seen gliding through the sandy streets in Black Crook dresses, carrying fancy derringers slung to their waists, with which tools they are dangerously expert.”
Large-frame percussion revolvers, with competitor Colt Third Model Dragoon cased set (top center), Blunt & Syms trade label in lid. From top left (all .44s unless indicated otherwise): Joslyn, Massachusetts Arms Co., Wesson and Leavitt patent .40 caliber, North and Savage .36 “Figure Eight,” and Rogers and Spencer. Beneath Dragoon Colt, a Savage .36, Freeman, and Butterfield .41. From top right, Pettingill, Starr single-action, Allen and Wheelock, and Starr double action.
Miscellaneous percussion revolvers, the Navys in .36 and all but one of the Pockets in .36 caliber. From top left, Allen & Wheelock Navy and Pocket; Springfield Arms Co. Navy and .28 Pocket; Cooper Navy and Pocket. From top right, Colt Model 1849 Pocket, cased set; close copies of Colts, the Manhattan Navy and Pocket; the Alsop Navy and Pocket. All but Colt and Manhattans made in limited numbers.
More percussion revolvers, the Navys in .36 caliber, the Pockets in .31. From top left, Colt Model 1851 Navy, cased set; Whitney Navy and Pocket; Massachusetts Arms Co., Adams Patent, Navy and Pocket. From top right, Navy and Pocket by Union Arms Co., Walsh (twelve- and ten-shot), and Remington.
Some communities issued licenses for prostitution. While price for “services” of whore was about $2, her license per month, in Tombstone, 1894, was only $7. Portrait of lady by C. S. Fly, by whose gallery “Gunfight at the O. K. Corral” took place. Petite pistols, all in .22 caliber, by (from left) Stafford (above) and Frank Wesson “Watch Fob” model (below), Remington Vest Pocket (with etched frame), and Marlin.
Some favorites of soiled doves and madams. From left, Remington .30 rimfire Vest Pocket deringer, National and Remington-Elliott deringers, both in .41 rimfire. Finishes in gold and silver plating, and grips of mother-of-pearl.
Deringers were even carried by two who dared to try capturing John Wesley Hardin (Texas, 1869): “When they came, I covered them with a double barreled shotgun and told them their lives depended on their actions, and unless they obeyed my orders to the letter, I would shoot first one and then the other.” Both men put down their arms: “One had a double-barreled gun and two six-shooters; the other had a rifle and two derringers. They complied with my request under the potent persuasion of my gun levelled first on one and then the other.”
The growing popularity of the .22 and .32 cartridge revolvers, like the S&Ws, is evident in the recollection of William Dixon, in Leavenworth (1866): “All our acquaintance in this city urge us to get more and better arms; a suggestion in which the mail-agents cordially agree. The new arm of the West, called a Smith-and-Weston [sic], is a pretty tool; as neat a machine for throwing slugs into a man’s flesh as an artist in murder could desire to see.” He added: “We buy a couple of these Smith-and-Westons, and then pay our fare of five hundred dollars to Salt Lake [by stagecoach].”
Fancy deringers by Schlotterbeck, San Francisco, the walnut stocks intricately inlaid and pinned in silver; mounts of silver; major steel parts (other than barrels) extensively gold-inlaid and engraved. One pistol inscribed John B. Felton/A Mme/H. De Laurencel/Octobre 1860. The other inscribed Charles Mayne/A Mme/H. De Laurencel/Octobre 1860. Lady was likely madam of a bordello. Overall length of each pistol 5 1/16 inches.
Brothel billy club—15 inches long, and once weighted with lead—believed carved by admiring sheriff; has names of five whores. Push dagger popular with gamblers, also useful for whores. Saloon tokens traded for beverages and services. Bawdy-house cheque, from Georgetown, Colorado; cast in lead and gold-washed. Whore’s card believed from El Paso. Hideaway gun a British Bull Dog, five-shot 38.
Although pocket protectors had a brisk sale, the preferred holster arm for serious shooters was the large-frame revolver. Conversions from percussion had a ready market, and were turned out in largest quantities by Remington. In many Remington arms the user could fire either a percussion cylinder or an interchangeable metallic cartridge, made under license from S&W.
Colt’s Thuer conversion—a front-loader to circumvent the S&W patent rights—was not a popular frontier item, though that too permitted interchanging percussion and cartridge cylinders. The .44 Richards and Richards-Mason conversions had good markets, and quantities into the thousands (even military sales), followed by the Open Top Frontier .44, immediate predecessor to the serious revolver shooter’s favorite, the Single Action Army .45 Peacemaker. For design and performance, and line and form, no more practical and sculpturally handsome a Colt has ever been devised. The starring role the Single Action has played in film and TV Westerns is a fitting tribute to the actual role of this six-shot equalizer in the winning of the West. Then and now, the Colt Single Action has been the handgun of choice.
Made in barrel lengths from 2 1/2 to 16 inches and in calibers from .22 rimfire to .476 Eley, the Single-Action set the standard against which all others were measured. Every class or type of no-nonsense gun-toter in the West had a Single Action Colt—if he did not, the Colt was usually his wished-for sidearm.
Competing against the Colt S.A.A. were the Remington Single Action Model 1875 and Model 1890 and the large-framed Smith & Wessons.
Impetus for S&W came from czarist Russia, which ordered 20,000 American models, in .44 Russian caliber. These and other top-break revolvers had a following among some desperate characters. John Wesley Hardin used an Old Model .44 Russian in shooting Deputy Sheriff Charley Webb (1874, Comanche, Texas), and Jesse James is known to have used a Schofield S&W and the Model 1875 Remington.
