The Wells Fargo Shotgun

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

The following is from:

Wyatt Earp Tells Tales of the Shotgun-Messenger Service, by Wyatt Earp
Published: San Francisco Examiner, California, August 9, 1896


The Wells-Fargo shotgun is not a scientific weapon. It is not a
sportsmanlike weapon. It is not a weapon wherewith to settle an affair of honor between gentlemen. But, oh! in the hands of an honest man hemmed in by skulking outlaws it is a sweet and a thrice-blessed thing. The express company made me a present of the gun with which they armed me when I entered their service, and I have it still. In the severe code of ethics maintained on the frontier such a weapon would be regarded as legitimate only in the service for which it was designed, or in defense of an innocent life encompassed by superior odds. But your true rustler throws such delicate scruples to the wind. To him a Wells-Fargo shotgun is a most precious thing, and if by hook or crook--mostly crook--he can possess himself of one he esteems himself a king among his kind. Toward the end of my story last Sunday I described the killing of Curly Bill. By an inadvertency I said that he opened fire on me with a Winchester. I should have said a Wells-Fargo shotgun. Later I will tell you where Curly Bill got that gun.

The barrels of the important civilizing agent under consideration are not more than two-thirds the length of an ordinary gun barrel. That makes it easy to carry and easy to throw upon the enemy, with less danger of wasting good lead by reason of the muzzle catching in some vexatious obstruction. As the gun has to be used quickly or not at all, this shortness of barrel is no mean advantage. The weapon furthermore differs from the ordinary gun in being much heavier as to barrel, thus enabling it to carry a big charge of buckshot. No less than twenty-one buckshot are loaded into each barrel. That means a shower of forty-two leaden messengers, each fit to take a man's life or break a bone if it should reach the right spot. And as the buckshot scatters literally the odds are all in its favor. At close quarters the charge will convert a man into a most unpleasant mess, whereof Curly Bill was a conspicuous example. As for range--well, at 100 yards, I have killed a coyote with one of these guns, and what will kill a coyote will kill a stagerobber any day.

(I’d kinda like to see someone who could consistently hit a coyote size target at 100 yards with a shotgun and buckshot.  Hamp)

[Standpat Steve]

Ol' Wyatt sure seems to like his shotgun . . .

[Delmonico]

Depends on what method of measurin' a hundert yards ya mean.  The standard English system or the Bull $hit method.   Oh I forgot the third, place of ta the carcass, step 100 paces.  don't add the fact yer pace is 30 inches and the movin' target ya shot kept goin' from momentum and the fact that few things die instantly.  By that method I've killed pheasants at 125 yards when reality was about 60.

Funny thing a population that so many today spend more time than they should watchin' the hired help at the Loacal Univeeerrrssity run up and down 100 yards ranges with 10 yard grids, how many can't extimate range worth a poop.   Ok rant mode off.   That guy the other day really did kill a deer dead in his tracks at 500 yards with his thirty-thrity.   True story bout a BS story.

[Advertising]

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Thanks, Del, i was thinking along those lines myself. over time distances do seem to increase! Besides, 100yds  sounds better than 35!..............Buck

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

The rest of the newspaper article from which the above was excerpted is at http://home.earthlink.net/~knuthco1/HistoricalDocuments/SFarticle2source.htm

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Another interesting post, Cap'n.

"Knight of the Road!" 

[Delmonico]

One thought here, ok two or three.   Was the shotgun really used that much as a weapon in the "Old West"  I won't deny they were used some, but is some of it the Wyatt Earp influance.  My self if I were a stage guard I would have a rifle, the shotgun would be nice in some situations, but if possible I'd rather keep someone on horseback beyond pistol range, and pistol range is farther than shotgun range, don't kid yerself.  The 10 gauge was most common for this use and the )) buck load was 9 the same as the standard non-magnum 10 gauge today.  I've played some with buckshot, mostly the 12 3" mag load of 15 per shell.  A 1 gallon can is safe about 1/2 the time at 40 yards with this load out of modified choke which was better for me than full or open. 

Now in town or on a coach or in a baggage cars up close it would be ok, but a decent person could make life miserble fer you with a 32-20 at any distance.  My self I would choose a smaller shot somethin between # 2 and maybe T.  I could put more hurt on you with that, I don't think it would kill as fast as 3 or 4 OO buck but I'd don't need to kill the bad guy, just stop him.  And 1 1/4 oz of #2 would stop most anyone at 40 yards.  (go try it on paper and see)  something like #6 would really put a lot of hurt one someone at that range and most likley would take out one or both eyes with the more hits.  (paper again)  I bet if I poked yer eye out, even one you would have a different attitude than before.  Esspecieally if I punched a buch of other holes in yer hide at the same time, bet at 40 yards with a open choke gun I could get at least one of yer eyes with #6 and get ya some where else most men don't want to be shot.

