Wyatt Earp moved further west to Wichita and Dodge City, following his brother Virgil Earp. He was hired as a policeman, primarily because he took the job that others didn't want. And rather than participating in cinematic fast-draw shootouts, Wyatt Earp made his name by "buffaloing" drunk cowboys.
He was known for sneaking up behind rowdy, intoxicated cowboys, and striking them over the head with the butt of his revolver to incapacitate. He was paid a bounty for as many drunk cowboy that he could jail.
The technique of "buffaloing" cowboys, striking a rowdy or intoxicated individual over the head with the butt of a heavy revolver, became Wyatt Earp's signature method of law enforcement during his time in Kansas.
In booming cattle towns like Wichita and Dodge City, local ordinances heavily restricted the carrying of firearms to prevent lethal violence. As a policeman, Wyatt Earp's primary duty was maintaining order among influxes of armed, transient cowboys who had just got paid after finishing long grueling cattle drives.
Rather than engaging in lethal, Hollywood-style fast-draw shootouts, Kansas lawmen favored non-lethal compliance methods for several reasons:
First, "buffaloing" cowboys were seen as a better alternative to shooting them. It was all about "preserving commerce." Dead cowboys were not only bad for business, but saloons, brothels, and merchants relied heavily on the money that live cowboys spent.
Second, "buffaloing" was seen as both intimidation and efficiency. Let's be really honest here, a heavy single-action revolver like the Colt Single Action Army functioned very effectively as a club. Using one instantly incapacitated a disruptive drunk without escalating a situation into a deadly gunfight. Some say, some officers delivered a sharp, overhand downward strike using the heavy barrel of the pistol or the side cylinder of the revolver, to smash it directly against the side of the target's skull.
Third, "buffaloing" involved sneaking up or stepping closely to a rowdy individual and delivering a swift downward blow to the side of the head, rendering them unconscious or compliant enough to be easily jailed. The problem is hitting the individual too hard and killing him.
"Buffaloing," which was really the 19th-century term for pistol-whipping someone, was a notoriously common and a brutal tactic used by Old West lawmen. In frontier towns, officers like Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok and others frequently relied on this method to subdue rowdy, intoxicated, or uncooperative individuals without resorting to a lethal shootout.
While it was "culturally" viewed as a "more humane" and a non-lethal alternative to a gunfight, its most critical flaw was that it carried an incredibly high risk of accidental death or permanent brain trauma. Historically, the logistics and medical realities of buffaloing show why it was a dangerous practice.
While the intent was often just to "anesthetize" someone long enough to drag them to a jail cell to sleep it off, the margin of error was practically non-existent. Let's remember that the weight of the weapon came into play. A standard-issue firearm of the era, such as a Colt Single Action Army (Colt .45) or a Smith & Wesson Model 3, were pretty hefty pieces of solid iron and steel weighing over two pounds.
While it was "culturally" viewed as a "more humane" and a non-lethal alternative to a gunfight, its most critical flaw was that it carried an incredibly high risk of accidental death or permanent brain trauma. Historically, the logistics and medical realities of buffaloing show why it was a dangerous practice.
While the intent was often just to "anesthetize" someone long enough to drag them to a jail cell to sleep it off, the margin of error was practically non-existent. Let's remember that the weight of the weapon came into play. A standard-issue firearm of the era, such as a Colt Single Action Army (Colt .45) or a Smith & Wesson Model 3, were pretty hefty pieces of solid iron and steel weighing over two pounds.
A single hard swing with a revolver of that weight generates more than enough mechanical force to easily fracture a human skull, cause severe intracranial bleeding, or kill a person instantly.
What made the practice dangerous was the lack of control you had when doing it. Today, we understand concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and internal hematomas. But, that wasn't the case in the 19th-century. In fact, while a 19th-century lawman may have assumed that what was to him a routine "knockout," may have in fact been a fatal brain bleed or coma.
Over time, as frontier communities established structured law enforcement and police forces became professionalized around the turn of the 20th century, the use of "buffaloing" shifted from being seen as a pragmatic necessity of rough frontier justice. In fact, it became more and more recognized as an unpredictable, highly illegal, form of police brutality.
As for compensation and the bounty system for "buffaloing" some drunk cowboy to an arrest judge for a fine? Wyatt Earp and other policemen of the time were financially motivated to jail as many cowboys as possible, drunk or not. That is true. And yes, it's true that not all were drunk and deserved "buffaloing." But, that's just the way things were. Some were ripe to make extra money off of, and the 19th-century municipal legal system was simply that way.
Being a lawman in the Old West was a difficult and dangerous job, often facing low pay, political pressure, and constant physical threats. And let's remember, while not very many people wanted that job because of many reasons, police officers in those frontier towns typically received a low base salary. That's what they were heavily incentivized through a system of fees and bounties.
For every arrest made that resulted in a conviction or a paid fine, the arresting officer received a percentage of the collection or a flat-rate bonus from the town council. This system directly rewarded high-volume enforcement of vagrancy, public drunkenness, and firearms ordinances. The system also rewarded corruption.