The attention a gunfighter paid to his hardware is apparent from a series of letters from W. B. “Bat” Masterson to the Colt factory, ordering a total of eight Single Actions. On the Opera House Saloon letterhead, Dodge City, Kansas (July 24, 1885), Bat ordered
Remington double deringer and mother-of-pearl garter dagger, with bordello accessories. Porcelain-faced Elgin topless-cowgirl pocket watch inscribed on back “For the Good Times—D.” January 1879 Ford County (Kansas) Globe wrote up a “desperate fight … at the boarding house of Mrs. W., on ‘Tin Pot Alley,’ last Tuesday evening, between two of the most fascinating doves of the roost. When we heard the noise and looked out the front window, which commanded a view of the situation, it was a magnificent sight to see. Tufts of hair, calico, snuff and gravel flew like fir in a cat fight, and before we could distinguish how the battle waned a chunk of dislocated leg grazed our ear and a cheer from the small boys announced that a battle was lost and won. The crowd separated as the vanquished virgin was carried to her parlors by two ‘soups.’ A disjointed nose, two or three internal bruises, a chawed ear and a missing eye were the only scars we could see.”
Ideal for soiled dove self-defense: Smith & Wessons from top left, double action Second Model, Safety Hammerless, Hand Ejector, all .32s. Top right. .32 double action First Model, and below Wells Fargo & Co. stamp, the First Model Ladysmith, in .22 rimfire; D. B. Wesson himself designed this model, both delicate and attractive.
Rakish frontier dandy, proud of his plated Colt Peacemaker, hogleg, plowhandle, thumb-buster, equalizer, or six-shooter, to use several of the nicknames earned by the handgun over the years.
S&W Safety Hammerless revolver factory-engraved, its frame inscribed for owner; likely a gift from satisfied client. Reclining maiden cigar cutter removes tip in crotch. Container at lower right for condoms, some of which were made of animal intestines. To right of gentleman’s “glass label” pocket flask is rare deluxe silver pass from El Paso madams.
Impressive collection of decorated Colts, most of them Single Actions. From left, top to bottom: number 193765, .32-20, silver-plated; 16539, .44-40; 262020, .44-40, nickel-plated; 108284, .45, nickel. Second row: number 250227, .38, silver; 127877, silver; 334041, .45, nickel; 92085, Sheriff’s Model, .45, nickel. Third row: all finished in nickel plating and all .45s, numbers 136939, 331445, 121728, and 315667. Fourth row: also all in nickel, Open Top .44, 651; number 114, .45; 687 in scarce .44 rimfire; and 96846, .45. Approximately 3,000 factory-engraved Single Actions are believed made from 1873 to 1940.
Smith & Wesson .44 American Model, number 25274, owned by John Wesley Hardin, reportedly carried on right side, with grip forward, for twist draw. Documentation indicates use by Hardin in shoot-out with deputy sheriff Charley Webb, in Comanche, Texas, 1874.
First Single Action ordered by W. B. “Bat” Masterson directly from the Colt factory; serial 53684. Originally grips were mother-of-pearl, carved with Mexican eagle motif. Finished in silver plating; backstrap engraved W.B. MASTERSON. Deciding that shorter barrel was preferable, Bat had 7 1/2-inch original length chopped back to 5 inches.
Short-lived competitor to the Single Action Colt, Model 1875 Remingtons were made for only fourteen years, in total of about 25,000. Company tried again with Model 1890, of which only 2,000 were made, through 1894. This pair are among fanciest known, likely factory showpieces; numbers 502 and 509.
one of your nickle plated short 45. calibre revolvers [Single Action Army]. It is for my own use and for that reason I would like to have a little Extra pains taken with it. I am willing to pay Extra for Extra work. Make it very Easy on the trigger and have the front Sight a little higher and thicker than the ordinary pistol of this Kind. put on a gutta percha handle and send it as soon as possible, have the barrel about the same length that the ejecting rod is
Masterson’s total orders, over a period of years, came to one 7 1/2-inch, two 5 1/2-inch, and five 4 3/4-inch Single Actions, commonly in plated finishes; the first was a deluxe 7 1/2-inch, in silver plating, and engraved, inscribed, and with carved mother-of-pearl grips. In later years, as a sportswriter with a New York newspaper, the great Bat would meet many a New Yorker fascinated by his career in the West. From buffalo hunter to gambler and gunfighter to policeman, sheriff, and deputy U.S. Marshal, Bat Masterson enjoyed one of the more interesting of frontier careers.
Rifles and shotguns were least vital to gunfighters, gamblers, and outlaws, and of little use to madams and their whores. Since to these professionals guns were critical equipment, selection was directed toward the best that money could buy. Therefore Winchester and Sharps prevailed in rifles, and Parker and better-quality English doubles were preferred in shotguns. These latter tended to have shortened barrels. Richard Townshend, an 1869 arrival to Colorado, commented: “A shotgun’s not very handy at close quarters, unless it’s a sawed-off. For fighting in a bar-room, let me tell you, or on top of a stagecoach, they like to cut the barrels off a foot in front of the hammers, so the gun handles more like a pistol.”
For maneuverability, and as a complement to the revolver, carbines were a favored long gun for the gunfighter and outlaw. But these were usually carried as saddle guns (lawmen did likewise). In the late 1870s, with the increased availability of the .44-40, the concept of cartridges interchangeable between revolvers and longarms became popular.
