The fastest gunmen in the Far West

If you reached this blog, probably it’s because you like the western in general, or some of its facets in particular: the culture, attire, cinematographic, musical or literary genre or simply the history. And the thing is that Far West has a lot of history, among others because is full of legendary characters, most of them have inspired some of the seventh art jewels: «Stagecoach», «The Westerner», «Duel in the sun», «Fort Apache», «Distant drums», «High noon» …  To mention in chronologic order some of the most known for the general public classic films.

But don’t forget the modern ones, because there are 21st Century Far West jewels that we can’t miss: “Blackthorne”, “The Homesman”, “The Revenant”, “3:10 to Yuma”, “The hateful eight”, or “True grit”, are some of them. Guns keep smoking in the fiction, but there was a time when it was real: let’s know the responsible of that.

Powder smell characters

It is said that truth is stranger than fiction, and in some cases that’s right. Other times, it’s at least a source of inspiration, as happened with the most famous gunmen feats and their confrontation with the lawmen.

Hence some of the most iconic scenes of the western movies and no few western novels genre are based upon this characters: Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Jim «Killer» Miller, Clay Allison or Tom Horn, are some of them. Let’s know the history of some of the mentioned characters, some terrible, others more heroic and some times a mix of both. But all of them had a common denominator: they were fast drawing … and had good aim.

• Billy The Kid: the precocious gunman. His real name was Henry McCarty, and Billy The Kid alias comes from being the first to kill a man when was barely 18 years old. His beginning in the criminal life is full of robberies and horse thefts, but was also congressman during Lincoln County War, in 1877, travelling with “supposed” law representatives to capture a group of the corrupt businessmen. This group was known as “The Regulators”, and they didn’t mess about: were extremely violent and ruthless, so became the worst outlaw. With the time were overcame by the force of law, but Billy escaped to New Mexico, leading a new gang. The fights with the law didn’t stop, and was captured to escape once again, leaving corpse in his escape. Few months later his last escape, was shot down by the sheriff Pat Garret and his assistants. Died young, with around 21st years, and according to the legend his age coincided with the number of people he killed during his life.
  

 

• Wyatt Earp: outlaws fear. This lawman, one of a kind gunman that bandits tried to avoid, is a Far West historic figure. Traveled to many places, including Tombstone, lawless town where he became Sheriff. Was precisely there when took part of legendary shootings, like the O.K Corral one, in 1881. This confrontation between Earp, his brothers and a friend against a group of cowboy bandits, generated a lot of scandal and subsequent reprisals. The cowboys were all shot down by Earp’s group, but friends from the killed ones didn’t take long to revenge, killing Earp’s friend and injuring one of his brothers. It’s difficult to calculate the number of gunfights where Wyatt Earp participated during his life, but there is no doubt that were plentiful, leaving a trail of outlaws in the path.

 

• Wild Bill Hickok: the legendary multitalented. In addition to elite gunmen in his era, Hickok was actor, player, driver and lawman. In fact, he started like Pony Express policeman and driver, rising to fame by his skills with firearms:  killed the outlaw David McCanles with just one shot and a 75 meters distance. He was also one of the very few gunmen to participate in the western style fast duels for gambling debts. In 1869, Hickok was elected sheriff in Kansas, and didn’t take long to use his famous guns. This character is one of the most famous in the Far West, so some of his feats are likely to be legend, although not all of them. Died en 1876 playing poker in South Dakota: another resentful player shot him in the nape by treason. Legend tells that at that moment he was holding the nowadays called “Dead man’s hand”. And now we know where its name comes from. 
  

 

• Clay Allison: the deranged violent. This gunman became one of the most feared outlaws in the Far West, something his unstable character contributed to. Fought by the Confederation in the Civil War, being dismissed due to a hit in his head: after that started the strange crazyness that let him commit brutal acts. 
  He also was good with the guns, and took part in many gunfights against other coetaneous bandits, like the one that faced him with the outlaw Chunk Colbert. This gunfight became famous because Clay Allison’s cold blood: he shared lunch with Colbert, knowing he wanted to kill him. And when the outlaw aimed him with the pistol, Allison took him down fast as lightning. He after argued with complete coldness: “I didn’t want to send a man to hell with an empty stomach, that’s why I first had lunch with him”. Surprisingly, when his time had come in 1887, didn’t die shooting as expected, but falling from a wagon, breaking his neck. And the legend tells that his tomb’s epitaph said: “Here rest Clay Allison, gentleman and gunman. Never killed a man didn’t deserve being murdered”.