Besides that in a town situation I ain't gonna penatrate a thin walled store and hit that nice lady buyin a corset or the kid buyin' a licorice whip.  Damage on inocent bystanders was not exceptable even back then. 

At times a shotgun would be my tool of choice, but not always.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Following excerpt is from the article GUNFIGHTERS OF THE OLD WEST
               by Norman B. Wiltsey
               From the 1967 Gun Digest


The Deadly Shotgun

It is most enlightening to the researcher in Western Americana to discover that the unglamorous but deadly efficient shotgun played a far more important role in the taming of the West than the writers of the “Draw, you varmint!” school of scribblers care to admit. Tough John Slaughter, Sheriff of Cochise County, Ariz., in the late ‘80’s put a reporter from a New York newspaper straight on the matter in short order. Somehow the dude scribe got up the nerve to ask Slaughter why he carried a shotgun along with a Winchester 44-40 and a Colt 44 revolver on his manhunts.  John’s hard black eyes narrowed in contempt. “To kill men with, you damned fool!” he snapped.

Which simple, cold fact explains why so many gunfighters on both sides of the law, packed the lethal scattergun as an essential tool of their dangerous trade. At long range, of course, there was no substitute for the rifle, so John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp and many others packed shotgun, Winchester and six-shooter.

The great advantage of the shotgun to the average man was that with it he was equal – often superior – to the professional gunslinger. Shotguns fired by ordinary citizens broke up the James-Younger gang in the Northfield, Minn., bank robbery, and in Trinity City, Texas, John Wesley Hardin, who gunned down 44 men during his bloody career, came within inches of death by a scattergun in the hands of Phil Sublet. Hardin pulled through because of a heavy, gold-laden money belt that stopped most of the charge of buckshot, but he was out of action for several months.
 
Stagecoach guards carried sawed-off shotguns in addition to rifles and revolvers, and the phrase “riding shotgun” became an indelible part of Western vernacular and legend.”

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

One thought here, ok two or three.   Was the shotgun really used that much as a weapon in the "Old West"  I won't deny they were used some, but is some of it the Wyatt Earp influance.  My self if I were a stage guard I would have a rifle, the shotgun would be nice in some situations, but if possible I'd rather keep someone on horseback beyond pistol range, and pistol range is farther than shotgun range, don't kid yerself.  The 10 gauge was most common for this use and the )) buck load was 9 the same as the standard non-magnum 10 gauge today.  I've played some with buckshot, mostly the 12 3" mag load of 15 per shell.  A 1 gallon can is safe about 1/2 the time at 40 yards with this load out of modified choke which was better for me than full or open. 

Now in town or on a coach or in a baggage cars up close it would be ok, but a decent person could make life miserble fer you with a 32-20 at any distance.  My self I would choose a smaller shot somethin between # 2 and maybe T.  I could put more hurt on you with that, I don't think it would kill as fast as 3 or 4 OO buck but I'd don't need to kill the bad guy, just stop him.  And 1 1/4 oz of #2 would stop most anyone at 40 yards.  (go try it on paper and see)  something like #6 would really put a lot of hurt one someone at that range and most likley would take out one or both eyes with the more hits.  (paper again)  I bet if I poked yer eye out, even one you would have a different attitude than before.  Esspecieally if I punched a buch of other holes in yer hide at the same time, bet at 40 yards with a open choke gun I could get at least one of yer eyes with #6 and get ya some where else most men don't want to be shot.

Besides that in a town situation I ain't gonna penatrate a thin walled store and hit that nice lady buyin a corset or the kid buyin' a licorice whip.  Damage on inocent bystanders was not exceptable even back then. 

At times a shotgun would be my tool of choice, but not always.

Dell,

See below and tell me when I can stop.

Bill Thompson killed Sheriff C. B. Whitney with a shotgun in the plaza at Ellsworth the first year of the cattle drive to that place. While Bill escaped, Ben Thompson stood off the town as he waved that double-barreled shotgun at the mayor and several deputies who were hiding out of sight behind buildings, doors and in halls. Wyatt Earp told Ben to either throw down the shotgun or he'd kill him. Ben Thompson later told Bat Masterson that he had a hunch that Wyatt meant to kill him, and so he did throw down the shotgun. Ben Thompson was fined $25.00 for disturbing the peace. Bill Thompson was acquitted when tried.

Ed O. Kelly shot and killed Robert Ford 8 June 1892 with a shotgun in a saloon Ford owned in Creede, Colorado.

(Henry Newton) Brown tried to escape and was blasted to death with a shotgun.

