Thursday, August 24, 2017

Statues, Charlottesville, Virginia, & General Custer

Confederate General Robert E. Lee Statue In Charlottesville, Virginia
Dear Friends,

The news media is full of a whole lot of hate and discontent these days. It seems that they are fueling the anger and violence going around the country. The news media's constant barrage of cruel and bitter criticisms of President Trump on a daily basis, and their rabid like hunger for more unrest, seems to be unquenchable.

The ongoing assault on our historical markers, our memorials and statues dedicated to people and events in our history, especially Confederate statues, seems to be persistently promoted by the news media. Their cameras and the promise of getting on the news is what attracts protesters with bad intentions. Yes, no different than sharks and blood in the water.

In Charlottesville, Virginia, an assorted crowd gathered to protest the removal of statues of Confederate soldiers, Confederate memorials. One group was there to protest their removal. Another group was there to protest those protesting. Then the hate groups showed up. Most were not from Charlottesville. Many were from other states. It's true, we later found out that many if not most were brought there from out of the area. And yes, the counter protest hate group that showed up with clubs and dressed for war was said to have been paid $25 an hour.

One hate group there was waving Fascist Socialist flags of those we defeated in Nazi Germany.  The other carried Communist Socialist flags of the now defunct Communist state that the world knew as the Soviet Union. Both hate groups waved the flags of those we Americans defeated at one time or another.

Of course their were good people there, yes there were. They did not associate with either hate group. They had a different agenda. Their concern was to keep the memorials in place because in many cases those memorials represented the history of their families, their town, their resilience, their history of defending the South against what was seen as invaders from the North.

I can understand how people from there are upset that the monuments dedicated to their ancestors are now seen as vile when they are not. Some say that the monuments that they want pulled down represent oppression of Black Americans, that they represent those who fought to protect the institution of slavery. But what if they they are wrong and they don't? What if the memorials stand as tributes to soldiers who stopped pillage and destruction of their town?

For me, I wanted to know why Charlottesville, Virginia, became the battleground over the removal of Confederate memorials throughout the South. Frankly, the only thing that I have ever read about Charlottesville was that Union General George Armstrong Custer once retreated from there after an hour long skirmish. Fact is, there were no big Civil War battles in Charlottesville and it wasn't very important to the North militarily, that is other than as a diversion which led to the skirmish that I mentioned.

Fact is, it's said that the folks in Charlottesville provided some materials to the Confederacy but not much. The Charlottesville Manufacturing Company operated cotton and woolen mills that made Confederate uniforms. The factory produced uniforms designed especially for the county's home guard which was known as the Albemarle Light Horse Cavalry. Their jackets cost $2.75 and a pair of trousers cost $1.50 each. The factory was burned down by the occupying Union troops in 1865. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1867 as the Charlottesville Woolen Mills. It later became Albemarle County's largest industry for many years. 

A man by the name of Marcellus McKennie opened McKennie and Company on July 1st, 1861. He was in the business of manufacturing swords for the Confederacy. His firm put out four to five swords a week. No, that was not what anyone would call record breaking production by any stretch of the imagination. To give you an idea just how slow that was, about 30 miles away, manufacturer T. D. Driscoll in the town of of Howardsville was making 28 to 30 swords a week. And yes, that was during the same time period. 

Charlottesville did preform one very essential service to the Confederacy as it had a 500 bed hospital that was used by the military. Yes, both sides at one point or another. The Confederacy first and then the Union after they occupied that town. I'm guessing that they were glad that they didn't end up burning it to the ground as planned.

As for that hospital, it actually employed hundreds of residents from Charlottesville. Yes, white and freed slaves. It's also said that it had anywhere between 15 to 50 doctors to treat its more than 22,000 patients.

Here's another bit of trivia about Charlottesville. At that hospital, Dr. J. L. Cabell who was a professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Virginia also managed the hospital. He oversaw, among others, Marcellus McKennie the sword maker who was also a surgeon and Dr. Orianna Moon. While Marcellus McKennie was a surgeon and sword manufacturer, he was also a Colonel in the 88th Virginia which were part of the town's defenders.

As for Dr. Moon, she was the hospital's superintendent of nurses. She was an Albemarle County native who was described as being anti-Slavery. She was a graduate of the Female Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and she was one of only 38 women who held medical degrees in the entire United States that year.

Most of the 1,100 patients who died at the hospital during the Civil War are buried in unmarked graves in a field adjacent to the University of Virginia cemetery. And yes, I'm sort of surprised that ANTIFA hasn't demanded that those graves-stones be removed just as they're demanding that other Confederate statues be removed.

Charlottesville General Hospital cared for soldiers wounded in battle and those sick from disease. What a great number of people probably don't realize is that diarrhea, typhoid, measles, dysentery, and pneumonia were far more common ailments, then the 40% of the patients that were there being treated for gunshot wounds. And yes, amputation was the most commonly performed medical procedures when it came to gunshot wounds of limbs.

As for those amputations, Charlottesville was known to provide many of the Southern states with artificial limbs. A firm named G. W. Wells and Brothers provided artificial limbs both during and after the war. In fact, that firm supplied Confederate General John Bell Hood with an artificial leg after he lost his right leg at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863. An interesting bit of trivia is that General Hood was recovering in Richmond when he received his artificial limb from Charlottesville. Fact is he had already ordered one and it had been sent to him from France. It's said he preferred his Charlottesville limb over the French artificial leg.

Friends, artificial limbs was a big deal since many many soldiers needed them during and after that war. If I recall, artificial limbs accounted for 20 to 30% of some state's budgets after the war. And fact is, that was for many of the states involved in the fighting.

It's said that Charlottesville had a population of about 3,000 at the beginning of the Civil War. And though it only had 3,000 residents, it was the largest town in Albemarle County. Of course with the production of clothing and swords, there were a few factories there. And of course there were also banks and hotels. Amazing to me is the fact that the town had six newspapers at the time.

As for Charlottesville, I found it interesting that the population of Charlottesville was made of mostly of Black Americans during the Civil War. In fact, before and after the Civil War, a period from 1820 to 1890, Blacks were the majority of the town and in Albemarle County as a whole. And while there were slaves there, the town of Charlottesville also had a number of freed slaves who lived there. For some, I'm sure that fact may be a little hard to believe since many folks are led to believe that all Blacks in the South were either slaves or on the run going North.

But it's true, according to the United States Census of 1860, Albemarle County was home 13,916 Black slaves, 606 freed slaves, and 12,103 Whites. I couldn't find any statistics regarding how many White slaves were in that county at that time. But rest assured, Virginia did have White slaves. And most, well most were Irish.

If you find that interesting, here's another bit of history that might amaze you. Charlottesville was partially integrated in that it had a bi-racial First Baptist Church there even before the Civil War ever started. In fact, it is said that many Black members of that congregation also went on to establish The Charlottesville African Church in 1863. Yes, imagine that for a moment. In the middle of the Civil War, in the South, in 1863, Blacks, both slaves and freed slaves, decided that they wanted their own church and simply started one. No, you don't find that sort of information in history classes.

While some people today are angry at Confederate soldiers, they actually defended Charlottesville from being looted and razed to the ground. And while many today are angry at Confederate soldiers, fact is the most prominent citizens in that town were Democrat slaveholders.

