The Code of the West

From the time when the first American pioneers entered the grasslands of Texas until the day when the frontier itself was no more, the West was a magnet for lawlessness.  Respectable folks did their best to impose law and order and in some places gunfights were unknown, there were no lynchings, and barroom brawls were rare.  However, violence was romanticized to a remarkable degree and things like a denial of social restraints helped make the West a haven for the bad guy.

What made the law of the gun so important in the American frontier?  One reason was the need to fight the Indians - to oust them from the frontier settlements.  Another reason was the Civil War from which hatred and bitterness grew in places like the Kansas-Nebraska border.  Gangs of looters and murderers in those border wars became a training ground for many of the West's most notorious outlaws.

Finally, the geography of the region was probably the most important reason that the gun was so important on the American frontier.  The nature of the population in the West's early days was young, male and adventurous.  The nearest neighbor was miles away, and the courts of law were even further.  Men thought of themselves as rulers of their lands - possession was 9/10 of the law to the settlers.  The nearest town, with the sheriff, judge and court of law was so far away, who was left to keep law and order?

So the West was so sparsely populated that there was no one close enough to establish law as any effective force.  No society can exist without some kind of rules, however, so there emerged a "Code of the West."  The Code was romantic, mannerly and idealistic, which made it an inadequate substitute for the law:
1.  A man's word was his bond.
2.  Rustling and stealing was evil
3.  Shooting an unarmed man was contemptible
4.  Strangers were to be treated with hospitality
5.  Handshake were as good as lawyer agreements

Next time...The Code at work
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On August 16, 1896, while salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory on this day in 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West. 

Who was Kid Curry?

Was Kid Curry the outlaw in the West?  Was he the most wanted outlaw in the Wild West?

Harvey Logan, aka Kid Curry, was a mild-mannered but emotional volcano waiting to explode.  At 5'7" tall,brown hair, a waterfall mustache...he look like your average Joe and not a killer.  When Missouri farm life proved too dull for Harvey and his brothers, they "borrowed" some horses and made their way to Wyoming where they learned the finer points of  cowboying and gun handling.  And they ended up on the wrong side of the law.

Curry was one of the "fastest draw on a six gun" in Wild West history as part of the Ketchum Gang and later the Wild Bunch Gang.  Few got a second chance when Kid Curry pulled his gun.  His legend of firing so fast it sounded like one shot is part of the legends of the West.

When Curry got into a fight he didn't care whether he, or anyone else lived or died and it is said that
only Butch Cassidy, his good friend, could calm him down and restore any kind of reason.  Curry had a side of him that was faithful to his friends and they were loyal to him. Many records state the Harvey Logan was "a gentlemen through and through".

Regardless of his "good" side, most historians list him as the top five most dangerous men in the West.  By the turn of the century, the collection of wanted rewards out on Kid Curry totaled over $40,000 dead or alive.  Pinkerton's top detectives were heard to comment "Going after Curry was suicide.  He never ran and hide, but waited and planned his ambush of you."

In 1904 in Rifle, Colorado, it is believed that Kid Curry died a romantic hero.  After robbing a bank, the posse was closing in and Curry told a shot through the lungs.  He stayed behind while letting the others escape and turned his Colt on himself.  His luck had run out as the popular saying goes.

So yes, he was one of the deadliest outlaws, and the most wanted in Wild West history!

Next time...Wild Bill Hickok

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This Day in History:  On March 4, 1868, Jesse Chisholm, who blazed one of the West's most famous trails, the Chisholm Trail, dies in Oklahoma of food poisoning.