Free Buckskin Run (Ss) (1981) by Louis L'amour

Buckskin Run (ss) (1981)

INTRODUCTION
    The stories in this collection are fiction based upon a knowledge of events of a similar nature. The Historica l Notes are exactly that, bits of western violence lifted fro m the day-by-day lives of western people. It was not, a s many have surmised, a lawless time. The duel was, i n many quarters of the world, still the accepted method o f settling disputes. However, at the time of the gun battle s related here the days of the Code Duello were at an end.
    Often I have been asked if such gunfights actually too k place, for there are those who believe such stories are th e stuff of fiction, or invented by makers of motion pictures.
    Several writers have attempted to list the gunfighters an d the gunfights, and one author has listed 587 gun battles , and has done it wel l , but there were at least four time s that many in the period from 1850 to 1910. None of th e gun battles in my historical notes, for example, are include d in that book. To list them all is difficult, i f not impossible , yet we do have the files of o l d newspapers, court records , coroners' reports, and diaries, which are helpful.
    It is well to mention, however, that ninety percent o f the gun battles took place in either saloons, the red ligh t district, or out on the range, having little or no effect o n the daily lives of most of the citizens.
    None of the Historical Notes are intended to have an y connection with the stories I have written. They are include d rather as a part of the whole picture I am presenting in m y books, and to indicate that such things were, in fact , happening.
    Gunplay did not enter the life of every citizen, althoug h a time might b e when any man might l 'v e called upon t o defend himself. The law, if present, was often beyond call , even as n o w. Nor was the western man inclined to call fo r help. He who settled his own di ff iculties was most respected.
    The gunfighter was not inclined to wear a gun slung lo w on his hip, and swagger about town. That was for th e tinhorn' or the would-b e' s. More often than not he dresse d in a c o nservative m anner and went about his busines s quietly and with di g nity. In fact, in one of the most note d gu n d ue ls, occurred between when two operators in the field met , both drew from holsters in their hi p pockets. This was the fight in Fort W orth betwee n Long-- H aired Jim Courtright and Luke Short.
    Television and motion pictures have made everyon e familiar with the names of Billy the kid, Wild Bill Hickok , Bat Masterson, and Wyatt E arp, so I have purposel y avoided them. In their time there were at least a hundre d men as well, if not better, known. f armers and businessmen shot the Jesse James gang almos t put of existence, and in Coffeyville, Kansas the local citizenry wiped out the Doolin-Dalton gang. Emmett Dalto n survived to sell real estate in Los Angeles, but he wa s carried from the field pretty well ballasted with b uckshot.
    One could list a dozen more such occasions.
    All this was but one aspect of a varied picture, for mos t people worked hard and for long hours. Social-activity fo r families and many others centered around the churches , although there were dances, box suppers, horse races, a s well as foot races (a very popular activity), and some town s such as Dodge City had both hand concerts and basebal l games. Often there were prize fights . Occasionally traveling groups of actors would present their shows.
    Court sessions were eagerly awaited for the drama the y offered, and certain trial lawyers had greater following s than any matinee idol. The same was t ru e o f revival ministers who preached the gospel in small western towns.
    Many of those in the audience came m o re to hear hi s presentation than for the Holy Word, a fact of which h e was usually aware.
    Various cliches have arisen from one source or another , and one that resulted from its use in the Spanish-America n War is the notion that "a .45 will