Charlottesville's wealthy civilians were the slaveholders, and they wanted to maintain the culture and racial divide of the antebellum South. Among some of the ways that they tried to maintain the statuesque was to require certain standards of behavior by everyone, including slaves and freed slaves. For example, the wealthy civilian slave-owners demanded that their slaves did not smoke in public. Those who did would get ten lashes. That was for Black and White slaves. For freed slaves, there was a $10 fine for violating such rules as not smoking in public. As for slaves or freed slaves violating the town's curfew of being out past nine o'clock at night without written permission, there were lashings and fines as well.

People today probably don't know about how the law also cracked down on the mixing of the races back then. Yes, it went on back then. For example, there was a freed slave, a Black man by the name of Jackson. He lived on University of Virginia property. In 1863, he and his wife were evicted from the University grounds and told to stay away. Yes, all because he was married a White woman. Imagine that.

Of course hypocrisy being limitless, when the Confederacy decided to draft Blacks for service in the Confederate Army and for labor to assist with the war effort, it's said that civilian slave-owners would hide or move their slaves rather than allow them to serve or work for the Confederacy. But even though that was the case, from 1862 to 1865, about 1,000 slaves, mostly Black but also some White slaves were pressed into service to fight for the Confederacy. That's the number of slaves that Charlottesville and the rest of Albemarle County had to offer. 

So now you're wondering, how about Civil War battles there? Well, Charlottesville pretty much avoided seeing fighting during the Civil War. On April 17th, 1861, when the Virginia Convention in Richmond voted to secede, as with others in the South, most Charlottesville residents were all for supporting a Confederacy.

While most today think the Civil War was all about slavery, fact is it had more to do with unfair tariffs and economic pressures being imposed on the South by the Federal government in Washington, D.C.. The economic policies of the Federal government affected the agricultural base of the South in horrible ways while not affecting the industrial North. Southern states affected by the Federal government's unfair trade and economic policies had enough of what Washington D.C. was dishing out.

I believe that the Southern states saw being part of the United States as being a part of a compact or an alliance. As with most of the other states at the time, Virginia saw itself as it's own nation allied with other nation states. They looked at their alliance with the other states that made up the United States as being voluntary.

For a modern comparison, Virginia was no different than modern day Great Britain who just exited from it's alliance with the European Union. The Brits did so because the European Union capital in Brussels Belgium was imposing unfair rules and regulations on Great Britain. The British wanted their sovereignty back and withdrew from that compact agreement. In reality, Virginia believed that they had the right to do the very same thing back in 1861 for most of the same reasons. They felt that they volunteered to join the alliance. And frankly, I truly believe that they saw it as an alliance and not as a forfeiture of their own sovereignty.

In 1861, after the vote for secession, the 19th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army. It fought mostly as a part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The 19th Virginia Infantry was organized at Manassas Junction in May of 1861, and it contained men recruited at Charlottesville and in the counties of Albemarle, Nelson, and Amherst. The 19th Virginia actually served with the Army of Northern Virginia all the way through to the Appomattox Campaign when General Lee surrendered in 1865.

The 19th Virginia Infantry Regiment was commanded by U.S Army West Point graduate Philip St. George Cocke as its Colonel. Composed of ten companies, the 19th Virginia included two companies from Charlottesville. Those units were Company A of the Monticello Guard and Company B of the Albemarle Rifles.

Charlottesville also put together an 11 man regimental band which was known previously as the Charlottesville Silver Cornet Band. That band played such great music that they were actually considered the best in the Army of Northern Virginia. Sadly, the band disbanded in 1862. So the tenure of the Charlottesville Regimental Band was actually pretty short. And no, I have no idea if they went back to calling themselves The Charlottesville Silver Cornet Band.

The 19th Virginia is said to have fought at the First Battle of Manassas, also known to the Union as the First Battle of Bull Run. They served at the Battle of Williamsburg, the Seven Days' Battles, the Battle of Antietam, and were part of Pickett's Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg where lost 60 percent the regiment were either killed or wounded.
Of those lost during the course of the Civil War, it is said that of the approximately 1,600 men who served in the 19th Virginia's ranks, only 30 were left to surrender at the Battles of Sailor's Creek on April 6, 1865. Yes, just three days before Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

As you can see, though the men of Charlottesville and the rest of Albemarle County fought to stave off what they saw as a Northern invasion, the fighting was mostly to the East and West of Charlottesvile. That is other than the raid led by Union General George A. Custer. But frankly, the town's Confederate defenders stopped Custer just north of the town in the spring of 1864.

Most Confederate Generals were no different than the vast majority of their troops in that they did not own slaves. Most Confederate soldiers in Virginia saw their duty as protecting their homeland from invading Northerners. As for Charlottesville's Confederate defenders, it was staffed by it's residents for the most part. They organized units including a provost guard, a home guard, and the 47th and the 88th Virginia militia regiments.

In 1864, Charlottesville did become a diversionary target of a Union Army operation which later became known as the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. The raid took place when Union General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick launched a cavalry attack on Richmond itself in 1864. This was an operation meant to liberate 15,000 Union prisoners of war being held in Richmond.

General Kilpatrick's plan required two diversionary attacks to distract Confederate defenders. Union Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, yes the one-legged veteran of Gettysburg, was to strike at Richmond from the south while Union General Custer was to hit Albemarle County. Custer's attack was meant to divert Confederate troops away from Generals Kilpatrick and Dahlgren.

At Madison County, General Custer and his command of 1,500 troops set out to destroy the Lynchburg Railroad Bridge over the Rivanna River. They were then to attack and burn any factories and supplies, and even the hospital, in Charlottesville which was 40 miles away.

On February 29th, 1864, General Custer crossed the Rivanna River near the Earlysville–Charlottesville road and launched his surprise attack. He attacked the camp of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's Horse Artillery Battalion which was made up of about 200 men. Many of them recently wounded and convalescing.

Because of the overwhelming odds, General Custer captured the Confederate camp and burned everything there. The Confederate artillerymen briefly retreated to a nearby hill to regroup when one of their own caissons is said to have accidentally exploded. The Confederates defenders were said to be in the process of making a counterattack when that caisson blew up.

So at that very moment, Union General Custer hears the explosive and thinks that Confederate artillery is opening up. So even though he has an overwhelming force, he retreats because he though that Confederate reinforcements had arrived. And friends, even though Custer's skirmish near Charlottesville only lasted less than an hour, local residents designated it the "Battle of Rio Hill."

Custer did destroy the Confederate camp, but he failed at his primary mission of diverting Confederate troops from Richmond. To salvage some good news from what turned out to be quite a fiasco, Union General George G. Meade, who was the Commander of the Army of the Potomac, declared the Charlottesville expedition a success.

By early 1865, fearing the onslaught, the looting, pillaging, the burning of the town, by Union troops, the town's fathers sought out the Union Army to sue for peace. Yes, because of their fears, town and university officials surrendered to Union Generals Philip H. Sheridan and General George Custer on March 3rd, 1865.

It is said that the Union initially occupied Charlottesville following General Robert E. Lee's surrender a month later. The town soon came under the jurisdiction of the Union Army as an occupation force which consisted of a regiment of Pennsylvania cavalry. The city fathers surrendering Charlottesville was to prevent the town from being razed, which thankfully it wasn't.

It should be noted, since we're talking about monuments and why they are there, that the residents of Charlottesville at the time were very thankful to their Condeferate defenders for saving their town. In fact, knowing that the Confederate defenders stopped the destruction of Charlottesville by Union forces, the women of Charlottesville, both white and freed slaves, presented a $500 silk flag to the Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's Horse Artillery Battalion. That flag read, "From The Ladies of Charlottesville To Stuart's Horse Artillery, Our Brave Defenders."