As a gun and cartridge maker, and with its innovative designs, Winchester had a distinct advantage over its longarm competition until into the twentieth century. In 1874 it bought out rival Adirondack Arms Company (which made repeating rifles), and in 1888 it acquired Whitney and a significant share of rival Remington. A number of other firms, like Sharps, Ballard, Bullard, and Massachusetts Arms Company, had disappeared from the scene by the 1890s. The firearms industry continued in a state of flux, as the West itself changed.
One of orders from Masterson, sent directly to Colt’s, for Single Actions. Bat’s preference for 4 3/4-inch barrel is evident here; .45 was always his favorite caliber.
That gunfights and shoot-outs in the West were rare occasions is challenged by the statistic of some 20,000 men killed in gun battles from 1866 to 1900. The gunfighter, a.k.a. mankiller and shootist (the latter term also designated a marksman), was a product of his time, some hardened from Civil War service, and all hardened from the tough frontier.
An 1881 Kansas City Journal article described such men:
He may be found behind the bar in a Main Street saloon; he may be seen by an admiring audience doing the pedestal clog at a variety theater; his special forte may be driving a cab, or he may be behind the rosewood counters of a bank. If he has been here any great number of years, his “man” was probably a Pioneer, and died in the interest of “law and order”—at least so the legend runs. And no one dares dispute the verity of the legend, for behold the man who executed a violator of the law without waiting for the silly formalities of a judge and jury, mayhap now sits in a cushioned pew at an aristocratic church, and prays with a regularity, grace and precision only equalled by his unerring aim with a revolver, the great Western civilizer.
Facility with firearms, mainly the handgun, was paramount; but even more so were a steely reserve and calm under pressure. Adrenaline could cause the weak of spine a fatal case of nerves. Gunfighters were prepared to kill if necessary, and if one had a reputation as a mankiller, there were others whose intent it was to kill and assume that mantle on their own shoulders.
The Prince of Pistoleers had advice for would-be gunfighters. In 1865, Wild Bill Hickok, the first “fast gun,” stated: “Whenever you get into a row be sure and not shoot too quick. Take time. I’ve known many a feller slip up for shootin’ in a hurry.”
Contemporary illustration of gunfight between Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt, Springfield, Missouri, July 21, 1865. When asked if he held any remorse for killing Tutt, Hickok reportedly stated: “I had rather not have killed him, for I want ter settle down quiet here now. But thar’s been hard feeling between us a long while. I wanted ter keep out of that fight; but he tried to degrade me, and I couldn’t stand that, you know, for I am a fighting man, you know.”
Gunfighter-lawman-Indian fighter Dallas Stoudenmire’s Colt Model 1860 Army conversion hideout revolver, number 6904. Picked up in street after Stoudenmire was killed in El Paso shoot-out. Accompanied by photograph of his sister, which he carried.
Presentation Stevens-Lord target pistol, Nimschke-engraved and plated in nickel and gold. Meeting in Austin, Texas, 1879, Buffalo Bill Cody and renowned gunfighter-gambler-lawman Ben Thompson held a friendly shooting contest. Impressed with Thompson’s marksmanship, Cody ordered pistol made and sent it along. As reported in Austin Daily Statesman, December 10, 1879: “Yesterday morning Marshal Thompson received a very handsome present from Buffalo Bill. It is a … costly target pistol, manufactured by Stevens & Co., Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The mountings are of gold, handle beautifully tinted pearl, while the glittering steel barrel is most artistically and beautifully carved. It has engraved on the handle [BUFFALO BILL TO BEN THOMPSON] It is the only pistol of the kind in the city, and is a marvel of skilled workmanship.”
J. Braddell & Sons, Belfast, Ireland, double-barrel shotgun, carried by Ben Thompson when city marshal of Austin. Documentation from his aunt, when she presented gun to next-door neighbor Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Watch was a gift from Thompson to attorney Pendexter, in appreciation for defense in a shooting scrape. Thompson’s signature on register book of Hotel Menger, San Antonio.
John H. “Doc” Holliday’s Colt Single Action .45 revolver, number 11301. Documenting papers reveal nephew told by his Uncle Doc, on deathbed, that this had been his regular six-gun throughout exploits in the West, the “Shootout at the O.K. Corral” included. The dentist-gambler-saloonkeeper-gunfighter died of tuberculosis, at age thirty-five, 1887.
King Fisher, at left, gunfighter-lawman-rancher-rustler-saloonkeeper, killed in 1884 in wild San Antonio saloon gunfight, along with his friend Ben Thompson. The shoot-out avenged Thompson’s previous killing of a rival, and started when Thompson playfully stuck a revolver barrel into a saloonkeeper’s mouth, cocking the hammer! This led to a donnybrook, leaving Thompson dead with nine gunshot wounds, and Fisher dead with thirteen. Fisher’s friend Culp armed with S&W American.
Commodore Perry Owens, looking the part of the Wild West gunfighter. His rifle a Model 1875 trapdoor Springfield, Officers Model; the Colt Single Action is in unusual holster rig.
Buntline Specials, numbers 28802 (top) and 28819, both with 16-inch barrels and in .45 caliber. There is much controversy among historians and collectors on whether or not Wyatt Earp and Dodge City lawmen Charlie Bassett, Neal Brown, Bat Masterson, and Bill Tilghman were given wooden-shoulder-stocked long-barreled revolvers by dime-novel author and showman Ned Buntline. The debate pits experts like Lee Silva (pro-story) against William B. Shillingberg (against). Meantime, the Buntlines remain among the most prized variation of any Colt firearm.
Buckskin Frank Leslie’s custom-made silver-mounted belt, worn by unidentified figure in Tombstone photograph. Well-armed party sported two six-shooters and regal California knife, all appearing to have ivory handles.
