Gunfighter - Outlaw or Lawman

Outlaw or Lawman

It is often difficult to separate lawmen of the Old West from outlaws of the Old West. In many cases, the term gunfighter was applied to constables. Despite idealistic portrayals in television, movies, and even in history books, very few lawmen/gunfighters could claim their law enforcement role as their only source of employment. Unlike contemporary peace officers, these lawmen generally pursued other occupations, often earning money as gamblers, business owners, or outlaws—as was the case with "Curly" Bill Brocius, who, while always referred to as an outlaw, served as a deputy sheriff under sheriff Johnny Behan. Many shootouts involving lawmen were caused by disputes arising from these alternative occupations, rather than the lawman's attempts to enforce the law.

Tom Horn, historically cited as an assassin, served both as a deputy sheriff and as a Pinkerton detective, a job in which he shot at least three people as a killer for hire.

Ben Thompson, best known as a gunfighter and gambler, was a very successful chief of police in Austin, Texas.

King Fisher had great success as a county sheriff in Texas.

Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid both wore badges as lawmen at least once.

"Big" Steve Long served as deputy marshal for Laramie, Wyoming, while the entire time committing murders and forced theft of land deeds. A town with a substantial violent crime rate would often turn to a known gunman as their town marshal, chief, or sheriff, in the hopes that the gunman could stem the violence and bring order.

Known gunmen/lawmen were generally effective, and in time the violence would subside, usually after the gunman/lawman had been involved in several shooting incidents, eventually leading to a substantial and well earned fear that kept everyone in line. At times they were hired by cattlemen or other prominent figures to serve as henchmen or enforcers during cattle wars. Although sanctioned by law enforcement officials, the gunmen were not always actually deputized. Sometimes, however, just to make things "official", they would go through the formality of deputization. A case in point: the service of the Jesse Evans Gang, and outlaw Jesse Evans himself, as agents for the Murphy-Dolan faction during the Lincoln County War. While technically working as lawmen, they were little more than hired guns.

Usually, when a gunman was hired by a town as town marshal, they received the full support of the townspeople until order was restored, at which point the town would tactfully indicate it was time for a change to a less dangerous lawman who relied more on respect than fear to enforce the law. Sometimes the gunman would simply become bored as the times changed and move on. A good example was the 1882 decision by the El Paso, Texas, town council to dismiss Town Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire. He entered the council hall and dared the councilors to try to take his guns or his job, at which point they immediately changed their mind, saying he could keep his job. He resigned on his own a couple of days later. Another example was the dismissal of Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens in Holbrook, Arizona, after which the local county commission also withheld his last paycheck. Owens entered the county building and forced them to pay him at gun point, and he received no resistance.In the case of Marshal Jim Courtright, for example, he did "clean up the town" while serving as town marshal for Fort Worth, Texas. However, it was his habit of strong-arming local businesses in the area into paying him for protection that ultimately led to his fatal gunfight with gunman and saloon owner Luke Short.