Gunfighters Legends of the Old West by Lea F. McCarty
I've often heard tell that the gunfighter had his beginning when pistol types were changed from those old flintlocks to the cap-and-ball. He could draw and shoot these faster and more accurately. All the formalities of the duel were forgotten. Draw. Shoot. That was it....
The gunfighter was a fellow with a cool nerve. You had to have it to last. Personal histories of the gunfighters show that the top hands had it, and the cold blue stare of a killer was unmistakable. About 95 per cent of all the gunslingers were blue-eyed. Many were related, like Jesse james to the Youngers, the Youngers to the Daltons, and Cole Younger, the uncle of Tombstone killer, John Ringo. Wes Hardin had relatives all over Texas....
Yes the gunfighter was a product of the Civil War. Post -war feeling, according to Earp, ran high...Railhead towns of the big cattle drives also generated the gunfighter....
Every man has a place to fill in the making of America. The gunfighter has been no exception. The great in both sin and morality, stand shoulder to shoulder in stone, bronze, or on canvas; and many a boy, yes, even grown men, would rather hear of the deeds of Wild Bill Hickok than read all the books written on George Washington or Abe Lincoln.
--A. M. King Wyatt Earp Deputy - 1900 Arizona and California
