How Boot Hill Got It's Name
howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas
where it is dry and dusty just like Dodge City was back in the
1870s when Boot Hill was started.
Ya know, it's interesting to talk to people from other parts of
the country here in the U.S. that think Dodge City, Boot Hill
and even Wyatt Earp are all made up by Hollywood!
I'm like no.. you can't make this stuff up, it's all based on the
actual thing or person, Hollywood THEN gets hold of it and
"embellishes" things. I wanted to talk a little about Boot Hill
and relate a personal connection to it.
First of all, the reason it was called Boot Hill is because in early
Dodge there was no law and people kept getting killed in a
sudden death situation, unexpectedly and violently. Not that
they didn't AFTER the lawmen came but not nearly as often.
In other words, "they died with their boots on" as opposed to being
sick and dying in bed like most people did.. except in the case of an
accident like getting thrown off your horse and breaking your neck
or something like that. savvy?
source
Interestingly the first man shot to death in Dodge City was not
because of a shootout or argument. There was some type of
commotion or celebration going on in the street and a tall Black man
by the name of Tex was standing out in the street observing all the
ruckus.
There was a gambler standing on a balcony overlooking the street
and while shots were being fired into the air by the crowd below...
this man shot Tex in the top of his head. At the time no one knew
what had happened and thought it must have been an accident.
There was no Lawmen in town so no questions were asked, no
investigation was done, and they hauled Tex's body up to the
nearby hill and buried him. That was the beginning of the Boot
Hill Cemetery.
Many years later this same gambler who had shot Tex bragged about
it, he was in another state by that time, said he had shot him just to
see him kick. Sounds bizarre but the truth is usually stranger than
fiction!
No information was given on whether Tex kicked or not. I don't think
a person shot through the head, probably with a .45, is going to kick
much though.
The next big killing was in a saloon, probably the Longbranch, in a
fight between soldiers from Fort Dodge and gamblers who shot it out
right there at the table killing 3 or 4 and wounding several more.
This type of thing continued unabated because of the type of rough,
rowdy men that Dodge was attracting. Plus, they had to have been
shipping whiskey from back East to Dodge by the railroad car full!
After one year the town had 70 buildings and almost a third of them
were saloons! Probably another third were cat houses! I mean..it
was the place to go to have a good time but also a good place to
get killed!
Ok my personal connection...well first of all the modern Boot Hill
is a museum and tourist attraction that has re-enactments of the
gun fights in the street which never happened. lol.
But it's such apart of Old West lore that people believe so why not
make it part of the Dodge City experience right? no harm done,
they're just using blanks anyway, they make a sound and smoke but
no bullets are actually fired.
Unless one of the actors has been out practicing and forgets to load
with blanks! ha! I have to give him credit he was a good shot and did
indeed shoot the bad guy for real! People thought it was darn good
acting for a second.
I can just see the guy who was laying there shot.."dude you SHOT me!"
"well yeah that's what I'm gettin paid for!"
The guy who was shot lived and recovered just fine.
notice the non cowboy-hat hats they're wearin, they got the history right!
So my dad was in a local hardware store that sells guns and the owner
was telling him that he had the gun that was used to shoot the last
man on Boot Hill. Well my dad talked him into selling it to him but he
never brought it home because it needed some minor work, needed
to be sent to a gunsmith, so they did that after my dad paid for it.
Well I guess someone else wanted that famous gun because it got
lost in transit and we never found out what happened to it. My dad
was buying it for me so I was really bummed. I wanted to be able to
say that I had the gun that shot the last gunfighter on Boot Hill!
Now to someone on either U.S. coast that might not be a desirable
thing to have but to a young country boy gunslinger that was going
to be something to brag about!
Thanks for reading folks, I hope you enjoyed this piece of our history.
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know..you might be a redneck if:
birds are attracted to your beard!
Hahaha! I like that one. God bless you all!
Just wondering how they could say that a certain gun was used to shot the last man on Boot Hill. It must have been hard tracking a certain gun from the past.
By the way, "Papa" sent me!
Lol! Couldn't pass that up.
howdy there @kuinchi! what country are you in?
Papa-pepper sent you? wow! how did he do that?
thanks to the MAN papa-pepper he's the best.
well the last gun that shot someone on Boot Hill was a fairly recent
shooting because it was a reenactment a few years ago, this wasn't from the 1800s.
Boot Hill has actors playing the role of Old West residents and they have fake shootouts for the tourists. It's very good, I've seen them and they are very realistic.
thanks so much for commenting!
@janton I'm from the Philippines. Very far from the wild west. Lol.
That figures. I thought it was a gun from the 1800s. That would have been much awesome.
howdy back @kuinchi from the Philippines! what do you do for a living, do you work outside the home?
