Best Cowboy Photo
A Texas Ranger during the Civil War before becoming a cattle businessman, Texas John Slaughter opened his final ranch near Douglas, Arizona. Robert G. McCubbin, the world’s foremost Old West photo collector, says this circa 1885 cabinet card of Slaughter’s cowboys is the best group photo of real working frontier cowboys. (Top row, from left) James Pursley, Walter Fife and James G. Maxwell. (Bottom row, from left) Billy Riggs, J.H. Mclelme and Judge John Blake.
– Courtesy Robert G. McCubbin Collection –
Very cool photo. Google Wyatt Earp and you'll find a photo of him with Bat Masterson and others of the "The "Dodge City Peace Commission" June 10, 1883.
BTW, just finished the last episode of The American West on AMC. There are so many inaccuracies I can't count. The main one was they kept calling Wyatt Earp the Sheriff of Tombstone. Although Earp WAS the Sheriff of Pima County that included Tombstone at the time. Wyatt had yet to move to Tombstone with his brothers.
Later, Pima County partially broke off into Cochise County that included Tombstone. There, Wyatt became a temporary town Marshall for his brother Virgil and deputy Morgan when they went to Lot 42 to confront the Cowboys. He was never the Sheriff of Tombstone. The series was produced by Robert Redford. Need I say more?
Lots of true facts, but lots of speculation. Wyatt Earp was 6 foot not 6'2" as the series claimed. And Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp were NOT ambushed on the same day as the series portrays. Records show that Virgil was ambushed in December 1881 and Morgan was shot in he back in the March of 1882.
Personally, I don't blame Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Turkey Creek Jackson, Sherman McMasters, Texas Jack, James Earp and others for hunting down and killing those bush-wacking murderous pricks.
The Cowboys lost in a fair fight after threatening the Earps for days, not to mention breaking local laws. Some people of the town even offered assistance to the Earps as recorded by The Epitaph newspaper. I've read the court records and eye-witness accounts and all the pertinent books. They all say that the Cowboys were itching for a fight, especially Ike Clanton. They got it - they died...and more died in the Vengence Ride. Tough on you Clanton ancestors who try to re-write history.
