Were shootouts and bank robberies really that common in the ‘Wild West’?
In films and literature, the 19th-century American frontier exists as an action-packed world of gunplay and gusto, a ‘Wild West’ where lawlessness and gun violence are endemic, courtesy of the Winchester rifle and the Colt ‘45 revolver. However, a look at historical reality finds a landscape that’s rather different.
It is true that the cowtowns and mining shanties of the Old West had their moments. One Kansas newspaper declared that Dodge City (founded in the early 1870s) was a “synonym for all that is wild, reckless and violent” because of its rowdy railroad workers, cowpokes and 19 saloons. Nine people were killed by shootouts in the town’s first year. Soon, though, fledgling communities, including Dodge, turned to gun ordinances (requiring weapons to be stashed before entering the town) and hired lawmen to keep the peace.
Guns were commonly owned, but were used mostly for frightening off coyotes. Many of them were pretty inaccurate and often caused more damage to the wielder than the target.
Organised heists did take place occasionally – but banks were often small, locally owned, and protected on each side by other buildings – making local citizens well placed to defend their money. The sheriff’s office, likewise, was never far away: though Wyatt Earp spent most of his time as a lawman in Tombstone rounding up stray hogs and watching for chimney fires rather than thwarting bad guys. In fact, one reason that outlaws such as Jesse James and Butch Cassidy became so famous was because their activities were the exception rather than the rule.
Karen R Jones, professor of history at the University of Kent