What Life Was Really Like As A Wild West Sheriff

Wild West sheriffs kept law and order on the frontier alongside fellow lawmen and the local citizenry. They’ve been dramatized, glamorized, and exaggerated in films and literature for generations and yes, the life of a Wild West sheriff was dangerous, but it could also be... weird.

#Sheriff #WildWest #WeirdHistory

[WeirdHistory]

How do you think you would fare in the Wild West?

[Baker]

"Fast is fine, but accurate is final. You need to learn to be slow in a hurry." Wyatt Earp

[lamarandson]

Are we just going to ignore they had the coolest names back then???

[servestra]

"You dont hire a saint to catch a sinner"

[annieseaside]

My Great Grandfather Frederick Sweet was the only Surgeon in the late 1800’s in Tombstone/Bisbee. There were a lot of mining and shooting injuries. He was there from about 1875-1905.

[ImJotaroKujo]

“God damn O’driscolls” - Arthur Morgan

[Hammerite]

you just don't see moustaches like that anymore.

[Kishisuke]

We are thieves in a world that dont want us no more

-Arthur Morgan

[AcesAndNates]

"In this world, there are two kinds of men. Men with loaded guns, and men who dig. You dig."

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Being a sheriff must’ve been cool because you got to have a mustache

[smorior]

“VENGEANCE IS AN IDIOT’S GAME

Arthur Morgan

[HenrikoMagnifico]

"Be loyal to what matters."

Arthur Morgan

[rachrob]

One of my favorite quotes/scenes in the western genre.
" look at that!"
" yep steady as a rock"
" Yeah but I shoot with this hand..."

[slayer]

"I'm Dirty Dan"

-Spongebob

[TheMehdi]

Have any of you seen Gavin? I’m helping a fella out he’s been looking for almost 8 years

[thestoryteller]

I find it so cool that tombstone was legitimately real and so were the Earps and Doc Holiday. My day is complete

[jasontimmons]

Pretty sure "land lubber" is a pirate insult not a wild west term

[jknumber]

It's hard to tell the difference between the Law and the Outlaws in those days. They all dressed alike

[jamesferris]

My great grandfather was a U.S. marshal in S.E. Okla. and Texas. My grandfather who was born in 1880 and passed in 1976 at 96yrs. of age had a lot of stories of his father's exploits. My great grandfather said men did what ever they had to do to make a living and some would cross from being a law officer to outlaw frequently. My father was able to get many of his stories down on paper before the death of my grandfather. One story I remember my grandfather telling was of a sheriff who lost the election and was replaced by another man. The ex-sheriff took up with some outlaws and shot the man who had replaced him as sheriff. My great grandfather was charged with tracking the bunch down and dealing out justice. They tracked the group to two dug outs in the side of a hill. It was decided that since it was almost dark they would watch the dug outs and approach them in the morning. Once daylight came and they could see they realized there had been a disturbance at the dug outs. Upon closer inspection they found there was no horses in the corral. They carefully approached the mouths of the dug outs and found one empty. The man they were chasing had been shot and was lieing dead in the other dugout. Not long after some Texas Rangers rode up and said that about an hour before my ggrandfather and his group got there they rode up and a gun battle started. After a short time the men in the dug outs made a break and got on their horses and fled south. The Rangers followed but eventually lost their tracks on the Rocky ground and had returned to see if they had doubled back. The only one killed in the gun battle was the ex- sheriff who had ran to the front of the dug out and then back. This whole time he was bent over because the dugout was not tall enough to stand in. After a shot when he turned to go back to the safety of the back of the dug out he was hit. The bullet was a large caliber 45-70 and went right up his rectum and out the top of his head (what head was left). There are a lot of other stories that I was left. To be a law man in those days wasn't anything like Hollywood portrays. They lived a very rough, dangerous, lonely life.

[caldeauwolf]

In my County, the Sheriff's Mounted Posse is still enacted often for search and rescue missions, which is really cool