#RESIST
If you happen to be in the area, stop at the St. James Hotel in Cimmaron NM, where you can tour--or even stay--in the rooms that some of the most famous gunfighters of the era slept in.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
So even Wyatt Earp said gaming would get ya kilt in da streetz.
Absolutely amazing read. To paraphrase- “nothing new under the sun.”
Here's what I took away:Those old-timers took their gunplay seriously, which was natural under the conditions in which they lived. Shooting, to them, was considerably more than aiming at a mark and pulling a trigger. Models of weapons, methods of wearing them, means of getting them into action and operating them, all to the one end of combining high speed with absolute accuracy, contributed to the frontiersman’s shooting skill. The sought-after degree of proficiency was that which could turn to most effective account the split-second between life and death. Hours upon hours of practice, and wide experience in actualities supported their arguments over style.
When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy with a sixgun and a miss. It is hard to make this clear to a man who has never been in a gunfight. Perhaps I can best describe such time taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves. Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean.
- Practical shooting is more than aiming and pulling the trigger
- Do not 'slow down to get your hits'
- Do not 'try to go fast'
- Combine high speed with absolute accuracy
- Practice
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Casey Terfetuller's biography is the current gold standard of Earp, and lays out the situation in Tombstone far more clearly and accurately than the usual Good vs Evil trope.
An excellent analysis of the OK corral fight is found in Dangerous Men by Scott Ferguson(with an intro by Ayoob).
He takes the novel approach of using the trial testimony of the survivors and the evidence presented to reconstruct the gunfight.
The Earps were an interesting bunch, neither heroes or true villains, what D&Ders would call Chaotic Neutrals.
Hard bastards who had each other's backs. They were of their times.
The brief appearance in Deadwood of Wyatt and Morgan captures their essence well(as it did, however factually inaccurately, for Hickok)
I've recommended the novels Doc and Epitaph previously in the book thread.
If you haven't, go to Amazon and read the preview sample to Epitaph. "To understand the gunfight in Tombstone stop-now- and watch a clock for thirty seconds..."
That was a good read. From Bob Boze Bell’s book The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp “Can 27 seconds define a man’s life?” In Wyatt Earp case definitely yes. I highly recommend this book for the details of October 26th 1881.
Other books of interest from BBB are about Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, and James B Hickok. All are illustrated with his art and great maps.
The series of three Classic Gunfights are also great reads.
Classic Gunfights Vol 1
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
And coincidentally this popped up in my FB memories today. One of my favorite Bob Boze Bell True West Magazine videos. The best line ever is “Never take a drunk dentist to make a misdemeanor arrest.”
https://www.youtube.com/live/j-i2FA2-k1c?feature=share
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
That was a fantastic read, consistent with pf.com's vibe. Thank's LL.
I think I came across a reading of this that someone put on the Yew tube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJNpWBcvQE&t=1s
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