The Deadly Shotgun

[Capt Hamp Cox]

(This bit on shotguns is from a much longer article titled “GUNFIGHTERS OF THE OLD WEST”  by Norman B. Wiltsey that appeared in the 1967 Gun Digest)

 
It is most enlightening to the researcher in Western Americana to discover that the unglamorous but deadly efficient shotgun played a far more important role in the taming of the West than the writers of the “Draw, you varmint!” school of scribblers care to admit. Tough John Slaughter, Sheriff of Cochise County, Ariz., in the late ‘80’s put a reporter from a New York newspaper straight on the matter in short order. Somehow the dude scribe got up the nerve to ask Slaughter why he carried a shotgun along with a Winchester 44-40 and a Colt 44 revolver on his manhunts.
 
John’s hard black eyes narrowed in contempt. “To kill men with, you damned fool!” he snapped.
 
Which simple, cold fact explains why so many gunfighters on both sides of the law, packed the lethal scattergun as an essential tool of their dangerous trade. At long range, of course, there was no substitute for the rifle, so John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp and many others packed shotgun, Winchester and six-shooter.
 
The great advantage of the shotgun to the average man was that with it he was equal – often superior – to the professional gunslinger. Shotguns fired by ordinary citizens broke up the James-Younger gang in the Northfield, Minn., bank robbery, and in Trinity City, Texas, John Wesley Hardin, who gunned down 44 men during his bloody career, came within inches of death by a scattergun in the hands of Phil Sublet. Hardin pulled through because of a heavy, gold-laden money belt that stopped most of the charge of buckshot, but he was out of action for several months.
 
Stagecoach guards carried sawed-off shotguns in addition to rifles and revolvers, and the phrase “riding shotgun” became an indelible part of Western vernacular and legend.”

END OF ARTICLE

Other historical encounters involving a shotgun that come to my mind include:

Doc Holliday at the OK Corral
Wyatt Earp’s reported termination of Curly Bill Brocious
Billy the Kid takes out Bob Olinger
"Killer" Miller's weapon of choice on numerous occasions

Would like for readers to post accounts where a scattergun played a prominent role in other Old West "dispute resolution".

[williamlayton]

that was a good article- and i agree, as a matter of fact i would probable be better off with one than a handgun but having it stuck down my pants would bring one of two reactions. 1) arrest- certainly would not be cocealed 2) laughing- my wife would certainly recognise this was not me.
                                                    blessings

[Holiday]

Louis L'Amour often makes mention of the fact that the shotgun was a terrifying weapon. A man might take a chance against a pistol, but only a fool would dare a shotgun. Often the mere sight of the scatter gun was enough to calm a rowdy cowpoke or outlaw. That same reputation is why the shotgun is still issued to so many police officers today. Most patrol cars still have the "crowd tamer" either strapped to the dash or in the trunk. Many folks also don't realize that the shotgun was the primary food gathering weapon of most settlers. Most sodbusters didn't have a pistol, many wouldn't have a rifle, but you can bet there was a single or double barrel somewhere in the house. Even today, the shotgun is probably the most common firearm found in the household. The Winchester may have won the west, the Colt may have tamed it, but the shotgun kept it fed!

[williamlayton]

when growing up-everybody i knew owned a pistol and a shotgun. some owned, well i guess, thinking about it everybody, owned a .22 but i'm not considering a ,22 as a rifle in this discussion,so onto  the rest of the convesation-some owned a rifle, usually a winchester.
    the reason for the .22 disclaimer--most people in east texas did squirrel hunt-had an aunt of some sort the called squirrel because of hunting-but i digress-for food and we all used a .22.
  this is getting a little off historical, don't you agree--but then i am suddenly reminded by my son that i'm old enough to be historical-never hysterical just historical. :wink:
   most deer hunting was done with a shotgun-shooting slugs. the short winchester was the brush gun.
  my how culture changes under our very eyes.

[Dan Chamberlain]

I bought a Pedersoli double 12 percussion last year.  Now that's the way to shoot a frontier shotgun!  The only thing better would be one in 10gauge.

Dan C

[Capt Hamp Cox]

In the late afternoon of February 3, 1889, on a lonely stretch of trail near the Canadian River, a single shotgun blast was fired from ambush. A moment later another shotgun blast, fired from close range, ended the life of Myra Maybelle Shirley, 'Belle Starr', a mere two days before her 41st birthday.


Deputy Bob Olinger was just finishing breakfast in the hotel's diner at the time and, when he heard the shots that killed Bell, came running across the street to investigate. He was almost across when he stopped to look up at a second story window to see Billy the Kid sitting in it with Olinger's own shotgun, aimed right at him. It was the last thing on this earth that Olinger ever saw. The Kid let go with both barrels, riddling Olinger with more than two dozen buckshot. He was dead when he hit the ground and Billy the Kid was once again a free man.


On December 23, 1890, Short was in another gunfight with a man named Charlie Wright, who ran the gambling concession above the Bank Saloon at 1608 Main Street. This time the outcome would be different. Charlie Wright blasted his shotgun into Short’s back and side before Luke fired his "hideout" gun into Wright’s wrist.