Johnny Ringo’s Single Action Colt, number 222. Ringo was reportedly on a two-week drinking binge with Buckskin Frank just prior to mysterious shooting in Canyon near Tombstone. Revolver found in Ringo’s hand at death, and documented in coroner’s report, 1882. Photo album found on body; gun further documented from Ringo family.
Appropriate paraphernalia for professional gambler. Pair pistols lower left Belgian-made for U.S. market, signed Lewis & Tomes on locks, London Fine Wire Twist on barrels. Deringers by Slotter & Co. Massive Bowie knife measures 13 inches overall.
An 1867 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine carried an eyewitness account testifying to Hickok’s deadly accuracy: “‘That sign is more than fifty yards away. I will put these six balls into the inside of the circle, which isn’t bigger than a man’s heart’ In an offhand way, and without sighting the pistol with his eye, he discharged the six shots of his revolver. I afterward saw that all bullets had entered the circle.” Though historians are skeptical of this account, an expert shot, as was Hickok, could fire with such notable accuracy.
Hickok’s favorite arms were a matched set of 1851 Navy Colts, which he carried tucked into his belt, butts forward. He exercised extreme caution in the care and loading of his pistols, and even cast his own bullets, cleaned his guns, and examined such details as a percussion cap before capping the nipples. “I am not taking any chances,” he said, “when I draw & pull I must be sure.”
Hickok told Charles Gross in Abilene, Kansas, about shooting a human adversary: “Charlie I hope you never have to shoot any man, but if you do shoot him in the Guts near the Navel. You may not make a fatal shot, but he will get a shock that will paralyze his brain and arm so much that the fight is all over.”
Hickok’s prowess with his Colts was so well known that he was asked to give command performances, several of which were recorded in the memoirs or reports of eyewitnesses. While he was on tour with W. F. Cody’s theatrical troupe a demonstration was put on before several local marksmen. Reportedly firing a pair of silver-plated, engraved, and pearl-handled Colt .44s (with a pair of Remington .44s as backup), Hickok
proceeded to entertain us with some of the best pistol work which it has ever been my good fortune to witness…. His last feat was the most remarkable of all: A quart can was thrown by Mr. Hickok himself, which dropped about 10 or 12 yards distant. Quickly whipping out his weapons, he fired alternatively with right and left. Advancing a step with each shot, his bullets striking the earth just under the can he kept it in continuous motion until his pistols were empty.
Percussion deringers by H. E. Dimick; cased pair of Williamsons either fired .41 cartridge or used capsule to fire percussion. Hideaway-sized arms were important to gamblers.
Finest known pair of Slotter & Co. deringers, mounted in gold. Made for Barton Jenks, son of a contract maker of U.S. Civil War rifle-muskets. Each pistol 4 3/4 inches overall, and of fine workmanship. Type that would be coveted by better class of professional gambler.
Push daggers prized by gamblers, clockwise from lower left: stamped Z. BONHAM on rosewood handle; 4 1/2-inch blade. Next, by Will & Finck, who also made gambling equipment (even cheating devices). Silver-handled dagger by DUFILHO/N. ORLEANS. Another Will & Fink to right of ivory-stocked Henry Deringer pistols; silver sheath with patented design features. Homemade dagger appears made from file. Longer dagger beneath unmarked, of high quality. Lower right with metal sheath, marked WOSTENHOLM & SONS….I*XL CUTLERY (opposite side of blade). Center dagger marked M PRICE/SAN FRANCISCO. English-made revolver marked on topstrap MADE BY WILLIAM TRANTER FOR A. B. GRISWOLD & COMPANY NEW ORLEANS, with quick-draw-style holster, its German-silver belt clip marked LOUIS HOFFMAN/VICKSBURG.
Sharps pepperboxes, in .22 to .32 caliber, each four-barreled, and with carved ivory grips.
The Dodge City Peace Commission, seated, left to right, Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, W. F. McClain, and Neal Brown; standing, W. H. Harris, Luke Short, Bat Masterson, and W. F. Petillon. All would appear to be comfortable in casino environment.
On Will & Finck roulette wheel lid (somehow firm misspelled own name!), ivory-handled push dagger of Will & Finck manufacture, with Michael Price dagger. Colt or National deringer with cut-off barrel; Colt Model 1849 Pocket revolver similarly customized, as has been S&W .32 tip-up pistol.
Cyrus Noble whiskey advertisement shows faro game in progress at the Orient Saloon, Bisbee, Arizona (1907). Selection of .41 r.f. deringers; top pair by Moore; pistols left and right a pair by Allen. At center, General Abner Doubleday’s finely engraved Moore deringer, number 15; after a distinguished Civil War career, the General served commands in Texas and in San Francisco, until retiring in 1873. Lower left and right, pistols by Moore.
Whiskey advertisement, encouraging varied reprobate activities; deringers by (clockwise from upper right) Ballard, Williamson, Colt, Williamson, and (center) Southerner. All in .41 caliber, and smartly made.
“This is my last poker game, D.J.” written on back of this cabinet photo of cardplayers in a saloon. Suicide special revolver in hand of nonsmoking player, possibly D.J. himself. Saloon appears of notable stature, but not in the same league as the Alamo, of Abilene. A contemporary description noted: “It was housed in a long room with a forty-foot frontage on Cedar Street, facing the west. There was an entrance at either end. At the west entrance were three double glass doors. Inside and along the front of the south side was the bar with its array of carefully polished brass fixtures and rails. From the back bar across a large mirror, which reflected the brightly sealed bottles of liquor. At various places over the walls were huge paintings in cheaply done imitations of the nude masterpieces of the Venetian Renaissance painters. Covering the entire floor space were gaming tables, at which practically any game of chance could be indulged. The Alamo boasted an orchestra, which played forenoons, afternoons, and nights.”
