Cas City Forum Hall & CAS-L
Special Interests - Groups & Societies => Cas City Historical Society => Topic started by: Capt. Hamp Cox on June 05, 2004, 11:16:31 AM
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...and what do we have in common?
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Lawmen with mustashes? ;D
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Ya got the men with mustaches right, but that's 'bout all. :D
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;D ;D
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I'm still closest ;)
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I'm still closest ;)
You may get the prize money just for bein' the only one who even tried. :'(
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A hint?
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A hint?
Fort Worth
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I know! I know!
There Texas Rangers! ;D Well, this seems to be one where humor comes first! Will this pass for humor? ;D
BB
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BB, ya don't really 'spect me ta respond to that, do ya?
Hint #2: White Elephant.
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Long Hair Jim Courtright and Luke Short, hang on the wall of the White Elephant Saloon. Jim was a popular fellow around town. He was once a marshal and a volunteer fireman and last a private detective. His reputation with a gun was known far and wide. Luke, on the other hand, was an unscrupulous gambler who had a faster hand at the poker table than he did on the trigger of a gun. Still, it was Slow Draw Luke that put Jim in the ground. The two were fussing outside Short's White Elephant Saloon the night of February 8, 1887, when Luke deftly smoothing his vest, drew his gun and blazed away before Jim could lay a finger on his. After Jim was laid to rest and the gunplay was ruled a fair fight, Luke sold the saloon and moved to Kansas. Six years later, he took sick and died in bed, and to Jim's eternal consternation, was brought back to Fort Worth and buried just a stone's throw away in the same cemetery.
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Rack 'em up - Qball's in town with the qurect answer and a quart of history to go with it.
Here's a bit more info on the two fellas in question:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/fcoaa.html
http://www.angelfire.com/apes/westlegends/Short.htm
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Not quite the story Bill O'Neal writes of the incident in his "Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters". I wrote about some of it in St George's thread regarding watch fobs and chains II.
Courtright was a shakedown artist and was selling "protection" to bar owners. Short being part owner refused to pay.
Will Ketchum
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Not quite the story Bill O'Neal writes of the incident in his "Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters". I wrote about some of it in St George's thread regarding watch fobs and chains II.
Courtright was a shakedown artist and was selling "protection" to bar owners. Short being part owner refused to pay.
Will Ketchum
The second site (about Short) pretty much tracks with O'Neal's account, Will, it addresses Courtright's shakedown effort, but doesn't specify how Courtright's gun jammed. Some of the sites provided are intended more for background on the individual than for a specific event.
Regarding your post on the watch fob thread, my copy of O'Neal's book reads "But Courtright already had jerked out one of his revolvers and squeezed the trigger. The hammer caught in Short's watch chain, however,..." Appears to me the muzzle of Courtright's handgun would have had to be in contact with Short's body (or nearly so) for his hammer to get caught in Short's watch chain. That being the case, kinda makes you wonder how Short could have missed Courtright twice at that range. Also, I'd be inclined to bet that the round that hit the cylinder of Courtright's gun also got his right thumb.
What say you. Will?
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It does say Short's watch chain and I have the same question as to how they could have been so close for that to happen. They must have been doing some belly bumping ??? before they commenced to hostilities!. I would have understood it better if they were close and he snagged Shorts chain when he "drew" his revolver but it says as he "leveled" it ???.
I always assumed it was a misprint. maybe we should contact Mr. O'Neal. he might be able to clear it up.
Will Ketchum
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No Sireee, I didn't expect a reply, Just funni' cause I did not have any idea who the two gents were.
I'll refrain from idle humor in the future ifin I don't know the answer. Sorry :'(
BB :D
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No Sireee, I didn't expect a reply, Just funni' cause I did not have any idea who the two gents were.
I'll refrain from idle humor in the future ifin I don't know the answer. Sorry :'(
BB :D
Hey, BB, doncha know the difernce 'tween scoldin' and just bein my old onery self? 'Sides, we don't do no scoldin on this here forum, ya hear? Gonna have ta teach ya how to be tough 'round this chuckwagon, tho. You start refrainin (whatever that is), and I'll start worryin' 'boutcha. Drive on, BB, drive on.
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Naw, no O fence taken either time! ;D Got a Chuckle out of both of 'um! Just a lernin and lernin, I like to read the right answers too!
BB ;D
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From “The Legend Makers” by Harry Sinclair Drago:
“The door opened and Short stepped out a few moments later. There was an exchange of angry words. As he stood there, the famous gambler had his thumbs hooked in the armpits of his vest. Almost imperceptibly his hands began dropping to his gun belt. Courtright caught the movement. His right hand flashed to his holster and as he flung it up, his fingers closing about his favorite single-action gun, Short fired. It was a wild shot that would have missed Courtright had it not clipped off the tip of Courtright’s thumb as he was cocking his weapon. With catlike swiftness, he tossed his gun from right hand to left. Before he could fire, little Luke had pumped three slugs into him, one of which was fatal.”
Note four shots in this account.
From “Triggernometry”
“A Gallery of Gunfighters”, by Eugene Cunningham
“ “Don’t you pull a gun on me!” Courtright snapped at him.
“Why, I’m not trying to pull a gun!” cried Short, in a pained tone. “I haven’t got a gun there, see!”
“He began pawing at his vest and all the time his hands got lower, closer to his belt, closer to the pistol on his hip. Jim Courtright was not one to be taken in by any such maneuvering. He “went for his gun,” the right-hand gun. Short’s hand flashed back to his hip. He had the edge, through the pretense of showing his unarmed condition. His hand was already close to gun-butt when Courtright started his draw.
“Short’s gun snapped out flashingly, as did Courtright’s. And Short fired so wildly that he would have missed Jim Courtright, with that first shot, by two feet—but for the upward jerk of Courtright’s hand. That first wild bullet tore into the hammer thumb of Courtright’s hand; smashed it at the moment he was pulling back the big hammer of the single-action .45 Colt! As lucky a shot as the Old West ever heard of. It would be described for many a year around the cowboy’s campfires, from the Rio Grande to Calgary.
“Jim Courtright wasted no time, then, in reaching for his left-hand gun. Instead, he tried to throw the pistol from right hand to left hand, in what is called “the border shift”. But that split-second of time required for the maneuver had given Short opportunity to correct his aim and drive three bullets into Courtright. Down went the long-haired gunman, dying, with no spectator gaping more amazedly at this reversal of the town’s expectations than Short himself.”
Note four shots in this account.
From “The Badman of the West”, by George Hendricks
“The border shift, pitching a six-gun from one hand to another into firing position, was used by the ambidedextrous Jim Courtright when his thumb was shot by Luke Short. While the pistol was enroute from one hand to another, Short fired the fatal shot, and the border shift had failed”
…reported Eugene Cunningham: “Oh, yes, Short was right quick with the plow handles. But Jim Courtright –hell! He was a ringtail whizzer with red striped wheels!”
Will, this next one’s special for you
“The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters” by Leon Claire Metz.
“…Short refused, one word led to another, and both men reached for weapons. Courtright proved the faster, but his weapon caught in his own watch chain. Luke Short simply began pulling the trigger. One bullet shattered Courtright’s revolver cylinder and blew off his right thumb. Another struck Courtright in the heart. Still another buried itself in the right shoulder, as two final shots thundered into the wall. Courtwight died quickly. It took only a little longer for Luke Short to get out of jail.”
Note five shots in this account, with one bullet taking out the cylinder and the thumb, just like I had suspected.
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Life is to short to be serious. We should laugh more ;)
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Life is to short to be serious. We should laugh more ;)
Amen, Brother.
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Don't know about your particular account, but one story I read a while back said that Short's gun hung on his watch chain which was why Courtwright got off the first shot and missed. Luke then shot Courtwright's thumb off, probably jamming the revolver as well. When Courtwright tried to draw his other revolver, Luke killed him. Sounds a little more realistic to me.
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The gunfight between Luke Short and Jim Courtright ocurred in front of the White Elephant Saloon in the Stockyards area of Ft. Worth, Texas. They have a reenactment of it every year .