I like stories with a a personal application. That is a really cool but dangerous gift to get for a kid, too bad it got lost in the process. Sometimes if we are long winded something happens to what we expected to be ours. This may not be the case but in Korea if you brag about something you have especially a special privileged you can count on that privilege taken away. Like teachers who brag about long vacations. Now there is a petition to take away teacher's vacations and get us to do paper work all summer or reduce our pay... crazy.
howdy back from that island @mineopoly! those Koreans have some strange philosophies over there!
the gun was not a dangerous gift, how do you figure that? I was an experienced pistolero by the time I was 13, this was a few years later.
thank you sir for reading and commenting!
I just have pictures of the Christmas story in my mind:
hahaha! I see your viewpoint now thanks!
Truth is often stranger than fiction. Hollywood really took liberties with the way the west was really won. They must have been interesting times to live in... *** 🔫***
haha! Cecicastor! like that little image there..and so true about Hollywood but most of the time they make it entertaining at least! thanks for your comment!
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thank you sir!
Love it @janton - you are very good at this kind of blogging.
oh thank you Ma'am, I'm just trying to keep history from being boring!
Fascinating again Janton. I'm loving your historical posts. Thank you.
thank you I'm so glad that you enjoyed it, we have such a short history here compared to England, you could write for years about your founding!
It's a strange one. As I read your tales I'm struck by the violence that existed but when I think about some of the things that the state did to people over here in the past it does sort of seem a bit tame. The cultural adoption of guns over your side of the pond is indeed fascinating and highly unusual to us over here. Probably as unusual as the thought of having no guns over on your side. My brother in law loves them...he has over 30 guns locked away in his house. I know where I'll be headed if TSHTF :)
wow steemonkey! I thought it would be illegal to own that many guns in the U.K.! you can own them as long as they are in a safe?
Texas is definitely a gun culture state which I love. I never feel safer than our local ranch and farm supply store because there are always several people with guns on their side, and who knows how many carrying concealed. to us it's the ultimate symbol of freedom.
do most Britains think we are crazy for having guns and don't see a need for them?
There are collectors who have loads. They all have to be registered, licensed and kept in proper storage. It's tightly regulated.
Tribes in the jungle carry weapons so I suppose that is the natural way to be.
Your last sentence is probably accurate regarding how most Brits see it.
Unfortunately most people see things as their media tells them to and end up never seeing anything.
I remember reading analysis of Axis planning in WWII and the reason they didn't want to attempt an attack directly on American soil is because they knew they would basically be facing an army of millions because of all our guns!
the daily accounts of crimes being stopped by legal gun owners with their guns is literally astounding!
but you would never hear that from the MSM.
Hi @janton. Another good history lesson. Thank you.
thank you sir I'm glad you liked it, that means alot.
I'm sorry about 'your' gun! That would have been a cool relic to own :)
And someone shot for real in the 'fake' gun fight! Now that's funny!
now that just proves that you have a twisted sense of humor young lady! that was NOT funny to that poor actor, although for once he didn't have to act hurt! lol. ok maybe it's a little funny. did you notice the non-cowboy-hat hats?
It's hilarious!! And yes, I have a rather dark sense of humor!
I did notice the non-cowboy hat hats too 😎
ok good. the hats are very important to keep in the correct Old West hat development time line.
Nice piece of history.
thank you sir. they didn't have very good cameras back then!
Maybe it got lost in transit because it just wasn't the right time to receive it. Perhaps it will show up in the mail one day. Now wouldn't that be something. Ha! Here's hoping it does :) Thank you for teaching me about Boot Hill...prior to this, I knew nothing of it <333
God Bless You Also!!
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most people don't know anything about our history as a nation, where bouts are you from anyway? some light forest or some such thing?
True that @janton. I skipped almost every history class in high school. and still managed to graduate a year early hahaha I was born and raised in The Witch City...Salem Mass....so something like that ;) <333
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so you don't like history? that means my history posts are boring for you? it's fine to be honest here, remember you're under oath! lol. how did your graduate a year early, you took tons of credits so you could do that on purpose? when was that, last year? these dang kids these day!
LOL!!! it's not that i don't like history per se...I just never appreciated the twisted versions we received in school so I pretty much just did what I wanted during those classes (usually left and went out into nature) Not bored with your history posts, I like the way you explain things, actually. Haahahaha last year.....nah, I am nearly 40 my friend....I had enough credits in 1996. I did a work study program that helped alot. I don't think I could handle the school system these days....I woulda dropped out for sure (almost did back in the day, but pushed through it lol).
This comment was made from https://ulogs.org
howdy again reikitforest! hey how did you know that what you were learning in HS history class was twisted?