OLD WEST LEGENDS

Ben Thompson and Other Noted Gunmen

By W.R. (Bat) Masterson in 1907

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I have been asked to write something about the noted killers of men I am supposed to have personally known in the early days of the western frontier and who of their number I regarded as the most courageous and the most expert with the pistol.

In making this request, I may reasonably assume the editor did not consider that he was imposing on me very much of a task, and had it embodied nothing more than the question of proficiency with the pistol, such would have been the case; but in asking me to offer an opinion on the question of physical courage as sometimes exemplified by them under nerve trying conditions, he has placed a responsibility on my shoulders that I hardly care to assume. I have known so many courageous men in that vast territory lying west and south-west of the Missouri River -- men who would when called upon face death with utter indifference as to consequences, that it would be manifestly unjust for me even to attempt to draw a comparison.

Bat Masterson

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Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1868.

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They met on opposite sides of the principal street of the city and opened fire on each other without a moment's delay. Harrison, as was expected, fairly set his pistol on fire, he was shooting so fast and managed to fire five shots at Levy before the latter could draw a bead on him. Levy finally let go a shot. It was all that was necessary. Harrison tumbled into the street in a dying condition and was soon afterwards laid to rest alongside of others who had gone before in a similar way.

That Harrison was as game a man as Levy could not be doubted; that he could shoot much faster, he had given ample proof, but under extraordinary conditions he had shown that he lacked deliberation and lost his life in consequence. The trouble with Charley Harrison was just this-he was too anxious. He wanted to shoot too fast. Levy took his time. He looked through the sights on his pistol, which is a very essential thing to do when shooting at an adversary who is returning your fire.

Johnny Sherman, another well-known Western sport and a near relative of the famous Sherman family of Ohio, was another remarkably fine pistol shot.

When he happened to be where he could not go out and practice with his pistol, he would hunt up a shooting gallery and spend an hour or so practicing with the gallery pistols.

Wanted to Shoot Too Fast

In this way he became an adept in the use of the revolver. He was, as everyone who knew him can testify to, as courageous as a lion and yet, when he started in to kill a dentist in a room in a St. Louis hotel, who had, as he claimed, insulted his wife, he emptied his pistol at the dentist without as much as puncturing his clothes, and mind you, the dentist was not returning his fire. Sherman, like Harrison, was in too big a hurry to finish the job and forgot that there were a set of sights on his pistol.

Levi Richardson is another case in point that will serve to show that coolness and deliberation are very essential qualities in a shooting scrape, and unless a man possesses them, he is very apt to fall a victim to the man who does. Levi Richardson had been a buffalo hunter with me on the plains of western Kansas for several years. We were very close friends and shared our blankets with each other on a great many cold winter nights, when blankets were a very useful commodity. He was thoroughly familiar with the use of fire-arms and an excellent shot with either pistol or rifle. He was a high-strung fellow who was not afraid of any man. He got a notion into his head one night in Dodge City, Kansas, that a young gambler by the name of Frank Loving, generally known as "Cock-eyed Frank," had done him some wrong, and forthwith made up his mind to kill him on sight. He publicly declared what he intended to do to Loving as soon as he met him, and some busybody who had been listening to the threats hastened away to put Loving on his guard.

Frank Loving was a mere boy at the time, but he was not afraid and immediately proceeded to arm himself and be prepared to deal out the best that he had when his man came. He did not have to wait very long, for Richardson was a man to act promptly when once he had made up his mind to do a certain thing; and as he had decided on killing Loving with as little delay as possible, the battle was on almost before a person had time to think. Richardson found Loving sitting unconcernedly on a card table in the Long Branch Saloon and instantly opened fire on him with his Colts 45 caliber pistol. He fired five times at his man in rapid succession, but missed with every shot, and was finally shot dead by Loving, who took his time about his work. It was the cleanest possible shot.

Richardson, like Harrison and Sherman, did not take sufficient time to see what he was doing and his life paid the penalty. No one, however, who knows both men, could truthfully say that Loving possessed a greater degree of courage than Richardson, or that under ordinary conditions he was a better marksman with a gun. He simply had the best nerve, which is a quality quite different from courage. Courage, generally speaking, is daring.

Nerve is Steadiness

I was the sheriff of the county at the time and refused to lock Loving up in jail, holding that he had, in killing Richardson, only acted in self defense; and permitted him to be at large on his own recognizance until his preliminary examination was held, which exonerated him, as I knew it would. I have never stood for murder and never will, but I firmly believe that a man who kills another in defense of his own life should always be held blameless and will always lend a helping hand to such a man.

Frank Loving was himself murdered three years later by another gambler by the name of John Allen, in Trinidad, Colorado. Allen, soon after his acquittal for the murder of Loving, became a street preacher and of course all has been forgiven.

 

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Also See:

The Long Branch Saloon, May, 2004,  David

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