In the late afternoon of February 3, 1889, on a lonely stretch of trail near the Canadian River, a single shotgun blast was fired from ambush. A moment later another shotgun blast, fired from close range, ended the life of Myra Maybelle Shirley, 'Belle Starr', a mere two days before her 41st birthday.

When Wyatt Earp and Billy Clanton opened the battle, Doc shot Billy in the chest, then cut Tom McLaury down with a double charge of buckshot.

He was almost across when he stopped to look up at a second story window to see Billy the Kid sitting in it with Olinger's own shotgun, aimed right at him. It was the last thing on this earth that Olinger ever saw. The Kid let go with both barrels, riddling Olinger with more than two dozen buckshot. He was dead when he hit the ground and Billy the Kid was once again a free man.
 
It was a shotgun, trademark and favorite weapon of one of the Old West's best-known professional killers, James B. Miller, commonly known as "Deacon Jim," from his favorite dress of black broadcloth and his pious pretense of church-going respectability. Men also called him "Killin' Jim," in reference to his chosen vocation, murder for hire.

(John Wesley Hardin) I looked around and saw Jack Helms advancing on Jim Taylor with a large knife in his hands. Some one hollered, `Shoot the d-d scoundrel.' It appeared to me that Helms was the scoundrel, so I grabbed my shotgun and fired at Capt. Jack Helms as he was closing with Jim Taylor.

Black Bart is probably the most well known of the stagecoach robbers. He committed 28 robberies in which he never fired a shot or harmed anyone. He was known to be the consumate gentleman--he never drank, smoked, or swore. He never took valuables from women. He never loaded his shotgun and he always worked alone.
 
After a short argument, Wild Bill shot and killed McCanles. He also wounded Woods and Gordon. Wellman finished Woods off by beating him with a hoe. They both ran after Gordon and killed him with a shotgun blast.

(John) Slaughter imposed law and order with his six-shooter, repeating shotgun and Henry rifle when he wasn't seated at an all-night poker game.

By October, Bill (Tilghman) was working for the law again, this time as a man – tracker. It was during this period that he killed Arizona Wilson in a New Mexico gunfight. When two of Wilson’s cohorts attempted to even the score with their sixguns, Bill killed both of them with a shotgun.

On April 17, Johnson tried to kill (Dallas) Stoudenmire with a shotgun but missed. Stoudenmire returned fire, shooting eight or nine times, blowing Johnson's testicles from his body.

(Bill) Doolin raised his rifle, which was quickly shot out of his hands by the posse. He then pulled his six-gun and fired twice before being killed instantly by a blast from Deputy Bill Dunn's shotgun and rifle fire from Thomas. As was customary of those days, Doolin's dead body was displayed, with his shirt off, to show his fatal wounds.

(Bill) Longley continued his killing ways from 1872 to 1877. He killed a man named Anderson supposedly because he (Anderson) had murdered Longley's cousin. Anderson was plowing a field, when Bill unloaded a shotgun into him.

After the gunfire subsided, (William) Breakenridge rushed toward the cabin with a loaded shotgun. He positioned himself near the front door and waited for the two outlaws inside to make a move. Through the cracks of the front door, Breakenridge noticed some movements inside the cabin, so he leveled his shotgun and fired both barrels through the front door. On the otherside of the door, Billy Grounds was looking to see where the lawmen were, the blast form the shotgun threw him across the cabin, he died a short time later. The other outlaw, Zwing Hunt, seeing his friend mortally wounded, ran out the back door with Breakenridge in chase. The lawman fired four shots and hit Hunt in the back, knocking him down unconscious.

[Delmonico]

Dern pooter at home would not let me post last night.  I did not mean I didn't think they were used just that lately I've seen where folks seem to think it was the most common weapon on the frontier. 

Useful at times, very useful but also just as worthless at times.  Maybe the German Drilling would be best.  Would not mind havin' one meself.

Cool idea a coach version of the drilling, Hollywood here's an idea.

[Sheriff A.E. Moses]

Here is your chance to get one on a Buy-It-Now for $3500...........

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=25421816

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Here is your chance to get one on a Buy-It-Now for $3500...........

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=25421816

It's a FARGOne conclusion I'll most likely FARGO bidding on that beautiful piece of FARGO history, 'cause my resources are pretty FARGOne.

Thanks for the looksee, Sheriff.  Sorta makes one drool a bit if he's not careful.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Capn, The auction's over anyway. It WAS in Texas though, maybe not too far from you. Looked like Damascus barrels..................Buck

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Capn, The auction's over anyway. It WAS in Texas though, maybe not too far from you. Looked like Damascus barrels..................Buck

I noticed that.  College Station is the home of Texas A & M University, and the university has a right respectable firearms museum you might want to check out if ever in the vicinity.  I'm thinking that is where I saw my first actual Colt Walker (have seen others since).