Wanted: Dead or Alive. Not the ideal words to read under a picture of your face.
Especially in a time where murdering murderers is not only encouraged, but rewarded with a cash
prize. Today on Nutty History we’re looking at how so many got away with murder in the. But
before we pull the trigger, be sure to hit that subscribe button for more wild rides from history.
You’ve probably heard of the concept of justifiable homicide on modern legal shows,
but what exactly counted as “justified” was a tad different in the Wild West. Just look at the town
homicide rates. While local government and law enforcement were often lacking,
frontier cowboys had their own honor code. These unspoken rules ranged from never ordering a drink
weaker than whiskey to defending oneself whenever necessary. And how do you defend
your honor in an Old Western town? Duel it out! The popularized gun duels of the Wild
West have taken on a mythical quality, and weren’t the everyday occurrence they’re made out to be in
the movies. But most killings that occurred in these towns were between willing combatants.
One such altercation occurred in the town square of Springfield Missouri in 1865, between former
pals Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt. Man, names sure aren’t what they used to be. Things turned
sour between the two after Hickok was rumored to have fathered a child with Tutt’s sister,
and Tutt was seen cozying up to Hickok’s lover. The feud, like many of the Wild West,
worsened over a game of cards. After attempting to help Hickok’s poker opponents, and failing,
Tutt claimed that Hickock owed him $35 from a past game. Hickok insisted that it was only $25.
Apparently Tutt was feeling petty, because rather than squash a $10 beef, he then stole Hickok’s
prized golden pocket watch off of the poker table as “collateral” and boasted about town that he
would wear it into the town square. Hickok replied that Tutt “shouldn’t come across the square unless
dead men can walk.” Tutt, you need some ice for that burn? Both men had sealed their fate
according to the Code of the West. Tutt humiliated Hickok by wearing the watch and implying that he
didn’t pay his gambling debts. And with his threat, Hickok all but ensured a duel would
take place, since Tutt chickening out would ruin his own reputation. The two men met the following
morning for the duel. Tutt reportedly reached for his pistol first, and both fired a single shot.
Tutt’s missed, but Hickok’s did not. A jury was convened and Hickok was tried,
kinda, for manslaughter. The law stipulated that mutual combat could not be self-defense,
especially considering Hickok showed up gun in hand, ready to kill. Still,
the jury decided to abide by the unwritten law of fair fight, and deemed that since Tutt
was the initial aggressor, Hickok was totally within reason to shoot him dead over ten bucks.
After deliberating for about an hour or two, he was acquitted of all charges.
Even if you were caught and jailed in the Wild West, your chances of escape weren’t
too shabby. The lock-ups of these rudimentary towns didn’t exactly require Shawshank-level
planning. Sometimes there was only one guard you needed to outsmart or befriend.
Billy the Kid, arguably one of the most dangerous outlaws of the era,
managed to escape jail three times. You’d think they’d keep a closer eye on that one.
Prior to his most famous escape, Billy the Kid, AKA Henry McCarty, was wanted for the murder of
the Lincoln County, New Mexico Sheriff William J. Brady, his poster advertised with a $500
bounty. After being captured by a posse, McCarty was convicted and sentenced to death,
which he awaited in the Lincoln County jail on the top floor of the courthouse. In April 1881,
one of the deputies decided to take five prisoners out for a bite across the street,
leaving one deputy in charge of guarding young Billy. Seeing an opportunity, McCarty asked to
use the outhouse behind the courthouse. As he was walking up the stairs ahead of the deputy
to return to his cell, he ducked around a corner and slipped free of his handcuffs. He then beat
the surprised guard with the handcuffs, stole his revolver and shot him in the back. When the
other deputy returned, Billy the Kid killed him as well, escaping capture for over two months
before he was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Quite the rap sheet for a 21-year-old.
With so many new towns popping up in the American west due to economic interests,
it was hard for law, or order, to play catch up. Newly formed governments in barely formed towns
weren’t always the most stable, and low salaries for lawmen resulted in rampant corruption,
with some even turning outlaws themselves. While Wild West law enforcement certainly had their work
cut out for them, in some cases the line between the good guys and the bad guys was as blurry as
your vision after a day at the saloon. The 1881 O.K. Corral shootout occurred in Tombstone,
Arizona, a rapidly growing mining town aptly named, at least based on its rates of violence.
The cut and dried version? Town Marshal Virgil Earp and his brothers went to disarm members of
the Cochise County Cowboys, a gang of outlaws who were breaking the local gun law by openly
carrying their weapons through town. In the ensuing gunfight, three members of the Cowboys
were killed, and Team Earp was cleared of any wrongdoing. Of course, there’s always a gray area.
A feud had been simmering for years between the stage-coach robbing Cowboys and the Earp brothers,
with death threats being made on both sides. Supporters of both sides gave conflicting reports
on who fired first. The Cowboys claimed to have had their arms up in the air, and that several of
them, including one who was killed, were unarmed to begin with. Virgil Earp had also recently
“deputized” his brothers into law officials, in a bit of nepotism that seems sketchy.
The Cochise County Cowboys, often named as one of the first organized crime syndicates in America,
later sought revenge, maiming Virgil Earp in an ambush and killing his brother Morgan,
shooting him through the glass door of a billiard parlor. The suspects weren’t indicted,
since they provided alibis that were backed up by their fellow gang members. Sure, that seems legit.
Virgil Earp avenged his brother’s death by forming a federal posse and going on a famed “vendetta
ride.” In the wild west, sheriffs or other lawmen might assemble posses to fight outlaws
or enact their own brand of justice. Earp’s federal posse managed to hunt down and murder
four Cowboy members. That certainly doesn’t sound legal. And under local law, it wasn’t. While the
federal posse carried warrants for Cowboy members, a larger posse sent by the local Sheriff chased
Earp and friends with their own warrants. Luckily the Sheriff's posse never caught up to Earp.
However, you didn’t have to be a lawman, or even a lawman’s buddy to get away with
murder - many average joe citizens took it upon themselves to become judge, jury and executioner,
forming mobs to kill alleged outlaws without any trial or legal process. The Wild West attracted
bandits and outlaws who found quick money robbing banks, trains, stagecoaches, and travellers. Many
deviants looking to avoid the law made their way westward, and the vast amount of open range land,
remote passages, and outlaw friendly towns all made great spots for fugitives. Some settlements
created their own committees of vigilantes to enact the often harsh “frontier justice.”
In Montana, a particularly vigilant group of vigilantes formed in Bannack in 1863,
after a spike in robberies and murders. The suspected culprits were a gang of road agent
outlaws known as “The Innocents.” Well I guess they’re pleading not guilty. After the capture
and confession of one of the gang’s associates, who the vigilantes then hanged, they determined
the leader of the gang to be none other than Henry Plummer, their own sheriff. The Montana Vigilantes
executed Plummer, and continued to murder willy nilly until the territory became a state in 1889.
In a posthumous trial for Henry Plummer, the jury split 6-6 based on the evidence,
meaning if it had happened during his lifetime, he would have been a free man. It’s worth noting,
though, that before his tenure as sheriff and possible gang leader, Plummer also killed three
people in three separate instances, all supposedly in “self-defense.” So getting away with murder,
at least in the legal sense, might have been a safe bet in the Wild West. If you played
your cards right. But if that murder wasn’t up to code, your own untimely demise might soon follow.
Do you think you’d be able to steer clear of the squabbles and skirmishes to survive the Wild West?
Let us know in the comments, along with other nutty times you’d like to hear about next.
Thanks for watching Nutty History.