Jesse (left) and Frank James, with Colt and Remington revolvers; Civil War period.
Studio photo suggesting the local lawman drank on duty. Frequently peace officers were on hand in drinking and gambling establishments, as part of their duties to supervise behavior—and because many of them also were gamblers, and most also enjoyed a drink, or two.
Simple interior of Albany County, Wyoming, saloon. Note suicide special revolver with bar glass as holster. Gambler probably awaiting arrival of suckers.
Inscribed by Jesse James, Jr., to H. H. Crittenden of Missouri, photograph shows firearms and memorabilia that belonged to James Gang members.
Holster and belt rig, and Remington Model 1875 revolver given to his doctor by Frank James, at time of his surrender. Serial number 5116.
Frontiersman Luther North summed up the essential qualities of the deadly Hickok, qualities required of any true gunfighter: “[Wild Bill] was very deliberate and took careful aim closing his left eye. If he could shoot from the hip he never did it [before North and friends]…. Wild Bill was a man of Iron Nerve and could shoot straight enough to hit a man in the right place when the man had a gun in his hand and just between you and me not many of the so called Bad Men could do that.” Hickok himself said to Luther’s brother Frank: “you can beat the Hell out of me shootin’ at pieces of paper, but I can beat you when it comes to hittin’ men.”
An inveterate gambler, Hickok ended his career in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, in 1876, while in a card game at the No. 10 saloon. Failing to be seated in his preferred manner (back toward the wall), Hickok was shot a few hours later from behind, by a would-be celebrity, Jack McCall. Hickok’s card hand, aces and eights of spades and clubs and the jack of diamonds, forever after has been known as the Dead Man’s Hand. Death was instantaneous, and contrary to legend, Hickok did not instinctively draw his pistols when hit by the single bullet in the head.
The Remington Model 1875 of Jesse James, serial number 559, with holster, cartridge-money belt, and vest for loot, obtained by member of Pinkerton family and later donated to the Chicago Historical Society. On Smithsonian-sponsored museum tour for two years as featured display in “America’s Star: U.S. Marshals 1789–1989,” celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The “dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard, and laid poor Jesse in his grave.” So ran line in contemporary song, contributing to legendary status of the James boys. Jesse’s alias had been Howard, at time of assassination (1882) by Bob Ford, pictured here holding Single Action Colt. According to affidavit sworn by Ford, gun he used in murder was of that model, and bore number 50432.
Pat Garrett and posse pictured with their captive, Billy the Kid. Cabinet-size photograph likely of December 24, 1880, the Kid at right, with Colt revolver aimed at head by deputy. The Kid and gang had been found holed up in abandoned rock house in Stinking Springs. After killing one of the gang, Charlie Bowdre, and then tempting the remainder with assurance of food and protection from violence, Garrett and his deputies were able to persuade the rest of the outlaws to surrender. At left, Pat Garrett, to his left, the deputy the Kid grew to hate, Bob Ollinger.
Bisley Colt revolver used by Cole Younger. Given to wife of his cousin, with whom Cole had stayed for about a year. Revolver, serial 194564, dates just prior to release of Bob and Cole Younger (left and right) from Minnesota prison. Brother Jim died behind bars.
Billy the Kid’s Whitney-Kennedy carbine. Somewhere between myth and reality, the story of the Kid became standard element in lore of the Wild West. Gun and document represent the reality. Dime novel was part of beginning of the myth, which has variously shown the Kid as psychotic killer and harmless boy-man. Carbine given by the Kid after arrest to deputy U.S. Marshal Eugene Van Patton.
The quick draw was not a myth. One of the first of the West’s outlaws to attain notoriety, Henry Plummer of Montana, was said to have been the “quickest hand with his revolver of any man in the mountains,” and “could draw the pistol and discharge the five loads in three seconds.” Wild Bill Hickok’s speed was part of his reputation. An Abilene observer wrote: “He shot six times so quick it startled me, for his six-shooter was in his holster when I said ‘Draw.’”
Outlaw Dutch John Wagner was captured by vigilante Neil Howie, and the threat of a quick draw and deadly shooting won the day. Howie was
determined to arrest the robber at all risks, single-handed. He called out, “Hallo, Cap! hold on a minute.” Wagner wheeled his horse half round, and Neil, fixing his eyes upon him, walked straight towards him with empty hands. His trusty revolver hung at his belt, however, and those who have seen the machine-like regularity and instantaneous motion with which Howie draws and cocks a revolver, as well as the rapidity and accuracy of his shooting, well know that few men, if any, have odds against him in an encounter with fire-arms…. he arrived within a few steps of the Dutchman… [and] broke the silence with the order, “Give me your gun and get off your mule.”
Modern practitioners of the quick draw have attained remarkable speeds, drawing and firing five shots into a target 10 feet distant in less than two seconds; 1.6 seconds was a record held by Ed McGivern, with a Colt Single Action, in 1934. He could also fan (cocking the hammer with quick movements of the edge of the other hand) five shots into a playing-card-size target at a few yards’ distance in 1.2 seconds! But the real test was shooting at another human being, while being shot at in return.
Shoot-outs abounded in the West, although their nature differed from the High Noon–style showdowns of Western films and TV programs.
