The Blackhawk Kid said:
I also like the suggestion in another post about researching old west real good guys and bad guys. Share what ya find out, Pard! Good or Bad idea. BHK
I think it's a good idea, researching and talking about old west good guys and bad guys. And here I'm talking about the
real people, not made up film characters. When I was younger, I basically "studied" the old west and its cast of characters, good guys and bad guys. A lot of people would be surprised, I think, at what some of the bad guys really looked like as opposed to their portrayals in films. Belle Starr was probably one of the ugliest women to ever walk the earth. Kid Curry, a dangerous gun fighter and robber, looked like someone you could take out with one punch in a bar fight. Big Nose Kate, a sometimes traveling companion of Doc Holliday, was aptly named.
But take Tom Horn...now there was a true to life badass, and he looked the part as well. Tall and broad shouldered with a great mustache and piercing eyes, he looked like he'd just as soon kill you as look at you. And I think he often did, during the cattle wars. He was a crack shot and a hired killer. He was eventually hanged, but he may have been framed. It's said he knew too much about the hired killings arranged by some well-to-do cattle barons. Don't think we'll ever know his whole story.
All my old west books...histories, biographies, so-called autobiographies...all were lost in transit during a move back in the eighties. But I'll never forget reading those books and sort of daydreaming about the reality of the old west, and wishing I could go back for a day or two and see what it was
really like.