Southern towns like Charlottesville which survived the war have a debt of gratitude to the Confederate Army for saving their towns and cities. Complete and total destruction of towns and cities were common place during the Civil War. As for what those women did, it was a wonderful gesture. It was truly a wonderful gesture from the great ladies of Charlottesvilles who knew how to say thank you to those who saved their town from ruin.

I find it interesting that the statue in Charlottesville that was the center of such violence and hatred not too many days ago, was one of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  I find it interesting that the statue was unveiled in 1924 by General Lee’s three-year-old great-granddaughter, that it was actually made in the North, and that it was designed by a New York sculptor. I also find it amazing that people would attack General Robert E. Lee who really was the great defender of Virginia. 

Friends, it is really a shame that there are too many today who have no clue why we Americans have memorials dedicated to those who we owe a debt of gratitude, to those who fought overwhelming odds to protect other Americans, to those who have been dead ages and ages ago and should still be remembered for their great deeds. Their efforts and deeds should not be forgotten. 

And by all means, their lives and purpose should not be re-written by those who with a political agenda. Those who now attempt to re-write history for their own self-interest. Their lives and accomplishes should not be lessened by those of far lesser character in this modern world.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa


Sunday, August 20, 2017

Wyoming Outfitter Being Investigated For Animal Cruelty


Dear Friends,

Let's talk about a horrible act of someone abusing a horse until he kills the animal in a "training session." This is as abusive as can take place because this appears to be a totally willful act. What makes this a horrendous crime is the man doing this actually appears to have did this on purpose.

This picture above is a still from a video taken by Mary Wendell Lampton. She is the neighbor of Wyoming outfitter Forest Stearns. In her video, we can clearly see Stearns with a horse that he tied up and tortured for what is believed to be at least 6 hours.

He tied the horse's head to one end of the pen, and the horses hind legs to the other end of the pen. Then he fell the horse to the ground while the horse was wearing a pack saddle. He is reported to have told the police that he was trying to shoe the horse. After telling the police that he was trying to shoe the horse, he then changed his story to say that it was all a "training session."

Even if that were true, then why have that pack saddle on that horse while doing it. I have been around horses since I was a little kid, and frankly I've never seen this type of torture inflicted upon a horse. And to say, at first, that he was trying to shoe the horse? While I don't know the man other than what I've read about him, it seems like he was trying to cover himself with that story after the police were called.

In the video, it's clear that he was not trying to shoe that horse. It is as plain as day, and everyone watching that video can see it for themselves, that that wasn't the case at all. What is depicted in the video is a wannabe horse trainer in the midst of torturing a defenseless animal. This incident took place earlier this month in Wilson, Wyoming, in Teton County, just a fairly short distance from Jackson Hole.

As I said before, it was reported that he actually tortured that horse over a 6 horse period of time before the horse died. Yes, in my opinion, he ultimately killed the horse because the horse died after being savagely abused. Of course, not surprisingly, Stearns is said to have also claimed that the whole thing was a "training session".

Yes, imagine that, 6 horses of inflicting horrible suffering upon a horse and then call it a "training session." And friends, I'm wondering the same thing that I'm sure you're wondering about when I first read about this, was it his horse or was it a horse that he was "training" for someone else? While abusing a horse to the point of killing it is horrible in either case, imagine if Stearns had your horse to "train"? Imagine if he killed it instead of training it?

Forest Stearns is said to be 63 years old and owns Stearns Outfitters. Remember, he told the police that he was doing what he did just to be able to shoe the horse. He said his "training session," a session of torturing that horse for 6 hours before it died, was a training technique meant to stop a horse from kicking at a farrier. Imagine that.

What Stearns is said to be doing is something that some trainers think is necessary to break a horse's spirit. Some trainers believe that doing what Stearns did is the only way to truly break a horse’s spirit when getting ready to train it.

As asinine as the method is, some so-called "horse trainers" truly believe that this is helpful. The method involves tying a horse’s legs together and then forcing the horse to fall to the ground. Some of the so-called "trainers" who train this way have more incidents of creating injured horses in the process.

To me, in my experience, it's a fool's idea of training a horse in a supposed "old way" of doing things. I've often wondered if these same people believe in other things that have been found to just to scar and horrify a horse for life. Or frankly, will kill a horse.

There are horribly abusive training method that people attribute to the "old days" that should never be used. For example, one method where a horse is called "hang-tying." This is where a horse is literally handed by a halter over night away from food and water. The ignorant gunsels who do this believe that this breaks a horse's spirit and makes a horse less resistant to training.

Of course, there are those who believe that a training session means riding, or longeing, a horse to exhaustion to get the "fresh" out of a horse. The horse is put on a line, runs around like an idiot until they are worn out and winded. The idea is to get a horse in a working frame of mind. But lunging is a training method that we should use establish parameters before we step into a saddle, not exhaust the horse.

Some wannabe trainers believe in excessive spurring, especially with so-called "rock grinders" spurs with sharp rowels. Some believe in jerking on a horse's mouth used a severe bit such as a twisted-wire snaffle to causing injury to the tongue, bars, or lips. And along with that is those who like the horrible method jerking on a shank when a chain is used over the face or in the mouth. And then there's the bit method called "bitting up" where a horse is left to stand withholding water to create submissiveness. And yes, there are those who really believe that starving a horse into weakness is a way of getting a horse to "submit".

Then there are those who simply think that they can whip and beat terror into a horse to get it's cooperation. We've all heard stories of these same sorts of peole hitting a horse in the head with a can or a stick or even a board. And yes, I've personally seen some of these types of so-called trainers get so angry and frustrated with a horse that their "training session" turns into a "whoop ass session" as one trainer put told me once.

I'm old enough to have seen some great "Old School" methods that were gentle and effective ways training horses. That's why I know that a real trainer, one conscious of the horse's safety and keeping the horse's spirit in tack, doesn't use "Old School" techniques that are just plain animal cruelty. Horse "training" should not mean abusing a horse to the point were the trainer ends up having to put the horse down because their training session was so extremely severe.

And as for these people who say they have to "break a horse's spirit," I think they are wrong. Besides conformation, age, and what training a horse may or may not have had, my grandfather taught me to look for a horse with spirit and drive when buying a horse. He wanted me to look for horses that can connect with a rider and doesn't quit when needed to move cows all day.

Some of the wannabe trainers out there believe that a horse's spirit should be broken. What they don't seem to understand is that there is a difference between a horse that submits to ques and commands, and a horse which has had it's spirit broken. 

Most intelligent trainers take the good ways that took place back in the day and combine them with more modern techniques. Most real trainers understand how truly cruel this is and won't do it. Most will take from the old school and the new, and will not use such an unacceptable, unnecessary and cruel method of training. 

To me, after watching the video, Stearns may be a sadist who receives pleasure from inflicting harm on people and animals. For someone to do what he did for 6 hours is sinful, if not criminal. And no, I'm not writing his actions off to his ignorance. 

According to what I've researched, Stearns has been around horses for many years. So knowing that he is not some idiot novice who watched the movie "Horse Whisperer" one too many times and now thinks he's a horse trainer, he must have known real well that he went beyond training and was torturing the horse. 

Let's be real frank here, anyone who has spent any real time around horses knows real well that training a horse is an on-going process. Horses don't just learn in formal training sessions, they are experiencing training whenever you interact with your horse. Yes, for better or worse, every time you deal with you horse, you're doing training. And that in itself is why we all need to pay attention to what our horses are doing.