In the tradition of the Old West, either by design or by chance, they walked toward each other in the area of the Plaza. Couts was carrying a shawl. He dropped it, to reveal a shotgun. Mendoza ... turned to flee and was struck with a blast from both barrels. He staggered ... and fell dead.1 ... Richard F. Pourade, The Silver Dons

[Capt Hamp Cox]

The following is from:

Wyatt Earp Tells Tales of the Shotgun-Messenger Service, by Wyatt Earp
Published: San Francisco Examiner, California, August 9, 1896


The Wells-Fargo shotgun is not a scientific weapon. It is not a
sportsmanlike weapon. It is not a weapon wherewith to settle an affair of honor between gentlemen. But, oh! in the hands of an honest man hemmed in by skulking outlaws it is a sweet and a thrice-blessed thing. The express company made me a present of the gun with which they armed me when I entered their service, and I have it still. In the severe code of ethics maintained on the frontier such a weapon would be regarded as legitimate only in the service for which it was designed, or in defense of an innocent life encompassed by superior odds. But your true rustler throws such delicate scruples to the wind. To him a Wells-Fargo shotgun is a most precious thing, and if by hook or crook--mostly crook--he can possess himself of one he esteems himself a king among his kind. Toward the end of my story last Sunday I described the killing of Curly Bill. By an inadvertency I said that he opened fire on me with a Winchester. I should have said a Wells-Fargo shotgun. Later I will tell you where Curly Bill got that gun.

The barrels of the important civilizing agent under consideration are not more than two-thirds the length of an ordinary gun barrel. That makes it easy to carry and easy to throw upon the enemy, with less danger of wasting good lead by reason of the muzzle catching in some vexatious obstruction. As the gun has to be used quickly or not at all, this shortness of barrel is no mean advantage. The weapon furthermore differs from the ordinary gun in being much heavier as to barrel, thus enabling it to carry a big charge of buckshot. No less than twenty-one buckshot are loaded into each barrel. That means a shower of forty-two leaden messengers, each fit to take a man's life or break a bone if it should reach the right spot. And as the buckshot scatters literally the odds are all in its favor. At close quarters the charge will convert a man into a most unpleasant mess, whereof Curly Bill was a conspicuous example. As for range--well, at 100 yards, I have killed a coyote with one of these guns, and what will kill a coyote will kill a stagerobber any day.

(I’d kinda like to see someone who could consistently hit a coyote size target at 100 yards with a shotgun and buckshot.  Hamp)

[williamlayton]

are ya sain he was tellin a tal one?
blessings

[Dan Chamberlain]

Who was a town marshal in Montana about the turn of the century.  By all accounts, he was pretty much a worthless scoundrel, mean and sadistic, using the badge as justification for his actions.  There was a man in town who seemed to draw the ire of my long departed great, great, great uncle or whatever.  Perhaps he was the town drunk (the story is sketchy as my Grandmother told it to me once long ago and has since left this earth)  Anyway, this man was intoxicated one Sunday morning and my relative was on his surry with his wife returning from church.  He spotted the drunk and decided that Sunday was not an appropriate day to be drunk in public.  He got off his surry and told the man he was going to jail.  Now a trip to jail wasn't normally such a bad thing, but in the case of my relative, it normally entailed a beating as well.  This gentleman decided he had been mistreated for the last time.  The story is, both barrels were fired, and my relative departed this earth in his Sunday finest!  The drunk was acquitted as it was self defense.  There was a different attitude back then about what was and was not self defense.  In my mind, they were probably right!

Dan C

[Capt Hamp Cox]

Dan,

Appreciate you sharing your family lore with us.  Sounds a lot like old time Texas justice.

Hamp

[Capt Hamp Cox]

More on John Slaughter:

1880, Mexico:
Slaughter, two black hands named John Swain and Old Bat, and several other cowboys had gone into Mexico to retrieve stolen stock. As they drove the stock back to the ranch, bandidos appeared, and Slaughter's Mexican vaqueros fled into the brush. But John and the two black cowhands drove the stock into a box canyon and readied their shotguns for action. The bandidos charged into the canyon, into the face of those shotguns. John and the two cowboy's quickly drove the bandidos away.

1887, Fairbank, Arizona:
John and Deputies Burt Alvord and Doc Hall tracked Gerónimo Baltiérrez, a murderer and bandit, to Fairbank. Baltiérrez and his señorita were in a tent about one-half mile from town, the three lawmen surrounded the tent and ordered the outlaw to come out. The outlaw slit the side of the tent and ran to a nearby fence, where Slaughter killed him with two blast from his shotgun.

June 7, 1888, Cochise County, Arizona:
John, Alvord, and two Mexicans had trailed a group of bandits to their camp in the Whetstone Mountains. At dawn John, shotgun in hand, ordered the sleeping outlaws to surrender. John then opened fire, wounding one of the fugitives. The bandit leader, Guadalupe Robles, jumped to his feet with his pistol in hand. John shot him dead. Another outlaw named Manuel sprinted out of camp, John shouted, "Burt, there is another son-of-a-bitch. Shoot him!" Not waiting for Burt, John shot the fleeing man and hit him. Then he ordered the rest of his posse to chase after him and kill him. The man somehow escaped.

More at http://www.theoldwestwebride.com/txt4/gfs3.html#anchor690787

[RB Rooson]

I seem to remember on an "A&E" Special a couple of years ago, that it was agreed that the SHOTGUN was the weapon of choice in the Old West....extremely deadly and forgiving to the holder (meaning 'maximum results without a great deal of accuracy' for the shooter).

It all makes sense to me.......

[williamlayton]

hamp----the shotgun did a pretty fair job of defending it's reputation in "open range"--- as if after nam the shotgun needed any defending-but that is another discussion.
blessings