Violence in the Wild West?

Passage 1 [Note the year of this passage. For more information, see "Cowboys' Shifting Reputation" worksheet.]

It is not a strange thing that such an occupation and such environment should have developed a class of men whom persons accustomed to the usages of cultivated society would characterize as ruffians of the most pronounced type. But among the better disposed of the Texas cow-boys, who constitute, it is believed, much more than a majority of them, there were true and trusty men, in whom the dangers and fortunes of their lives developed generous and heroic traits of character. The same experiences, however, led the viciously inclined to give free vent to the worst passions. Upon slight provocation they would shoot down a fellow–man with almost as little compunction as they fired upon the wild beasts.

^{Source: Nimmo, Joseph Jr. "The American Cow-Boy." Harpers New Monthly Magazine. 73(No. 438 November, 1886):880}

Passage 2

Although many different characters contributed to the vice and violence in the new town, cowboys epitomized (or at least were blamed for) much of the wild behavior in early Red Lodge [Montana]. In the early 1890s, cowboys constituted an unemployed ‘hobo’ population in Red Lodge during a large part of the year. Many of the cowhands who drove cattle to the railhead of the Rocky Ford Railway line were fired from their ranch jobs during the winter months; they wandered in and out of town, taking odd jobs here and there, often rustling livestock to keep from starving. With no police force or town government to enforce codes of behavior, the cowboys freely carried and fired weapons, relieving their boredom through smoke, noise, and fear.

^{Source: Christensen, Bonnie. Red Lodge and the Mythic West. University Press of Kansas, 2002. 28.}

Passage 3

Cattle-town residents who had their town invaded each summer by drunken young men certainly had reason to worry about a certain amount of unpleasantness. But recognizing the potential for violence, they systematically and prosaically did their best to limit danger. . . .

Gun control and regular police forces were, by and large, successful in curtailing violence. There were never more than five murders in any given cattle town during a single year despite the presence, on both sides of the law, of gunfighters. . . . During the peak years of cattle towns, the average number of homicides was only 1.5 a year for each town.

This restricted (at least when compared to myth) number of murders did not result from the potential murderer’s fear of quick and violent retaliation. When murders did occur, cattle-town residents did not demand excessive punishment. Cattle-town merchants feared that executing a cowboy just because he had killed another cowboy might discourage Texans from returning and spending their money.

^{Source: White, Richard. "It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own ." University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. 330.}