As for a gentle reprimand for misbehaving, remember that what most call "rank" horses are really just horses that have been allowed to behave badly. And no, no matter what a movie may try to depict as reality, fact is there are no quick fixes or one size fits all training. Every horse is different, and some take more training and longer training sessions for things to sink in.

Horses are all different, and most real horse trainers, reputable horse trainers, know that. So subsequently, they usually limit periods of really intense training to 20 to 30 minutes. Sometimes less depending horse the horse is responding to the what they are being taught. Believe it or not, sometimes shorter training sessions are better because it keeps a horse focused and interested in what's taking place. 

Remember, before the session starts there is a short few minute warm-up period and after the session ends there is the 10 minute or so cool down period. A session that's now very intense should be anywhere for 30 to 40 minutes or shorter. Working a horse for an hour in a training session is a very long time.

Anyone working horses, training them, knows that it is absolutely important to always end the training session on a good note. Yes, that is true even if the horse wasn't cooperating as much as you wanted that day. Another must is to finish a training session doing something that the horse does real well. Even if it is considered something minor, ending a session on a good note breeds confidence in the horse. 

As far as getting angry, my grandfather taught me that the only emotion I should ever have during a training session is "patience". So, with my knowing what I've been taught since I was old enough to walk, I'd say 6 hours of "training" a horse using cruel and inhumane treatment is a totally unacceptable. 

Forest Stearns is under investigation by the Teton County Sheriff Department for possible animal cruelty in the case. And no, this is not the first time Stearns has had problems when it comes to abusing horses. In fact, from what I've read, he has been reported regularly for abusing horses. And also, he has an police record that shows that he was arrested and booked for drunk driving three years ago. He also has been under investigation by the police for family battery.

And while some are now asking if ' idea of training techniques is legal or not, legal or not what he was doing wasn't humane in the least bit. I've watched the video a number of times to see if there was any sort of excuse for this. Frankly, his behavior is uncivilized. 

The Teton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Forest Stearns after the video of him torturing that horse was posted on the internet. Forest Stearns, owner of Stearns Outfitters in nearby Wilson, is being investigated for cruelty to animals. Sadly, what Stearns did is only a misdemeanor in the state of Wyoming.

To view the Stearns horse abuse video, caught on tape by a neighbor, please go to Wyoming Outfitter Horse Abuse or Forest Stearns Torturing Horse to Death

After you watch it, ask yourself why he is not in jail? Maybe the Teton County Sheriff can explain why he has not done anything about this? Ask him if he's simply writing this sort of behavior off as that's how things are done in Teton County, Wyoming?

If it is, it's certainly not the Cowboy way of doing things! 

Tom Correa




Thursday, August 17, 2017

Al Swearengen & The Gem Theater

The Gem Theater

It seems that I'm being hit with a lot of questions about movie characters. One man recently wrote me to take me to task about Doc Holliday. Then after I posted a picture of the man who is mistaken for Holliday, a couple of readers wrote to ask what have I been smoking? One actually told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, he said he was never going to visit my site again because "the man mistaken for Doc Holliday is Doc Holliday."

Someone reading one of my older articles about all of the swearing in the HBO television series Deadwood and how language like that simply was not used in the Old West. You can find that article at The Old West vs HBO's Deadwood.

He wrote to inform me that his grandfather swore like that all the time and that I didn't know my "ass from a hole in the ground." I answered his letter to tell him that my grandfather swore only when he was angry. He was a Cowboy and reserved that sort of language for when he felt it was OK and when not around women and children. Either way, our grandfathers are not representative of the people of the Old West of the 1800.

Fact is swearing went on, but it was actually blasphemous in nature, unlike today's vulgar language. In fact, even the producer of the television series Deadwood admitted that very thing in an interview. His reasoning for using modern vulgarity is that what was considered vulgarity in the 1800s is too tame for today's television audiences. If someone said, "Damn you". That was considered swearing in the 1800s. He said today's television audiences would laugh at a gunfighter saying such a thing.

Producers make changes that are "historically incorrect" all the time. Take for example the movie Tombstone where the outlaw gang known as the "Cowboys" wore red sashes. The people responsible for making that movie wanted to use "gang colors" like the criminal gangs in Los Angeles, the Crips, and the Bloods. The producers of Tombstone did so even though the outlaw gang, the Cowboys, did not wear red sashes.

The HBO television series Deadwood ran from 2004 to 2006, and the producers decidedly depicted the character Al Swearengen as a politically powerful and influential individual. The show depicts him as a ruthless murderer who guides the town of Deadwood through its growth. The producers decide that Al Swearengen should be English-born and that that character should be referred to as "the slimy Limey".

As a point of interest, the term "Limey" is a derogatory term for a British person. That term is no different than calling an American black person a "Coon." Or calling a South African black person "Kaffir." Or calling a person of Mexican descent "Beaner." Or calling a white American of European descent a "Cracker."

The term "Limey" is thought to have originated in the 1850s as "lime-juicer" because of the Royal Navy's practice in the 1800s of adding lemon juice to their sailors' daily ration of watered-down rum which is known as "grog." The lime juice was believed to prevent scurvy. The British Merchant Shipping Act of 1867 required all ships of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy to provide a daily lime ration to sailors to prevent scurvy. Since at the time, the terms "lemon" and "lime" were used interchangeably to refer to citrus fruits, ignorant people chose to call the Brits by the derogatory term "Limey."

If one reads about the Old West, the 1800s in general, one quickly realizes that scurvy was a real problem both at sea and on land. Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of Vitamin C. Early symptoms include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, red blood cells decrease, there is noticeable tooth decay and gum disease, balding takes place, and bleeding from the skin may occur because scurvy slows wounds from healing. Scurvy is also known to create personality changes and even death from infection or bleeding.

What I find interesting is that taking their daily ration of lime, their needed Vitamin C, actually made British sailors some of the healthiest people around during that time period. Yes, all because it prevented scurvy.

Hollywood might have made Al Swearengen a British immigrant in Deadwood, in reality, he was very much an American. He was born Ellis Albert Swearengen on July 8th, 1845, to Daniel Swearengen and Keziah Swearengen, in Oskaloosa in the Iowa Territory. Yes, right here in the United States.

Al had a twin brother, Lemuel, and they were the eldest of eight children. Al Swearengen is said to have remained at home living with his parents well into adulthood. It wasn't until he was 30 years old that he left home and traveled to Deadwood in May of 1876. At that time, he was married to his first wife, Nettie Swearengen. She later divorced him on the grounds of spousal abuse. Al Swearengen married two more times after Nettie, and both of those marriages also ended in divorces.

After arriving in Deadwood, South Dakota, Al Swearengen started up a tent saloon known as the Cricket. Believe it or not, that small tent saloon is said to have offered gambling and even hosted prizefights out back. It was a success, so he expanded by closing it down and opening the much larger saloon and brothel known as the Gem Theater on April 7th, 1877.

The Gem Theater provided Deadwood with comedians, singers, dancers, and prostitutes. Swearengen called it what he did, but everyone there knew that the "theater" masqueraded as a brothel. The Gem Theater was a saloon and dance hall, but its main business was that of being a brothel.

In fact, The Gem Theater was considered a notorious brothel ripe with sexually transmitted diseases, customers getting rolled, and daily violence. Fairly quickly after opening, the Gem soon gained a reputation for its horrible treatment of the women who were forced to work there. The women who worked for Swearengen were known for looking beaten up because of their constant bruises and other injuries.