Historical records show that many town marshals and deputies earned very little base salary, often relying on small percentages of fines, fees, or bounty collections to survive. Lawmen were regularly subjected to intimidation, ambushes, and violent shootouts from outlaws and drunk disputants. Sheriffs had to handle tedious or unpopular county administration, such as collecting property taxes, taking the national census, or managing local jails, rather than just chasing criminals.
Town leadership changed frequently, and enforcing strict local ordinances, like bans on carrying firearms inside city limits, usually made local lawmen very unpopular with the community -- but especially with the rowdy locals To add to the problems, in many Old West towns, the roles of town marshals, county sheriffs, and federal marshals often left peace officers politically isolated or caught in local power struggles.
County sheriffs were elected officials chosen by the local population, meaning men actively campaigned for the badge rather than avoiding it. Sheriffs and Marshals often earned money through a fee system, collecting a cut from taxes, serving warrants, delivering legal papers, and making arrests. Many famous lawmen, such as Wyatt Earp, took on the job of policeman out of convenience to protect their personal business or mining interests in boom towns.
The reality of the job was not what Hollywood has painted it as. A lawman's job went far beyond gunfights, and included collecting taxes, acting as an undertaker or judge, serving process papers, and managing large, remote county territories. County Sheriffs had to balance the demands of powerful local figures with that of wealthy ranchers. Both groups expected protection for their specific interests.
As for how often Wyatt Earp "buffaloed" someone? Well, he was known for "buffaloing" so much as a policeman that someone being "buffaloed" by anyone was colloquially referred to in Dodge City as having an "Earp Knot" on your head. So yes, for him, "buffaloing" someone by sneaking up or stepping closely to a rowdy cowboy and delivering a swift downward blow to the side of their head was more his style.
What made the practice dangerous was the lack of control you had when doing it. Today, we understand concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and internal hematomas. But, that wasn't the case in the 19th-century. In fact, while a 19th-century lawman may have assumed that what was to him a routine "knockout," may have in fact been a fatal brain bleed or coma.
Over time, as frontier communities established structured law enforcement and police forces became professionalized around the turn of the 20th century, the use of "buffaloing" shifted from being seen as a pragmatic necessity of rough frontier justice. In fact, it became more and more recognized as an unpredictable, highly illegal, form of police brutality.
As for compensation and the bounty system for "buffaloing" some drunk cowboy to an arrest judge for a fine? Wyatt Earp and other policemen of the time were financially motivated to jail as many cowboys as possible, drunk or not. That is true. And yes, it's true that not all were drunk and deserved "buffaloing." But, that's just the way things were. Some were ripe to make extra money off of, and the 19th-century municipal legal system was simply that way.
Being a lawman in the Old West was a difficult and dangerous job, often facing low pay, political pressure, and constant physical threats. And let's remember, while not very many people wanted that job because of many reasons, police officers in those frontier towns typically received a low base salary. That's what they were heavily incentivized through a system of fees and bounties.
For every arrest made that resulted in a conviction or a paid fine, the arresting officer received a percentage of the collection or a flat-rate bonus from the town council. This system directly rewarded high-volume enforcement of vagrancy, public drunkenness, and firearms ordinances. The system also rewarded corruption.
Historical records show that many town marshals and deputies earned very little base salary, often relying on small percentages of fines, fees, or bounty collections to survive. Lawmen were regularly subjected to intimidation, ambushes, and violent shootouts from outlaws and drunk disputants. Sheriffs had to handle tedious or unpopular county administration, such as collecting property taxes, taking the national census, or managing local jails, rather than just chasing criminals.
Town leadership changed frequently, and enforcing strict local ordinances, like bans on carrying firearms inside city limits, usually made local lawmen very unpopular with the community -- but especially with the rowdy locals To add to the problems, in many Old West towns, the roles of town marshals, county sheriffs, and federal marshals often left peace officers politically isolated or caught in local power struggles.
County sheriffs were elected officials chosen by the local population, meaning men actively campaigned for the badge rather than avoiding it. Sheriffs and Marshals often earned money through a fee system, collecting a cut from taxes, serving warrants, delivering legal papers, and making arrests. Many famous lawmen, such as Wyatt Earp, took on the job of policeman out of convenience to protect their personal business or mining interests in boom towns.
The reality of the job was not what Hollywood has painted it as. A lawman's job went far beyond gunfights, and included collecting taxes, acting as an undertaker or judge, serving process papers, and managing large, remote county territories. County Sheriffs had to balance the demands of powerful local figures with that of wealthy ranchers. Both groups expected protection for their specific interests.
As for how often Wyatt Earp "buffaloed" someone? Well, he was known for "buffaloing" so much as a policeman that someone being "buffaloed" by anyone was colloquially referred to in Dodge City as having an "Earp Knot" on your head. So yes, for him, "buffaloing" someone by sneaking up or stepping closely to a rowdy cowboy and delivering a swift downward blow to the side of their head was more his style.
As for the Hollywood lawman myth, that is just a myth. While the job was dangerous and violent, constant high-noon gunfights and completely lawless, chaotic towns were frequently exaggerated by Dime Novels and fake claims. Of course, Hollywood created the myth when it sensationalized the lives of figures like Wyatt Earp. The irony for him is that he couldn't sell his dramatized life story, "buffaloing" and all, while he was alive.
Tom Correa
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment.