Biography - American Gunfighters from the Wild West - 1800s - Part 1 of 2 HD

When Gunfighters Ruled the Streets of the Wild West Today we present the first of two programs about some of the most famous people who lived in the American West many years ago. We tell about lawmen, criminals and gunfighters. And we will try to tell as much truth as possible about this interesting time in American history. the people in Dodge City began to see something that frightened them. Strangers were entering the town. All of these men carried guns. The men said they were friends of Luke Short. They caused no trouble. A newspaper in Dodge City printed a story that identified the men. Luke Short returned to Dodge City wearing his guns. The chief lawman of the town quickly sent a telegram to the governor of the state asking for help. He was afraid a major civil war would begin in his town. The men who had forced Luke Short out of town decided to negotiate a settlement. They did not want to face his many dangerous friends. A few days after the settlement, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the other dangerous friends of Luke Short left Dodge City. No one ever fired a shot. No one was even threatened. All it took to force a negotiated settlement was for these dangerous men to show their faces in Dodge City. Just the fear of them settled the argument in favor of Luke Short. No one wanted to deal with men who were not afraid of a gunfight. Who were these dangerous men? Why did people fear them so much? Why did they become so famous? The story of these famous men began a little before the American Civil War of the eighteen sixties. Most of the shooting incidents between professional lawmen and outlaws took place during the eighteen seventies in Texas. But living in the American West was not easy. There were no laws, no courts and little or no government. There were few lawmen to keep order. The people who arrived in the West included many criminals. Many were escaping punishment from their crimes. They knew that an area with no law would provide them with safety. These professional criminals often used force to take what they wanted -- cows, horses or money. Often, there was little to stop them. To protect their towns, the settlers often had to employ people who were expert in the use of firearms. Several lawmen in the Old West had learned to use their weapons when they were criminals. Both the outlaws and the lawmen in the Old West had something else in common. They could do something many other people could not. They were willing to risk their lives to enforce the law or to commit a crime. And they were willing to do this with a gun. A good example was a man named William Matthew Tilghman. He was arrested two times and charged with stealing when he was a young man. However, he later became a deputy United States marshal, a law officer. On July fourth, eighteen eighty-eight, a man named Ed Prather began shooting his gun in the street in Farmer City, Kansas. People ran away in fear. Tilghman made him stop. P