Gambler and dandy Luke Short’s shoot-out with gunfighter Long-Haired Jim Courtright is a Wild West classic. On a February day, 1887, in Fort Worth, Short and Courtright drew and shot at each other at point-blank range. Appropriately, the men were near a shooting gallery at the time. Courtright’s revolver hammer appears to have caught on the chain of Short’s watch—while Short pointed his revolver at Courtright. The first shot smashed the cylinder of Courtright’s revolver, and three out of the next five hit his right thumb, shoulder, and heart. No shots hit Short, whose act was considered legitimate self-defense.
A gun battle worthy of Hollywood’s best was that between cowboy, gunfighter, and lawman Commodore Perry Owens and the Blevins gang, September 1887, in Apache County, Arizona. Owens, on a Sunday afternoon, came to the Blevins house in search of a Blevins son, a wanted desperado and killer of two sheepmen, in a dispute known as the Pleasant Valley feud.
On approaching the house, cradling his Winchester, Owens spotted the fugitive through one of the two front doors. The killer held a Colt Single Action. Both men fired at the same time; the outlaw was hit, and staggered back into his mother’s arms. A brother fired from the house at Owens, whose return fire scored a hit in the right shoulder. Owens sprinted around to the side of the house and shot a Blevins brother-in-law (armed with a revolver) in the shoulder as well. Next Owens shot in the heart the youngest of the Blevins boys, who was also brandishing a revolver. Mrs. Blevins and two other women in the house were not hit; all of Owens’s adversaries died except one of the Blevins brothers. Owens walked away unscathed. Alas, the arsenal from his shooting days is reported to eventually have been tossed out—down an outhouse privy, after Owens’s death, in 1919. In those days the guns would have been secondhand; only early collectors would have recognized their rarity and historical interest.
Colt Single Action Army .45 with which Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid, July 14, 1881; serial number 55093. Gold badge a gift from A. J. Fountain to Garrett, in recognition of his killing the Kid; inscribed on back.
Lightning Colt revolver used by John Wesley Hardin in holdup of crap game at Gem Saloon, El Paso, May 1895. Hardin insisted he was being cheated by dealer, and took back only his gambling losses, $95. Revolver later confiscated by Deputy Sheriff Will J. TenEyck, and retained by his office. Hardin fined $25 for “carrying a pistol.” Serial 73728; .41 caliber, nickel-plated.
Backstrap of this Colt Model Lightning revolver inscribed “J.B.M. to J.W.H.,” a presentation to John Wesley Hardin (1895) from his cousin James B. Miller. An Elgin watch also presented by Miller to Hardin. Both were in appreciation of his assisting in prosecution by state of Texas of George “Bud” Frazer, for shooting at Miller. Miller would later ambush Frazer, killing him with a shotgun. Revolver, number 84304, in its El Paso-made holster.
Guns of hard characters from Texas. Single Action Army at top used by John Wesley Hardin, serial number 126680. Ivory-gripped Colt Lightning below also of Hardin; .41 caliber, number 68837. Winchester Model 1887 shotgun of George Scarborough, G.S. on right side, number 6595. A .45 Colt Single Action at right owned by John Selman; barrel cut off to 5 inches; number 36693. Selman was killer of Hardin. Single Action with pearl grips was cowboy-lawman-detective George Scarborough’s, number 130272; Scarborough shot Selman in an El Paso alley, at 4:00 A.M. on Easter Sunday, 1896.
John Selman’s Colt Single Action, number 141805, with which he killed John Wesley Hardin, at the Acme Saloon, El Paso, 1895. S&W .44 double action Frontier, number 352, carried by Hardin when shot. He was rolling dice at the time. Both revolvers documented in El Paso court records.
Surely the most famous shoot-out in the West was Tombstone’s “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” October 26, 1881—the culmination of bad blood between the peace officer, gambler, and gunfighter Earps and the Clantons and McLaurys, known rustlers and ranchers. Wyatt Earp, one of the more controversial of Western personalities, and his brothers Virgil and Morgan, accompanied by the tubercular dentist, gambler, and gunfighter “Doc” Holliday, squared off against the unruly Ike Clanton, his younger brother Billy, and Frank and Tom McLaury.
The parties met by Camillus S. Fly’s boardinghouse and photographic gallery, in an open space on Frémont Street—not at the O.K. Corral. Facing off at a distance of about 6 to 8 feet, Wyatt barked: “You sons of bitches, you have been looking for a fight, and now you can have it.”
In moments the fight broke out. Ike Clanton rushed to Wyatt and declared he was unarmed, to which Wyatt coolly replied: “The fight has now commenced; go to fighting, or get away.” Ike ran off to safety.
In the space of about a half minute the McLaurys and Billy Clanton were mortally wounded, Virgil and Morgan Earp were both hit hard, and Doc Holliday was nicked in the hip.
Wyatt alone and the disappearing Ike Clanton were unscathed. A hearing exonerated the Earps, but in the aftermath Virgil was ambushed a few weeks later by a shotgun-wielding avenger, not far from the Oriental Saloon. He suffered crippling wounds. Morgan was murdered from behind in a billiard parlor the following year. In revenge of Morgan’s death the surviving Earps saw to killing three men, one of them at the Tucson train station, while Morgan’s body was being sent for burial to California.
A remarkable one-hour television recreation of the West’s most famed gunfight was made by Wolper Productions for broadcast on national television, 1972. Entitled The Showdown at O.K. Corral and narrated by Lorne Greene, the documentary is played on Arizona TV on the annual anniversary of the gun battle.
