Gunfighters of The Old West

I am a member of the Concordia Cemetary Heritage Association. Concordia is a really large, old, burial place in El Paso, Texas. The earthly remains of two Presidents of Mexico have rested there and many other famous and colorful people. As the crow flies Concordia is 10.3 miles (16,6 km) from my house.

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John Wesley Hardin is the big draw currently. Historians say that he was the deadliest gunfighter of all time. He killed far more men than any of the other famous gunfighters. It is alleged that he killed more people than Billy The Kid and Jessie James put together.

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Right next to Wes is buried the husband of John Wes's girlfriend. She paid to have them buried side by side. Even back in the 1800's women seemed to have had the knack of outliving their men. Of course one has to overlook the danger of childbirth to say this! Their graves are at about N 31.78094, W -106.447494

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The Hubbard Museum of The American West is in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico USA. This is located up in the Sacramento Mountains 115 miles (185 km) North Northeast of my house. It has a really amazing collection of old west memorabilia. It is a very wealthy and first class museum. If you like to see old wagons, carriages, old indian stuff, and old cowboy things then this is one you should not miss.

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Included in the wonderful collection of things they have on display is John Wesley Hardin's revolver, and also one that was owned and used by Billy The Kid.

This is a link to some of the other pictures I took in the Hubbard Museum: http://flickr.com/photos/paul_garland/sets/72157602160975939/

Another gunfighter who lived near to El Paso was Billy The Kid.

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This is his pistol/revolver which is in the Hubbard Museum in Ruidiso Downs.

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One time a friend of his was imprisoned in the San Elizario jail. At the time this was the county seat. It is located 10 miles (16 km) due South of my house. William Bonny (Billy The Kid) rode up to the jail house in the middle of the night and banged on the door. He pretended that he was a sheriff with a couple of men that he needed to put in the jail.

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When the jailers opened the door they found that they were facing Billy The Kid's gun. He took his friend out of jail, put the jailers in their own cell, and rode off into Mexico.

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Just as an aside, earlier this week I took my camping trailer and my little black doggie Inu, and we went up to the Sacramento Mountains. They are among the southern most part of the Rocky Mountain Chain. Where we spent the night was at about 6,600 feet above sea level (2,400 meters). When we left the next day I went by the Hubbard Museum in Ruidoso Downs.

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When we got up to the mountains, a friend told us that the prior night a mother bear with two cubs had come by and rummaged through the nearby trash can for food. He had woken up and seen her in the middle of the night. So rather than let my dog run wild like I frequently do up there when we are camping in the mountains, I made Inu sleep in the trailer with me. He really didn't mind, especially since the the temperature got down to the low 40's F (about 5,5 degrees C). He was perfectly happy to get in the sleeping bag with me.

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In the morning it was clear that the Mother Bear and her two cubs had come by again during the night for a snack. The trash can was a little bent up and there was trash scattered about.

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And me and my little black doggie slept right through it. Kind of reminds me of the time that I slept through a direct eye wall hit from a category 5 hurricane. She and her two cubs walked within 50 feet (15 meters) of where we were sleeping.

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But to give my little dog credit, I did have the stereo on during the night playing some really nice blues from Guitar Slim. And no doubt the odors eminating from my old body were strong enough in that confined space that he didn't smell the bears. Thank heavens! I had my 38 special revolver with me, but even with the high pressure rounds with jacketed hollow points my guess is that the mother bear would have won any battle involving physical violence.