Spurred West. Ian Neligh

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СКАЧАТЬ appears that Bill died in just the way and manner he did not wish to die—that is, with his boots on,” said a writer for the Kansas City Times. “His life during the past five or six years has been one of constant watchfulness and expectation, as more than one reckless frontiersman had coolly contracted to take his life. But Bill was never off guard, and woe unto the wretched devil who failed to ‘get the drop’ on the long-haired William. More than one fool has had a bullet sent crushing through his brains from the ever-ready pistol of this cool and silent desperado … He has many warm friends in this city, as well as all over the West, who will regret to hear of his tragic end, the end he has so long been expecting.”

      In 1909 William Cody wrote a letter for the New York Herald defending his friend Hickok from being labeled one of the bad men of the frontier. Cody said Hickok was instead a “bad man to fool with.”

      “Never was there a man most misunderstood by the people of the present day who are impressed by the nickname, as it intimated a crazy thirst for human life,” Cody said. “This is a wrong impression. Some consideration must be given to the peculiar conditions that existed in a section that was a more politically and socially volcanic, disorganized locality …” He reasoned that the frontier tended to draw those who were adventurous, vicious, and who were sometimes evading justice, which only grew worse after the Civil War. “There drifted in a host of men addicted to all kinds of excesses, and whose actions were almost, one might say, invited by the simple, unorganized and unprotected life then existing among the early settlers. Some idea of the atmosphere in which natives like Hickok and myself had been born and raised can be imagined from this description.”

      Looking in context, Cody believed Hickok was a necessary product of his time. Though an impressive gunslinger and not afraid of confrontation, as far as Cody was aware Hickok never provoked a fight.

      Cody commemorated his friend: “‘Wild Bill’ now lies buried in the Deadwood Cemetery. His name will always live in a romantic history stranger than fiction.”

       The Sport of the Cowboy Fast Draw

      While Hickok was dead, his story would become legend, myth, then movies and television. About 130 years after Hickok was buried in Deadwood, a fictionalized drama about the town, its salty residents, and the death of Hickok aired on television. David and Shirley Miller had been watching the show Deadwood one evening when Shirley turned to her husband and mentioned that she had never been to Deadwood. David decided the time was right that they make the trip from Colorado to the town. He glanced at the town’s chamber of commerce website to see what events there were and spotted something about a “fast draw exhibition.” Intrigued, they went to Deadwood and attended a shooting match. At this time, the Cowboy Fast Draw sport was only a few years old.

      “I was sitting in the bleachers and I was like, ‘This is not an exhibition—these guys are doing something,’” David remembers. Indeed, they were competing to see who had the fastest gun. David decided he was interested in trying his own hand at it. However, Shirley said she wanted nothing to do with it, having never touched a gun. She tells me she would often leave the room, or even the house, when David was cleaning his own firearms collection. Undeterred, David went to a Denver gun store and bought a Colt single-action revolver—also known as a Peace Maker, and the only firearm allowed in the quick draw competitions. “There’s any number of manufacturers now that make a faithful reproduction of the Colt Peace Maker and that’s what we have to use,” David says, adding he went straight home and practiced in his basement with plastic bullets.

      Just six weeks later the first-ever quick draw world championships came to Deadwood, and David went to compete against some of the fastest guns in the world. He ended up placing thirteenth out of sixty competitors. Shirley wasn’t sure if she even wanted to be involved but at the last second decided to strap on a holster even though she’d never touched a firearm before then.

      “I said those women made it look easy. I’ll figure this out because—I love the costumes. Still do,” Shirley says. “And I didn’t even know how to load it, so my hand judge had to physically load my gun. Everything you could do wrong, I did, and I had so much fun … I came in thirteenth in the world for the women that year—of course, there were only thirteen of us. And I’ve been hooked ever since.”

      As we talk, Shirley loads ammunition, putting primers in cases with wax bullets. Her fingers move with the type of secondhand nature that comes from having done a thing a thousand times before. David tells me the two of them took to the organization and, outside of the Marine Corps, he’s never encountered a more tight-knit group of people. Over the years their own involvement in the sport grew to where they were both helping to set up other groups under the organization’s banner.

      “We started traveling around, helping people get started and helping matches run, and all of a sudden we got the reputation [of] ‘Well, Mongo and Wench, they’ll come down and help’—and we did,” David says.

       Fastest Guns in the World

      With one shooter trying to be the fastest, David says there are often rivalries that naturally form from one competition to the next, that often last years and go from state to state.

      “A lot of smack talk,” Shirley agrees.

      “Not bitter rivalries … but there are definite rivalries. There are rivalries that have gone on for years,” David says. “It’s called fast draw, but the thing about it is that target down there is a big equalizer. I don’t care how fast you are—if you can’t hit that target you’re not going to win a match.”

      David admits that there are a lot of competitors who are faster than he is. “But up until just recently, I was sitting fifth overall in the world in points because I have had a good season up to date—and I’m fast enough that you can’t really lollygag. I’m not going to beat the fast shooters but I’m also known to have probably a 75 to 80 percent accuracy.” And that’s the issue. Someone can pull their gun and fire at just under the speed of light—but if they miss the target, then it’s all for nothing.

      Fast draw competitors fire their guns during the Four Corners Territorial Fast Draw Championship in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Billie Diemand)

      “I think the secret is: don’t overthink it,” David says. “Get your head out of the way. Let your reactions take over. Once you practice a little bit and you get that natural movement down, let that take over and let that control you. Don’t let your mind get in the way.”

      Often competitors are in such a hurry to draw their firearm at the competition, they miss the target—again, and again, and again. The winning shootist needs only to hit the target three out of five times.

      “Sometimes you get up there with a guy and you’re so intent, there’s this rivalry thing … you might shoot eight to twelve shots before somebody finally wins three,” David says. “Last year we had a group that went forty-seven shots—each opponent shot forty-seven times before we had a winner.” At the distance of twenty-one feet, if the pistol’s aim is even an eighth of an inch off, the bullet will miss the target.

      Today David and Shirley dedicate most of their time to the sport, which essentially grew from the tales of Hickok’s own gunslinging prowess. Cowboy Fast Draw competitors are not alone in their romance of the Wild West and appreciation of period-appropriate costumes. There’s the similarly themed World Fast Draw Association; and for those interested in live rounds, there’s the Single Action Shooting Society or Cowboy Action Shooting, started in the 1980s, which also has competitors dress in Old West costumes. For enthusiasts СКАЧАТЬ