Dead members of the Dalton Gang, after townspeople of Coffeyville, Kansas, thwarted double bank robbery attempt, October 1892. Left to right, Tim Evans, Bob and Grat Dalton, and Dick Broadwell. Emmett Dalton alone survived. Badly wounded, he served time in prison, and later moved to California, where he became involved in real estate and film business. Ten new Single Action Colts had been purchased by the gang before their ill-fated robbery attempt. Number 147305, one of the ten and pictured here, was recovered by Emmett and given to a friend in later years.
Because of the new guns, Emmett had left behind his old Single Action, number 83073, along with his deputy U.S. Marshal’s badge, when the gang headed for Coffeyville. Bob, Grat, and Emmett had been deputy U.S. Marshals in the Oklahoma Territory, before turning outlaw, in 1890. In 1935 Emmett gave the revolver and badge, pictured here, to his best friend, cowboy fiction writer Chuck Martin. Back of badge marked LAMB SEAL & STENCIL C. WASH. D.C.
The professional gambler was often also a gunfighter, and sometimes a peace officer. Some were also outlaws. The Topeka Daily Commonwealth (August 1871) offered a generally accurate description: “His divet is principally Navy Plug [chewing tobacco] and whisky, and the occupation of his heart is gambling…. He generally wears a revolver on each side, which he will use with as little hesitation as a man as on a wild animal. Such a character is dangerous and desperate, and each one generally has killed his man.”
His den of iniquity, the saloon or gambling tent, was a place of crackling action, fueled by the presence of alcohol and often of jaded women, and the forever present possibility of deadly differences over cards, a cheater exposed, or simply bad blood. The Alamo Saloon, Abilene, was described in the Junction City Weekly Union (October 1870): “Here in a well lighted room opening on the street the boys gather in crowds around the tables to play or to watch others play…. The musicians had to compete with clinking glasses, jangling spurs, ribald shouts, laughter, and the occasional bark of a six-shooter.”
Unlike the saloons of Hollywood, these emporiums were generally not larger than 80 feet by 24 feet, with a single bar of about 20 feet. If present, toilet facilities would be at the back (sometimes patrons were expected simply to step outside). Chairs, tables, gambling equipment, a bar, liquor, and soiled doves invited the patrons to relax and have a good time. Many a saloon was in a separate part of town to keep the rowdy element away from the better class of citizens.
The men who plied their trade in these surroundings relied on guns to help maintain peace, and on local law enforcement. Many operators had their own armed guards and bouncers. Luke Short, a partner in the famed Long Branch in Dodge City, became embroiled in a political dispute (1883), which threatened to turn into a shooting war.
A local ordinance against prostitution was used as a pretext for a police raid of the Long Branch. Short and a policeman shot at each other over the incident (no one was hit), and the feisty gambler was jailed. Released, he was told to stay out of town; instead he wired friends for help, among them Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Dodge City’s mayor feared for his life, and sought troops from the governor in defense. The impasse resulted in Luke’s return to Dodge, and in celebration one of the West’s most extraordinary group portraits was photographed, known as “The Dodge City Peace Commission.”
Kid Curry’s Colt Single Action, with which the notorious outlaw took his own life, 1904. Born Harvey Logan, in Iowa, the Kid was hotly pursued by the Pinkertons and others. Among his sidekicks in crime were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Serial number 147144; .45 caliber.
Still another notorious saloonkeeper, gambler, and gunfighter was Rowdy Joe Lowe. In league with his wife (or companion) Kate, Lowe ran a succession of saloons and brothels in Kansas and Texas. In an 1873 gun battle in Wichita, Lowe fired a shotgun at rival saloonkeeper E. T. “Red” Beard, who had just shot a prostitute and had fired a shotgun blast at Joe. Rowdy Joe chased Beard down to a river and leveled his gun at him, causing mortal wounds. Lowe survived three shooting altercations, but succumbed to the fourth, shot by a former policeman, in Denver, 1899.
Folklore aside, outlaws of the West were generally rough and vicious men who chose stealing and killing as a way of life. The world-famed James and Younger Gang were celebrated in their own time. Jesse and Frank were veterans of Civil War guerrilla units and claimed to have entered the world of outlawry when poorly treated by the authorities at war’s end.
Enjoying the notoriety of press reports of their exploits, Jesse and Frank visited a Kansas City reporter to give him a gold watch, which was refused, since the frightened journalist thought it stolen. “Heck no,” said Jesse; “this’n we bought with our own money!” The journalist still refusing the watch, Jesse then asked, “Well, then perhaps you can name some man around here you want killed?”
Bristling with armaments, the gang finally was split up when an 1876 raid at Northfield, Minnesota, led to the wounding of the Youngers, Cole, Bob, and Jim, and their jailing at Stillwater Penitentiary in Minnesota.
This attempted robbery was so widely reported that it was even covered by the Times of London! Bob would die in prison, while Jim committed suicide after being released in 1901. Cole joined his cousin Frank James; they lectured to the public, using their criminal careers as examples of wayward sinners, and organized a short-lived Wild West show.
Frank had surrendered to the governor of Missouri, soon after Jesse, for whom there was a $25,000 reward, was shot in the back by a cousin, Bob Ford, a traitorous henchman in league with the authorities.
Ford, known thereafter as “the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard”—Jesse’s alias at the time of his death, 1882—spent the rest of his life taunted by the betrayal of the trusting Jesse. Ford himself was shot by an Ed Kelly, ten years later. And Kelly in turn was shot twelve years after that!
For years the James family displayed at fairs guns and accouterments used by members of the most famous of American outlaw gangs. Jesse’s Remington Model 1875, serial 559, is a prized possession of the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, accompanied by holster, money and cartridge belt, and a buckskin vest in which he stashed his loot.