Yes, Al Swearengen was a pimp. Like Wyatt Earp, he was a pimp. Of course, Earp was arrested for being a pimp more than once. And yes, that fact in itself shoots down the argument that some have written me to say, "Being a pimp was not seen as we do today."

Al Swearengen treated his "girls" no differently than pimps do today through a combination of intimidation and physical abuse. In his case, he was well known to have beaten women. But the fact is that he also had henchmen who helped "keep the girls in line." 

While Dan Doherty acted as general manager, Johnny Burns was actually in charge of the women and several bouncers. Burns' men were said to have been as brutal to the women working there as Swearengen himself was. Yes, beating the women was said to be a common practice at Swearengen's Gem Theater.  

Besides those small details, what Hollywood didn't show its audience is how Al Swearengen lured young women who were down on their luck to Deadwood with promises of riches but then forced them into prostitution once they arrived. In fact, Al Swearengen is said to have recruited women from back East by advertising job openings in his hotel. Yes, all with the promise of making them stage performers at his theater. He would actually buy their one-way ticket. And when they arrived, the women would find themselves stranded with no other choice but to work for Swearengen.

The fact is, they either worked for him or were thrown into the street. And yes, in case you're wondering how bad was it, some of those desperate women are said to have taken their own lives rather than being forced into a position of slavery.

Was it slavery? Well, yes it was. Of course, no one talks about the slavery of women in prostitution in America. While some believe prostitution was a "chosen profession," and that being the case for some, to many it was a means to make a dollar as a last resort. Pimps are Slave Masters. And just as with other Slave Masters making a dollar off Irish and Black slaves, pimps didn't care if the women died or not. 

Al Swearengen got help from others who looked down on their luck girls for him. One such person is said to be Martha Jane Canary. Yes, the woman known as Calamity Jane was one of his first dancers at the Gem and she is known to have lured at least 10 girls from Sidney, Nebraska, to Deadwood for Al Swearengen.

Though popular among miners, the Gem quickly gained a reputation as a violent saloon where shootings were commonplace. In fact, there is a story about a Gem prostitute by the name of Tricksie who shot a man in the head after she had been beaten by him. The rest of the story goes that the man didn’t die immediately and a doctor was called in. The doctor put a probe through the man’s head. It's said that the doctor was amazed that he survived the gunshot at all. Of course, the man died about thirty minutes later. And no, Tricksie was never tried.

Swearengen wasn't ignorant of the ways of protecting his brothel from the general drive to clean up Deadwood. He made all sorts of political alliances with huge financial payoffs. This protected him from people like Seth Bullock who was Deadwood's first City Marshal.

Now if you're asking yourself where was City Marshal Seth Bullock while all this was going on at The Gem Theater, it's said that Bullock and Swearengen agreed to draw an imaginary line right down the middle of Main Street. The side with the Gem was referred to as the "Badlands". That was the side that was said to be controlled by Swearengen. Bullock controlled the other side. Imagine that.

In the summer of 1879, The Gem Theater was damaged by a fire but was quickly repaired and rebuilt. Some say that the fire was caused by one of the prostitutes who wanted to see the place burned to the ground. Then just a few months later in September of 1879, the entire town of Deadwood suffered a huge fire that is said to have destroyed about 300 buildings. That included The Gem Theater which was again rebuilt, but this time from the ground up. The new Gem was said to be bigger when it opened in December of 1879.

Swearengen left Deadwood after the Gem burned down for the last time in 1899. That was the end of that pimp's 22-year run at owning and operating his whorehouse in Deadwood, South Dakota.

The newspapers were not kind to the Gem after it burned down. One newspaper stated, "Harrowing tales of iniquity, shame and wretchedness; of lives wrecked and fortunes sacrificed; of vice unhindered and esteem forfeited, have been related of the place, and it is known of a verity that they have not all been groundless." Another newspaper wrote calling the Gem Theater, "the ever-lasting shame of Deadwood," "a vicious institution," and a "defiler of youth and a destroyer of home ties."

After the Gem Theater burned in 1899, another fire took place about six months later. That fire destroyed the adjacent buildings to where the Gem was located. In 1921, the site became the location of Deadwood's first gas station. Today, the location where the Gem Theater sat is now the site of the Mineral Palace Casino.

As for Al Swearengen, he left Deadwood right after the Gem burned to the ground in 1899. He is reported to have married Odelia Turgeon that same year. They divorced soon after. Then five years later on November 15th, 1904. at the age of 59, he was found dead near a streetcar track in Denver, Colorado. 

Around two months earlier, his twin brother Lemuel was killed when some unknown assailants shot him in the head. Some say they thought it was a robbery but he was not robbed. Others say Lemuel was shot because he was mistaken for his twin brother Al.

It is often said that Al Swearengen died destitute, penniless, and alone. There were reports that he died while trying to hop a freight train in Denver. But although recent research doesn't address his being penniless of not, it does point to evidence that indicates that he may have been murdered.

The reason for some to think this is that a rediscovered obituary and period newspaper accounts of his death show he died in the middle of a street in suburban Denver nowhere near tracks where he would hop a freight train. Dead of a massive head wound. The obituary that was found states he died of blunt-force trauma to the head. No one at the time was able to determine if it was murder or an accident of some sort.

So if you're wondering, I'm sure there are those who hoped that someone bashed his head in. After all, many would say he deserved it.

Tom Correa





Monday, August 14, 2017

Buffalo Bill Cody's Colt Frontier Six-Shooter


Dear Friends,

In my article Doc Holliday’s Derringer Returns To Colorado, I talked about an 1866 Remington derringer thought to have belonged to Doc Holliday. It turned out to be a fake. After I posted that article, a few of you have written to ask me about other such auctions.

The first thought that hit me was when I read about how Buffalo Bill Cody's Colt Frontier Six-Shooter was auctioned off in June of 2014. While not as juicy a story as what took place with the Doc Holliday derringer that turned out to be a fake, I think this shows the value of collectibles connected to Old West figures.

As most already know, William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was an Army scout, a buffalo hunter, a Medal of Honor recipient, and a showman and entertainer. He is said to have started working at the age of 11 after the death of his father. He later became a rider for the Pony Express at the age of 14. At age 17, in 1863, he enlisted as a teamster with the rank of private in the Union Army. He was part of Company H, 7th Kansas Cavalry, during the American Civil War and served the Union until the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout for the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars. As the result of what he did during one engagement in 1872, he received the Medal of Honor as a civilian Scout. 

In December of 1872, Cody was in Chicago to make his stage debut with his friend Texas Jack Omohundro in "The Scouts of the Prairie," which was one of the original Wild West shows produced by Dime Novelist Ned Buntline. In 1873, Cody asked "Wild Bill" Hickok to join him and Texas Jack in a stage play called "Scouts of the Plains." It is said that Cody relegated Hickok to secondary parts because Hickok "had a voice like a girl." Imagine that.

After almost 10 years of performing in stage shows, he founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1883. He took his show on tours throughout the United States. He also took his show to Great Britain and other nations in Europe in 1887.

Cody is said to have bought his Colt Frontier Six-Shooter Revolver while performing in New York City. That was in January of 1883, the firearms dealer was Hartley & Graham. He used the pistol in his Wild West Show up until it closed down in 1906.

Buffalo Bill Cody's Colt Frontier Six-Shooter sold at auction for $40,625. Part of the significance related to his Colt is that that's the same year he launched his Wild West Show. And though Cody's Colt Frontier was reported as being "unremarkable to look at," it was supposedly one of his favorites among the few firearms that he still owned at the time of his death from kidney failure at the age of 70 in 1917.

