Did Gunslingers Fret About Townsfolk?
A South Dakota State University historian's study of violence and community life is chipping away at some deeply held myths about the American West.
Assistant professor Charles Vollan is finding that wealthy, respectable people had little to fear from gunslingers and other "roughs," for example it worked the other way around.
"When we tend to think about violence in any sort of historic western boomtown, whether it be Cheyenne or, for that matter, Deadwood, we tend to think about rough-andtumble types who were the ones to commit violence ," Vollan said. "We don't tend to think about lawyers, and doctors, and the general store operators but we should."
Vollan, whose reseach is an ongoing study of the Old West, said in boomtowns such as the ones that became the modern-day Deadwood or Cheyenne, Wyo., there was plenty of violence in the lower socio-economic class. But it tended to stay there. Violence didn't cross class borders
"Violence among the lower classes tended to be really contained in the lower class itself," Vollan said. "Only in the case of the vigilantes do we see sort of a wholesale crossing of class borders.
"The crazy thing about it, the thing that stands out, is that they thought they were acting in the name of order. Vigilantism is inherently disorderly ."
Vollan said community and conflict go together, especially during chaotic periods such as America's westward expansion. Vollan studies that theme by looking at the cities that developed along the Union Pacific Railroad when it was being constructed, focusing on the post-Civil War years 1865-69 .
"In particular, the city I've studied in most detail is Cheyenne, Wyoming, which at one point at this time was Cheyenne, Dakota Territory. Cheyenne was what was known as a 'hell on wheels' town, and in the 19th century, they didn't use terms like 'hell on wheels' lightly," Vollan said. "Cheyenne's reputation, in the parlance of the day, was that they "had a man a day for breakfast" that was the idea, that somebody got killed every day.
The reality was far different. Far, far fewer people were killed in Cheyenne it was more like a man a month. Still, by our standards, an elevated level of violence, but not absolutely extraordinary and certainly understandable in the circumstances ."...
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Assistant professor Charles Vollan is finding that wealthy, respectable people had little to fear from gunslingers and other "roughs," for example it worked the other way around.
"When we tend to think about violence in any sort of historic western boomtown, whether it be Cheyenne or, for that matter, Deadwood, we tend to think about rough-andtumble types who were the ones to commit violence ," Vollan said. "We don't tend to think about lawyers, and doctors, and the general store operators but we should."
Vollan, whose reseach is an ongoing study of the Old West, said in boomtowns such as the ones that became the modern-day Deadwood or Cheyenne, Wyo., there was plenty of violence in the lower socio-economic class. But it tended to stay there. Violence didn't cross class borders
"Violence among the lower classes tended to be really contained in the lower class itself," Vollan said. "Only in the case of the vigilantes do we see sort of a wholesale crossing of class borders.
"The crazy thing about it, the thing that stands out, is that they thought they were acting in the name of order. Vigilantism is inherently disorderly ."
Vollan said community and conflict go together, especially during chaotic periods such as America's westward expansion. Vollan studies that theme by looking at the cities that developed along the Union Pacific Railroad when it was being constructed, focusing on the post-Civil War years 1865-69 .
"In particular, the city I've studied in most detail is Cheyenne, Wyoming, which at one point at this time was Cheyenne, Dakota Territory. Cheyenne was what was known as a 'hell on wheels' town, and in the 19th century, they didn't use terms like 'hell on wheels' lightly," Vollan said. "Cheyenne's reputation, in the parlance of the day, was that they "had a man a day for breakfast" that was the idea, that somebody got killed every day.
The reality was far different. Far, far fewer people were killed in Cheyenne it was more like a man a month. Still, by our standards, an elevated level of violence, but not absolutely extraordinary and certainly understandable in the circumstances ."...