Rose of the Cimarron, a member of the Doolin Gang. Her revolver the large-framed Model 1878 double action Frontier Colt.
Equally renowned as a desperate outlaw was Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty in the East (1859, possibly New York City’s Irish slum). He was already in the Wild West by the time he was twelve. A succession of brushes with the law as a teenager led him ultimately, at age eighteen, to join the forces of English rancher John Tunstall, in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
The Lincoln County War was one of the hardest-fought of frontier wars. Gaining a reputation as a fun-loving but cool-nerved rustler, ladies’ man, and killer, the Kid was pursued by New Mexico peace officers and his enemies in the Murphy faction of the war. After a failed attempt at amnesty, with Governor Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur), the Kid was soon hunted down by the 6-foot-4-inch Sheriff Pat Garrett, an old friend.
Appointed sheriff in 1880, Garrett arrested the Kid and four members of his gang just before Christmas. While in prison, sentenced to be hung, the Kid engineered one of the most daring escapes of any Western outlaw. While under escort to relieve himself, Billy slipped out of his handcuffs, knocked down the guard, J. W. Bell, and shot him. The Kid then grabbed the shotgun of Bob Olinger, a bully who had taunted Billy with that very gun, and awaited the deputy’s return from a nearby restaurant.
Responding to the shot which killed Bell, Olinger ran to the jail, to be greeted by the Kid, with the welcome “Look up, old boy, and see what you get.” With that Olinger was struck by the charges from both barrels, loaded with Olinger’s own specially packed buckshot. The vengeful Kid smashed the shotgun and threw it at the hated Olinger’s body: “Here’s your gun, Goddamn you. You won’t follow me with it any longer.”
About an hour later a very relaxed Kid rode out of town, after greeting some of the cowed townsfolk, apologizing to the dead Bell, and nudging Olinger’s body with his boot: “You are not going to round me up again.” An eyewitness reported that the Kid had “at his command eight revolvers and six guns.”
Some months later, on the night of July 14, 1881, Pat Garrett again caught up with the Kid, and shot him in a darkened room at the Pete Maxwell house, Sumner, New Mexico. The Kid knew that he was being followed, and was surprised in his pants, shoeless, but armed. Garrett saw the figure: “He must have then recognized me, for he went backward with a cat-like movement, and I jerked my gun and fired.” Moving to the door and stepping outside, Garrett hugged the wall and gasped, “That was the Kid that came in there onto me, and I think I have got him.”
Garrett, feted far and wide for killing the Kid, was not popular with admirers of the young and spunky outlaw. Guns and watches were presented to Garrett, and years later President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him a customs collector. But Garrett too died violently, in 1908, at the hands of a rival, believed to have been Jim “Killer” Miller. Garrett was shot from behind.
Lady bandit Pearl Hart, known to have used a Merwin & Hulbert .44 Pocket Army revolver (in Arizona Historical Society Museum), and here amply armed with Winchester Model 1873, Colt Single Action, and Model 1877 Lightning. Believed photographed following release from Yuma Territorial Prison, Arizona, after doing time for stagecoach robbery.
Though he was credited by folklore with twenty-one killings, the Kid’s tally was likely not more than ten. Garrett’s is estimated at more than a half-dozen.
Still another celebrated outlaw-gunfighter was Texan John Wesley Hardin. Despite the Methodist moniker, Hardin had killed a man at age fifteen, and had a total of twelve by the age of eighteen. He is even alleged to have shot a man through a boardinghouse wall, killing him for the annoyance of excessive snoring!
The Texas Rangers put him in jail from 1877 through 1894. On release he set up practice as a lawyer in El Paso, where policeman John Selman shot him from behind in the Acme Saloon.
Hardin’s prowess with Colt Single Action revolvers was so respected on the frontier that he was asked to demonstrate his legerdemain by capturing peace officers—with empty revolvers, of course.
The balance of the Colt Single Action is ideally suited for spinning, flipping, switching hands, and other tricks. Although many of the nineteenth-century holsters were not suited for quick-draw and six-gun magic, that such gymnastics took place is fact.
In the matter of accuracy, the sights of revolvers, like the Colt Single Action, were not adjustable; they were a simple notch at the back of the frame top and a blade at the front. With practice, however, shots could be accurately placed at 25 to 50 yards. Most gunfights were at close range, often point-blank. The turn-of-the-century American revolver champion Walter Winans wrote:
In my opinion revolver shooting is essentially a matter of firing rapidly at short ranges. Deliberate shooting at stationary targets, especially at long ranges, is all wrong. To begin with, the revolver is not accurate enough for such work. When a revolver is used, either in war or in self defense, the shooting is generally done at a few yards’ distance, and at a rapidly moving object. Further, it often happens that a succession of shots has to be fired in a few seconds.
Wild Bill Hickok indeed summed it all up when he said: “Take time. I’ve known many a feller slip up for shootin’ in a hurry.”
Best-documented outlaw set known to the author, Black Jack Ketchum’s .45 Colt Single Action even appears in photograph of the captured outlaw, bloodied from final gun battle. Collection was put together by deputy U.S. Marshal Frank W. Hall, who handled case which led to Ketchum’s conviction and execution. Serial number 128145. In the outlaw’s confession, he admitted to various crimes, among them some for which others had been imprisoned wrongfully. Just before the gallows were sprung, Ketchum, cool to the end, proclaimed: “I’ll be in hell before you start breakfast boys.”
* Term known to have been used in the West as early as 1874.