Heritage Auctions, the same people involved with the Doc Holliday derringer sale, stated that Cody's Colt Frontier Six-Shooter brought in $40,625. But so did Cody's bear-claw necklace.


That necklace is said to have been made from the claws of a grizzly bear. And yes, it sold at that auction for $40,625. It's also said that Sioux Chief Sitting Bull gave Cody the grizzly bear-claw necklace. 

The Dallas-based Heritage Auctions auction house sold the two pieces during its "Legends of the West Signature Auction" back in 2014. That event is said to have featured around 400 Old West collectibles, which included pistols, rifles, shotguns, badges, authenticated photos, and rare books.


While production of the Colt Frontier Six-Shooter started in 1877, it was a Colt 1873 "Model P" type of single-action revolver. While the auction report said that Bill Cody's Colt Frontier was chambered for .45 Colt, the Colt Frontier Six-shooter was actually manufactured and sold in .44-40 Winchester (WCF) caliber instead of the .45 Colt round.

Being chambered in the .44-40 round meant that it was compatible with Winchester Model 73, which took the same ammunition. Folks using the .44-40 Winchester cartridge in the Old West liked the convenience of carrying one caliber of ammunition that could be fired in both their revolver and rifle. The Colt Frontier Six Shooter Revolver and the Winchester Model 1873, and later the Winchester Model 1892, all three in .44-40 WCF caliber, were among the most common combinations seen back in the day. 

For example, While Wyatt Earp carried a Smith & Wesson Model 3 in his pocket at the shootout in a lot near the OK Corral, a pistol that was given to him by Mayor Clum, the shotgun that Tombstone City Marshal Virgil Earp handed to Doc Holliday is said to have been a 10 gauge double barrel coach gun that Virgil borrowed from the Wells Fargo office. 

Two of the cowboys at that shootout were armed with the .44-40 pistol and rifle combinations.  Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were both armed with Colt Frontier single-action pistols. Tom McLaury was said to be unarmed, but the Earps claimed he was also armed with a pistol. 

Tom McLaury's body was searched after the gunfight, and no pistol was found. In scabbards on the horses belonging to the cowboys were 1873 Winchester rifles in .44-40 caliber. Of course, the Cowboys did not get the chance to use their rifles.

There is another thing, all the guns used during the shoot-out were firing black powder simply because of the fact that smokeless powder wasn't invented yet. If you've shot black powder as I have, then you know really well that it makes a great deal of white smoke. So yes, visibility during that shootout must have been horrible. But for a showman like Buffalo Bill, shooting black powder must have given his Wild West Show a sense of realism that couldn't be gotten from shooting smokeless powder.

As for what was known as "Frontier Calibers," Colts in the calibers of .38-40 WCF and .32-20 WCF were also considered "Frontier Calibers," all because the 1873 and 1892 Winchester rifles were also made in those calibers. They obviously also offered a user the same convenience as the .44-40 WCF caliber did if the buyer bought a Colt and Winchester in those same calibers. 

Its name, "Colt Frontier Six-Shooter," was actually acid-etched on the left side of the barrel. After 1889, the model name was roll-stamped until 1919. In 1919, the caliber designation ".44-40" was added. It's said that Colt's 1895 Bisley model was the final Colt to wear the "Frontier Six-Shooter" designation.

Yes, Buffalo Bill Cody had used his Colt Frontier Six-Shooter in his Wild West Show, doing shooting exhibitions up until it closed in 1906. As for provenance, a record of ownership, proving ownership, the pistol had been passed down through Cody's family until it was first sold at auction in 1988. So yes, this piece of history is well documented. 

As for other collectibles belonging to Buffalo Bill? In 2012, a pistol belonging to Cody, one said to have belonged to him when he was a Scout for the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars, sold for $240,000. Imagine that.

Tom Correa



Friday, August 11, 2017

Doc Holliday & The Man That's Not Him


Dear Friends,

John Escapule is not Doc Holliday. Mr. Escapule's photograph is very often mistaken as being a photo of John Henry "Doc" Holliday. And though often mistaken, the picture of John Escapule is not a picture of Doc Holliday.

Mr. Escapule was born on December 16th, 1856. His place of birth was France. He migrated to the United States from France. He settled in Tombstone in 1877, actually two years before the town was established. His first business in Arizona was when he owned the State of Maine Mine on the edge of Tombstone. He also had an assay office next to the O.K. Corral.

As for his generosity? He was known as a man who would be there for a friend and help in ever way possible those in need. His generousness also extended to the town of Tombstone as well. In fact, he donated land to the city of Tombstone. That land became the "New Cemetery" for the city of Tombstone.

It's true. Because Tombstone was growing fast and the town started to outgrow it's cemetery that we know today as Boothill, there was a need for a new cemetery. The need was answered when John Escapule donated the land. The transfer of the donated land is said to have been sealed with a handshake. That land where the Jennie Belle, Little Tom, and the New Year's Gift mining claims sat at the west end of Allen Street, was gifted to the city for the "New Cemetery" by John Escapule.

The famous Boothill, which now charges visitors $3 to enter, has about 250 people buried there. Among them is Tom and Frank McLaury, Fred White, the now famous Lester Moore. Boothill was used until late in 1884. After that, the New City Cemetery on Allen Street came into use.

It is said that most folks in Tombstone wanted their loved ones buried in the "New Cemetery". In fact, after the "New Cemetery" opened, it's said that quite a few locals living in Tombstone actually had their loved ones disinterred and moved to the "New Cemetery".

Some say the reason for their wanting their family moved had everything to do with who was buried in Boothill. It is said that many who moved their loved ones, simply didn’t like the idea that their family members would be spending eternity along side horse thieves, cattle rustlers, murderers, prostitutes, and "Chinamen".

As for other who were buried in Boothill after it closed, there are actually a few people who were buried in Boothill after 1884. Usually, they were granted special permission prior to their deaths.

Here's a couple of things that I found pretty interesting. Tombstone's Boothill Graveyard was not called "Boothill" until the 1920s when Hollywood gave it that name. Prior to the 1920s, and after 1884 when it closed, Boothill was referred to as "The Old Cemetery."

As for the condition of Boothill over the years, because a great number of residents had moved away after the mining boom went bust, there was almost no one left to tend to the graves.

Of course because Boothill was neglected for years, nature reclaimed a lot of the old cemetery over the years. And besides nature taking it over, the original wooden markers either rotted away or were used for campfires. And if you're wondering if someone would steal a grave marker, some of the wooden makers were indeed stolen by souvenir hunters.

All in all, Boothill became an overgrown garbage dump trampled by free-range cattle. This was so much the case that even former editor of the Tombstone Epitaph as well as former Tombstone Mayor John Clum was appalled by the condition of the old cemetery when he returned to Tombstone in 1929. The story goes that he went to the old cemetery to pay respects to his wife, Mary. When he could not find her grave, he is said to have became visibly distraught.

In the 1930s, some of Tombstone's remaining citizens decided that the old cemetery needed to be cleaned up. It's said they actually called on the local Boy Scouts of America, and gave them the task of clearing the brush, the trash, and other debris. It was then that people tried to recall where various individual’s graves were located.

Some were known and others weren't. As for a few of the more famous people buried in Boothill Graveyard, it is said that there is reasonable certainty that their markers are either at or near the location of their graves.

