Thanks. I've been Googling more top ten gunslingers and find that many include Wyatt Earp and/or Johnny Ringo. That's a falsehood. Wyatt was not a fast draw gunslinger. He usually made his point my hitting people upside the head with his pistol. That's why he got fired from Dodge City...he was too aggressive. What has always impressed me about him is that he was a slight built man, but had the cojones of an elephant. He was a decent shooter, but not what history makes him to be. He had been in only one shoot before the OK Corral.
From my research, Hickok, Hardin, and Stoudenmire (never heard of) were the actual top 3 fast draw accurate shooters of the time. Of course, there were others, but these 3 names always top the lists.
If you want to go with kills rather than fast-draw shoot-outs, Thomas Horn of the Pinkerton Agency is one of worse if not the most cold-blooded killers of the old west. While many on the list of gun-slingers I gave you above have kills ranging from 2-15, Horn is attributed to some 50 kills. After 17 kills while at Pinkerton, they fired him. He went on to be a ruthless murderer until hanged.
That's the kinda of scum Wyatt Earp would have confronted like he did with the Clantons and McLaurys. Bet he would have won with his cool and methodical determination. Yeah, he's a hero in my book, and I include his brothers. They were just decent men looking for new opportunities along with their wives. Hell, Wyatt didn't even want to get involved in Tombstone lawlessness until he had to back Virgil. "You back your Brother's play", as in the movie. He said that also in his memoirs.
Do you know what early Hollywood cowboy actor wept at his funeral in 1929? Hint: think earliest cowboy actor I believe to be in non-talking movies. Could be wrong on the silent thing.
Tom Mix:) I read he became friends with him. They made a movie about him just a few years ago.