From: russell-watson@att.net   
      
   On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 21:30:49 -0500, Gerald Clough    
   wrote:   
      
   >Von Fource wrote:   
   >   
   >>     Dang, what in the heck was going on in Tombstone to make it so violent?   
   >> Sounds like a hells kitchen to me.   
   >>  I thought Tombstone had one or two gun fights and that was all?   
   >>   
   >> Von   
   >   
   >There were a lot of tough towns. Some of them worked real hard at   
   >earning the name. Some of them you won't likely have heard of. And folks   
   >died of wounds and illnesses that today wouldn't get you listed as   
   >"serious" in a hospital. (Note the last name on the list, bitten by a   
   >hog.) There was one place in Texas where, when the Rangers finally came   
   >in to clean it up, they built a corral and herded just about every adult   
   >male in the area into it. It was easier to cut out the more of less   
   >peaceful ones than to try to round up the bad ones.   
   >   
   >The deadly nature of most of the tough towns was short-lived, a boomtown   
   >phenomenon. But once a town got a name as a hard place, it's   
   >understandable that a lot of those who were prepared to set foot in it   
   >were hard men.   
      
   I watched a special about the Lincoln County War on either the History   
   Channel or Discovery Channel a few years back that stated over a   
   certain number of months a given number of men died, and only one was   
   of natural causes. Can't remember the specifics of the time period (I   
   think it was a year, but I wouldn't swear to it now) or how many total   
   died, but the fact that only one was natural stuck out. This was taken   
   from a report written by a local doctor at the time. Though the areas   
   that were like that were not as common as western fiction would have   
   one believe, they certainly did exist. A case of myth growing up out   
   of a factual basis. I believe it was Dodge that boasted " A dead man   
   for breakfast every morning". A mix of whiskey, guns, gambling, and   
   more lonely men than whores to entertain them all made for a volatile   
   concoction in many places. It's not for no reason that even today   
   states like right here in FL where anybody over the age of 21 without   
   a criminal record by law can not be denied a concealed carry permit it   
   is illegal to carry in a bar or a place where gambling is allowed   
   (race tracks, bingo halls, etc).   
   '97 FLSTF   
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