For example, China Mary was the undisputed ruler of "Hoptown" which was what townsfolk called the Chinese neighborhood in Tombstone. She was granted special permission prior to her death to be buried in Boothill in 1906. Her tombstone is believed to be the actual site of her grave. Dutch Annie was a popular madam who gave generously to many worth while causes as well as to many men who were down on their luck. She was known as the "Queen of the Red Light District." She is believed buried where her marker sits.

Fred White, Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, are supposedly buried where their headstones indicate. All five of those legally hanged for the Bisbee Massacre are buried in the old cemetery. Their graves are said to be at the approximate location where their marker sits.

As for John Escapule, in December of 1903, a couple of outlaws named Burt Alvord and Billy Stiles escaped from the Tombstone Jail and broke into Jim Rock's Dry Goods store . A young boy by the name of "Percy Bowden" was asleep in the store when Alvord and Stiles broke in.

The outlaws held the boy hostage while they robbed the store. And after fleeing the scene, the outlaws actually stopped at John Escapule's ranch to steal two of his horses to help them make their getaway.

John Escapule died on October 11th, 1926. He died of Stomach Cancer. He was buried on October 12th, 1926. At the time of his death in 1926, he was known as a retired Cattleman.

So as you can see, John Escapule is not Doc Holliday. And though Mr. Escapule's photograph is mistaken as being a photo of Doc Holliday, the picture of John Escapule is not a picture of Doc Holliday.

John Henry "Doc" Holliday is buried in Colorado. John Escapule is buried in the "New Cemetery" in Tombstone, Arizona. Yes, the very land that he himself donated to the city of Tombstone.

Tom Correa





Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Doc Holliday’s Derringer Returns To Colorado


Dear Friends,

On March 9th, 2017, an article was published talking about how Doc Holliday’s derringer was returned to Glenwood, Colorado. The story talked about how the Glenwood Springs Historical Society's Frontier Museum bought the derringer for $84,000.

The backstory story about the pistol is that it was supposedly in his room when Holliday died. On the derringer's backstrap, one can clearly read the inscription, "To Doc from Kate."

Of course, "Kate" is none other than "Big Nose Kate." Though many knew her by her famous nickname, her name was, in fact, Mary Katherine Horony. She is believed to have been born on November 7th, 1850, and died on November 2nd, 1940. Yes, just five days short of her 90th birthday.

She was a Hungarian-born prostitute. She was also the longtime companion and supposed "common-law" wife of Doc Holliday. The two supposedly met in Texas in 1877 and remained involved in one way or another until he died in 1887.

Some sources list her as Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings because she married Irish blacksmith George Cummings in Aspen, Colorado, on March 2nd, 1890. It is said that they worked several mining camps throughout Colorado before moving to Bisbee, Arizona, where she briefly ran a bakery. Then while living in Willcox, Arizona, George Cummings is said to have become an abusive alcoholic. Soon enough that they separated.

As for Cummings, he committed suicide in Courtland, Arizona, in 1915. As for Kate, she died of a heart attack a few days short of her 90th birthday. She was buried on November 6th, 1940, under the name "Mary K. Cummings" in the Arizona Pioneer Home Cemetery in Prescott, Arizona.

Among the things that I find fascinating about Big Nose Kate is that she claimed that Doc Holliday wasn't the first dentist she supposedly married. She claimed that while living in St. Louis, Missouri, she married a dentist named Silas Melvin. They supposedly had a son. Both her husband and her son, she claimed, died of yellow fever. 

Of course, as with many claims made by folks back then, no one has been able to produce a record to substantiate her marriage to Melvin, the birth of a child, or even the deaths of both. Then there's the story that Silas Melvin did, in fact, live in St. Louis about the same time, but he was married to a steamship captain's daughter. So really, who knows if Kate was telling the truth or just making up a story. 

We do know that are records showing her as working as a prostitute for madam Blanch Tribole in St. Louis in 1869, And we know that Big Nose Kate was fined while working as a " sporting woman" in a whorehouse in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1874. That brothel was run by Nellie "Bessie" Earp, who was the wife of James Earp, and Sally Heckell, who was the wife of Wyatt Earp.

In 1876, Big Nose Kate moved to Fort Griffin, Texas. And in 1877, that's where she met Doc Holliday. Because she worked as a prostitute for Bessie Earp, it is believed that she actually knew Wyatt Earp before Doc Holliday did. It is said that Big Nose Kate actually introduced Doc Holliday to Wyatt Earp in Fort Griffin in 1877. 

But there is also the story about how, in October of 1877, Wyatt Earp was given a temporary commission as Deputy U.S. Marshal to track down outlaw Dave Rudabaugh who had robbed a Sante Fe Railroad construction camp. According to Wyatt Earp, Rudabaugh fled south, and he left Dodge City to chase down Rudabaugh. According to Earp, he chased Rudabaugh for over 400 miles.

At one point, Earp arrived at Fort Griffin, Texas. Earp supposedly went to the Bee Hive Saloon owned by Earp's friend John Shanssey. The story goes that Shanssey told Earp that Rudabaugh had passed through town earlier in the week. Supposedly Dave Rudabaugh, who was on the run, stopped there and played cards with Holliday. After Shanssey introduced Earp to Doc Holliday. Holliday told Earp that Rudabaugh headed back up into Kansas. Contrary to Big Nose Kate's claim, Wyatt Earp told his biographer that Shanssey introduced Wyatt Earp to Doc Holliday. As to which story is true? Who knows. 

In 1887, Doc Holliday was living in the Hotel Glenwood near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is said that as he lay there dying, that Holliday asked an attending nurse for a shot of whiskey. After she refused, the legend goes that he looked at his bare feet and said his last words, "This is funny."

John Henry "Doc" Holliday died in his room at the Hotel Glenwood at 10am on November 8th, 1887. He was 36. As for Wyatt Earp, he did not find out about Holliday's death until months later. 

The fact is after Wyatt Earp's now-famous vendetta came to an end, he and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, and the other members of the posse were faced with warrants for the murder of Frank Stilwell. So the group fled Arizona Territory for New Mexico Territory and then to Colorado. 

As for Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, it's said they had an argument that had them part ways in Albuquerque. The story on that goes to a letter written by former New Mexico Territory Governor Miguel Otero. According to Governor Otero, Earp and Holliday were eating at Fat Charlie's The Retreat Restaurant in Albuquerque in early April 1882 "when Doc Holliday said something about Earp becoming 'a damn Jew-boy.' "

Supposedly, Earp got angry, got up, and left. The argument between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday was said to be over Earp staying with a friend Henry N. Jaffa in Albuquerque. Jaffa was a prominent businessman, Jewish, and the president of New Albuquerque’s Board of Trade. Earp is said to have observed Jewish traditions while staying in Jaffa’s home. Traditions that Earp learned in his relationship with Josephine "Sadie" Marcus, who was Jewish. This is what supposedly led Holliday to say his friend was becoming "a damn Jew-boy."

Legend has it that Doc Holliday survived being ambushed on five different occasions. And while that in itself seems unbelievable, it is also said that there were four attempts made to hang him in the 17 times that he was arrested. One of the last times that he was arrested came about on May 15th, 1882.

That was when Holliday was arrested in Denver, Colorado, on the still outstanding warrant for his involvement in the murder of Frank Stilwell in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson Justice of the Peace Charles Meyer issued arrest warrants for Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, Sherman McMaster, and "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson for the murder of Frank Stilwell in Tucson on March 20th, 1882.

