10/11/2020
Copied from American Wild West.....😎
The gent is Mr. A.W King, who was Wyatt Earp's deputy in Arizona. He writes of his association with Wyatt and of the nefarious gunfighters of his time.
He writes, "I've often heard Wyatt say Jesse James was among the first gunfighters to carry a Navy C**t six-shooter, the same as Butler Hickok, who carried two of them in his red sash. Hickok was presented these ivory handled guns by the Vice President of the United States--A Senator Wilson then.
"Ben Thompson and Wes Hardin brought the drawn-shoot era into prominence, in my opinion, and all our gunfighting took place in about 20 years. The gunfighter was a fellow with cool nerve. You had to have it to last. Personal histories of the gunfighter show that the top hands had it, and the cold blue stare of a killer was unmistakable. About 95% of all 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 feelings, according to Earp, ran high. The new Negro police caused a lot of trouble and actually bred gunslingers, such as the case with John Wesley Hardin.
"Railroad towns of the big cattle drives also generated the gunfighter, and many a gunman has stood before an old, dusty mirror to stretch and admire himself from top hat down to his sparkling 'Waistband of Death' as I once heard it called.
"Anyway, it is all history now. Yet, it happened only yesterday when you come to think of it. There was an old boot dug up from Custer's Little Big Horn burial ground, last year, in1958, and the damned thing looked as if it had only been in the ground a couple months--sole on the boot, hooks and nails, lookin' like you could wear it. And when I think of working with Wyatt Earp not so many years ago--well, it hasn't been too far back in history.
"Every man has a place to fill in then making of America. The gunfighter has been no exception. The great, in both sin and morality, stand together shoulder to shoulder in stone and bronze or on canvas; and many a boy, yes even grown men, would rather hear the deeds of Wild Bill Hickok then read all the books written on George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. "
A.M. King-- Deputy to Wyatt Earp 1900 Arizona and California.
