Anderson - Outlaws of the Old West

By Charles D. Anderson

Editor, Mankind Books

Throughout history there have been menand women too, for that matterwho have placed themselves above and outside the laws that govern ordinary men. Call them outlaws or criminals, their actions have been motivated by personal gain, vengeance, rebellion and so forth ... reasons very justifiable to them. And those people are still with us, as a glance at the front page of any newspaper will show.

The outlaws of the Old West weren't really that colorful, although some were ingeniously enterprising and ruthless. And by today's standards their crimes weren't that terrible. We are undoubtedly more appalled by reports of senseless mass slayings today than the average person in Abilene was at the news of a stage holdup. And while citizens walking the streets of Dodge City might have been startled to find themselves in the midst of a spontaneous gunfight, we sometimes find ourselves wondering whether it's even safe to venture out onto the streets at all.

This is not intended to underrate the crimes of the Old West, because taken on a relative basis they could be extremely serious to the victims. The Frontier was isolated and desolate. Limited transportation and the precarious trip itself had required men and women who had made the phenomenal journey from the East to leave behind many prized belongings. Consequently, private property was highly valued and would often be defended to the death. Whatever possessions existed, whether for practical or sentimental purpose, were essentially one of a kind items that could not be simply replaced. They were belongings that represented hardship and deprivation, and their loss through robberies and lootings could be a heartbreaking catastrophe.

What really gives the outlaws of the Old West a unique qualityapart from the romantic lore that has grown up around themis the stage on which they performed. And therefore, to fully understand their presence in the West and their quick-draw motivations with the six-shooter, we have to understand something of the times and temperament that was the American West.

In many respects the Old West is like the ante-bellum South. It is a civilization gone with the wind. There was no equivalent of the American Frontier anyplace else in the world It was a land of backbreaking challenges where survival itself was constantly jeopardized by awesome obstacles. And it existed in a time when the United States was "a house divided," with brother turned against brother under the glorious blue-gray patriotism that was the Civil War.

The American Frontier represented the hope for a new start, for new lands to conquer, and the entire westward expansion was the ultimate challenge to the individualistic spirit that had first caused the colonists to break away from the domination of England. The Frontier was and still is a truly American institution, as John F. Kennedy reminded us in his inaugural address when he spoke of the challenges that face us at the New Frontier.

The noted historian Frederick Jackson Turner theorized that the development of the American way of life as we know it could be traced back to the Frontier. It was a land of rebirtha promised land that beckoned pioneers who were strong in mind, heart and body. And in that rebirth, as institutions were reformed and rethought, man became shaped by his environment.

Also, according to Turner, it was a land that served as a "safety valve," utilizing the "wide open spaces" to minimize or remove the pressures that had been building up within the cities of the East.

It seems as if the culture and technology of each era in American history contributes toward the breeding of outlaws and criminals indigenous to that period. A good example of this is the airline hijacker. And so it was that the stage was set for the outlaws of the Old Westnot only for those bred in the Frontier spirit, but also for those who sought to escape the dutches of eastern police. The openness of the land, and the majestic mountains and deep canyons made the West a very attractive hiding place.

The very nature of the Frontier experience was also highly conducive to outlawry. In the first place, honest money was very hard to come by. As the article on Sam Bass points out, it would have taken a cowboy more than 33 years to earn the $10,000 that Bass picked up in one robbery. And that cowboy would have worked in the dust and open air all month, from sunrise until late into the night, and maybe have taken home $30.

While need inspired some outlaws, greed spurred others. Many a rustler justified his thievery as he thought of the carte blanche that had contributed to the success of the land, mine and railroad barons.

And then there were those who were either unwilling or unable to face up to the demands of the West. Earning a living, when jobs were available, was a back-breaking consideration. And as one author points out, in the case of raising crops it could also be bitterly frustrating.

The days following the Civil War were free-wheeling and generally lawless. Outlaws like John Wesley Hardin got their start because they were filled with resentment at what they saw going on around them. Men who had faced danger and death on the battlefield considered the West a land of opportunity for anyone proficient and daring enough with a gun. And initially there was hardly anyone to give them an argument. For a long time the law was carried around in each man's holster, and he dealt that law with a heavy hand, depending on which side of the fence he stood on such cut and dried matters as cowboy vs. farmer and cattle vs. sheep. And whoever had the more men and guns on his side obviously had a greater share of the law.

There was hardly any taxation to speak of, and consequently some areas simply didn't have the money to pay a sheriff. Squabbles amongst the neighbors couldn't be settled by a quick call to the police, nor were the courts available to make a judgment on a lawsuit.

Another factor that contributed to outlawry was the great surge of boomtowns. As towns like Dodge, Tombstone, Abilene and Virginia City mushroomed, their rapid, boisterous growth didn't seem to leave much room for effective law enforcement. And the outlaws, quick to sniff out a good thing, followed the boom.

But in the same way that factors inherent to the westward expansion contributed to unbridled outlawry, the progress and the innovative spirit that was the Frontier tradition helped to put it down. By 1869 the railroad had already spanned the United States, and desperados who had escaped the eastern police by vanishing into the painted expanse of the West were now being relentlessly pursued. The coming of the telegraph speeded descriptions of the outlaws from town to town, and the pony express conveyed that well-known western publication, the Wanted poster.

Time was rapidly running out for the gunslingers and stage robbers, not to mention the rustlers who were being severely frustrated by that new-fangled stuff, barbed wire.

After a while some of the outlaws began to consider going straight. Both the Wells Fargo stage line and the Union Pacific railroad hired former outlaws to ride guard. Others tried to hold out until the end, and the end usually meant a sheriffs bullet. In most cases they died relatively young, which really isn't so surprising considering the life they had chosen for themselves.

The Frontier spirit of the Old West seemed to inspire the outlaws toward a code of honor all their own. And because of this some western outlaws have been treated in motion pictures and on television as more hero than criminal. Films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , and even the heavily documented How The West Was Won , show the grueling hardships, but the end result is one of glamorization, of romanticizing the facts ... not unlike the treatment of those two other great American outlaws, Bonnie and Clyde.