The Earp "vendetta posse" said that they spotted Frank Stilwell and Ike Clanton hiding among the railroad cars, apparently getting ready to ambush and kill Virgil Earp. Fans of the Earps neglect to say that after the Earps arrived, they left the train station and went to dinner. It was actually when they returned that they met with Frank Stilwell. Of course, no one really talks about the fact that Stilwell and Clanton were at the train station meeting a third person who was also ordered to appear in front of the Grand Jury there in Tucson.

After killing Frank Stilwell, the Earp posse fled the scene. Yes, they fled the scene the same way as other outlaws would after committing a criminal act. Not stay there and make a report as law enforcement did even back in the day, but skedaddled away as fast as they could.

Stilwell's body was found at dawn alongside the railroad tracks. All of the Earp posse, all deputized by then-Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, was in on shooting Stilwell. Even though Wyatt Earp later said that he himself killed Stilwell using his shotgun, upon examination, Stilwell's body was found to have been shot several times with buckshot as well as multiple caliber pistols and rifle rounds.

Less than two months later, when Doc Holliday was arrested on May 15th, even though they had a falling out, Wyatt Earp is said to have been concerned that Holliday would not face a fair trial in Arizona. Some say he was actually concerned about his own participation in the murder of Stilwell and how Holliday's extradition would open the door to his own extradition. It is reasoned that he may have been concerned that once his infamous posse was there to be tried, that his friends in political office wouldn't be able to stop from extraditing back to Arizona to face murder charges.

Either way, while not wanting to be shown as taking a hand in stopping the extradition of Holliday, Wyatt Earp asked his old friend Bat Masterson, who was then the Police Chief of Trinidad, Colorado, to help get Holliday released to his custody instead of being shipped back to Arizona. To do this, Bat Masterson came up with the idea of fabricating fake bunco charges against Holliday to keep him in Colorado.

Within two weeks of his arrest was Holliday's extradition hearing. That was the hearing which would determine if he should be returned to Arizona to face charges of murder. That hearing was set for May 30th. But on the night of May 29th, Bat Masterson sought help from his friend Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin.

Governor Pitkin was not available at first, so Masterson is reported to have contacted E.D. Cowen, who was with the Denver Tribune newspaper. Cowen called Pitkin. Then Pitkin is said to have looked at the case and reasoned that the Arizona extradition papers for Holliday "contained faulty legal language" and that there was already a Colorado warrant out for Holliday, which of course were the bunco charges that Bat Masterson had faked. With that, Colorado Governor Pitkin refused to honor Arizona's extradition request.

As indirect as it was, that was the last dealings that Wyatt Earp had with Doc Holliday.  As for the last time they saw each other, a few years later, it is said that Holliday happened to bump into Earp while with Josie one last time in 1886 while passing each other in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel in Denver, Colorado. While previously mistakenly reported that their last meeting was at a hotel in Gunnison, Colorado, or possibly the Windsor Hotel in Del Norte, Colorada, my source assures me it was at the Windsor Hotel in Denver. Supposedly, the meeting was only momentary as they only saw each other in passing. 

So understanding that Earp and Holliday did not see each other for years before his death just goes to show that Earp's anger over Holliday's anti-Jewish remarks was more serious than some thought. And knowing this, it is understandable how Wyatt Earp did not find out about Holliday's death until months later. 

As for Big Nose Kate's claim that she attended to Doc Holiday in his final days there at the Hotel Glenwood? Most believe that she wasn't with him at the time.


As for Doc Holliday's derringer? 

The Glenwood Springs Historical Society board authorized the $84,000 purchase of Doc Holliday's derringer. As stated earlier, it is said to have been in Holliday's Hotel Glenwood room, where he died November 8th, 1887. The Glenwood Springs Historical Society bought the pistol with the hopes that it would boost the town's reputation as an Old West tourist stop. 

In March of this year, 2017, at the time of the purchase, the gun was said to have been kept in a safe-deposit box.

Glenwood Springs Mayor Mike Gamba stated, "Doc Holiday is a very important character in the history of Glenwood Springs, and we are extremely excited that this piece of history will return to the city where he spent his final days. Along with visiting the cemetery where he is buried, we have no doubt that this will be yet one more attraction that will draw visitors to Glenwood Springs."

Marianne Virgili, president and CEO of the Glenwood Chamber Resort Association said in an email, "This is great news. Our visitors are certainly intrigued by history, and Doc Holliday is our most well-known frontier resident, so this precious piece of memorabilia will go a long way in positioning us as a historic Western town."

Historian R.W. Boyle spoke of the gun's authenticity, stating. "The gun is real. There's no doubt the gun is real." But could he have been wrong? Doc Holliday historian R.W. Boyle examined the gun and the affidavit and declared the gun authentic. But Boyle may have been dubbed.

It is believed that Big Nose Kate bought the 1866 Remington derringer as a gift for Holliday while they were in Tombstone, Arizona. It's one of several Holliday items to have sold in recent years, including a flask that went for $130,000 and a shotgun believed to have been Holliday's, which sold for $200,000.

The derringer is believed to have been one of few possessions in the hotel room when he died. But the hotel burned down in 1945. Hotel bartender William G. Wells got the derringer as partial payment for Holliday's funeral. It remained in the Wells family until Utah gun dealer E. Dixon Larson purchased it in 1968.

But wait! There is a good chance that the folks at Glenwood Springs Historical Society may have been cheated out of $84,000 for the cost of the gun because it may be a fake. It seems that the whole story was made up by Larson.

"We all love a good story. Weave a tale of Big Nose Kate gifting a Remington derringer to Doc Holliday that's next to impossible to prove or disprove," Glenwood Springs Historical Society Executive Director Bill Kight wrote, "A man's reputation is judged by one's words and actions. The historical society tried hard to do just that, to peer into Dixon Larson's past."

An affidavit from the 1968 sale was the first documentation of the derringer. The 1968 affidavit signed by Larson and an unknown notary public appears to be the source of the story about the derringer being in Holliday's hotel room when he died. As a result, the historical society now questions the origins of Holliday's derringer. 

Is the gun real? Was the 1968 affidavit doctored? Did Dixon Larson make up the entire story?

Glenwood Springs Historical Society Executive Director Bill Kight said the society contacted both Remington and a gun expert in Cody, Wyoming, before the purchase. The Remington's expert was unavailable. The man in Cody couldn't evaluate the weapon without an examination. The gun's owner Jason Brierley had set a two-month deadline for the purchase because of an impending move. So with that deadline approaching, the Glenwood Springs Historical Society board moved ahead with the purchase.

The gun was part of an exhibit at the Glenwood Springs Historical Society's Frontier Museum. The Glenwood Springs Historical Society had hoped that the pistol would have lead to more museum loans of more Holliday paraphernalia. Hopefully, this will increase the museum's visibility to the public, especially those interested in Doc Holliday and Old West history. It will be interesting to find a definitive answer if the gun is fake or not. Right now, it looks like it is.

Now, though there are all sorts of con games going on out there, no one should underestimate the value of guns and other paraphernalia belonging to Old West figures of interest. For example, back in November of 2013, it was reported that famous trick shooter Annie Oakley’s shotgun sold for $293,000 at an auction in Dallas, Texas.
The 16-gauge Parker Brothers Hammer shotgun, which once belonged to famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley, was sold to a collector by Heritage Auctions. And while the shotgun once owned by one of America's most famous Old West sharpshooters sold for $293,000, please understand that a personal gold charm bracelet once owned by Annie Oakley also went up for auction. Her gold charm bracelet sold for $250,000.

Imagine that.

Tom Correa