Old West Gunfighters: The Smoke-Filled Truth Behind the Gunslinger

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Walk into Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 and the local authorities would order you to hand over your firearms. That detail sets the tone for an episode that takes apart the Hollywood gunslinger piece by piece. Nobody in the 1880s used the word, which was coined for a 1920 Western called Drag Harlan. The men themselves said gunfighter, gunman, or bad man, and Bat Masterson simply called them man killers. The low slung, tied down holster is an anachronism too: real holsters were soft, worn high, and often skipped in favor of a waistband or coat pocket.

Real gunfights were rare, sudden, and blind. Black powder filled a saloon with white smoke within seconds, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral lasted 30 seconds at point blank range. Reputation was mostly public relations, the line between lawman and outlaw barely existed because a marshal's salary was starvation wages, and fame worked like a bounty. The most feared men were shot from behind, not beaten at high noon.

Wyatt Earp scorned fast shooters as gun fanners and said the winner of a gunplay is usually the one who takes his time.
In El Paso in 1881, marshal Dallas Stoudenmire left four men dead in five seconds, and in 1882 he dared the town council to take his badge when it tried to fire him.
Elfego Baca held a tiny cabin for 36 hours against 80 gunmen who fired an estimated 400 rounds, and walked out without a scratch.
The Hickok and Tutt duel of July 21st, 1865 in Springfield, Missouri began over a gambling debt and a pocket watch and ended with a heart shot at about 50 yards.
Historians can verify only five lethal incidents involving Wyatt Earp, and there is no evidence Johnny Ringo ever took part in a single gunfight.

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