Over 100 years ago, west of the Mississippi River there were
huge areas of land filled with cattle, buffalo, Indians, cowboys, lawmen,
outlaws and of course the famous gunslingers. The area and time was known as
the Wild West and the stories of the gunfights, bank robberies, train holdups
and other lawless activities that took place are still legendary in today’s
society. Among the celebrated names that came from that era were Jesse James,
Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp and the most famous
Jewish gunslinger Jim Levy.
The era of
the Wild West started before the Civil War (1861-1865) and the image of a
swashbuckling cowboy on a fast horse brandishing his six shooters can be traced
to the territorial wars with the plains Indians in the 1820s. After the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803 from France ,
America
doubled in size and the government wanted citizens to settle on the lands.
Obviously, the Indians and the Mexicans living in Texas were livid and fought a prolonged war
with the settlers (and American soldiers that would from time to time to help)
that would last until the end of 19th century.
At the
beginning, the setters suffered terribly because the Indians would attack on
fast ponies and were able to shoot about twenty arrows a minute. The settlers
had mainly slow horses and muskets that would only shoot at most three bullets
a minute. Even when the US Army stepped in, they could only do a little better
with there faster horses (this unit was called the Dragoons and were a
precursor to the cavalry).
The
settlers also created a horseback unit called the Texas Rangers and they were
only able to do so much with the outdated firearms available at the time. The
call went out for manufactures on the east coast to create a weapon that could
shoot several bullets a minute. The manufactures, Smith and Wesson, Remington, Winchester and Colt,
answered the call and produced the six-shooter. The first six-shooters even had
removable chambers that after fire a quick six shots the shooter would pop out
that magazine and simply put in the next one. The results were felt immediately
because in the first battle with this gun the cavalry of 14 men decimated a
band of 70 Indians. Sam Colt patented the first repeating firearm in the US- the Colt
45. A gun that would be the most sought after was the Colt 45 and it was the
best-known revolver in history. It was a gun that everybody in the Wild West
had to have.
The gunslingers were known as the toughest men
around and that’s exactly the reputation that Jim Levy gained in 1871. He was
born in Ireland , came to the
US ,
and worked in the coalmines. He was also a gambler and a merchant but his real
calling was the six-shooter. On May 30, 1871, he witnessed the shooting of Tom
Gasson in Pioche , Nevada
Duels were
extremely rare in the Wild West (they were made famous in the movies but there
are only a handful of documented cases), but the gentleman’s law stated that
you can’t shoot an unarmed man, so Levy was allowed to retrieve his gun. The
details of the gunfight are a little too gory for this article, but at the end,
Casey was dead and Levy had a permanent scar on his face. Levy was acquitted
for the murder because he claimed it was in self-defense and got the $5,000.
After this
gunfight, Levy had at least 16 other confrontations in the Wild West. The most
famous was with a prolific outlaw Charlie Henderson in Cheyenne , Wyoming Harrison
would win with no problem. Harrison said some
racial remarks about Levy being Jewish and Irish and the fight quickly
escalated. Harrison shot very quickly but missed and Levy, who was always cool
under fire, shot and killed Harrison . Both Bat
Masterson and Wyatt Earp believe this battle was a keen example of how “calm
deliberation” will always have an edge over speed in situations such as
these. Levy was ambushed at a saloon and was killed in 1882.
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