The Dickinson press., 1908-05-02
men Of THE FRONTIER
How They Brought Law and
Order to the UnruIy West.
The RULE OF THE REVOLVER.
Life In the Wild Days When Gun Plays
oeeasionsd Little Comment, Vet
When There Was Always Safety In
"lsavina II to the Crowd"

SSS0OuOUO0 eVSSSO SOuO"VUS1 u
When There Was Always Safety In
"lsaving Il to the Crowd"
The bold, reckless life Of the frontier
Of the middle years of the nineteenth
century and later has been often re-
called by the stories Of ~desperadoes
and bad men, but in the birth and
growth Of the frontier cities is a unique
phase Of American civic genius which
has been little dwelt upon.
Most of the cities of the far west
have lowered close about the gather-
ings Of hardy miners rs they came or
went on a feverlsh search for gold. In
forty-nine $1,000 men from all parts
Of the world reached the El Dorado
Of California. Some Travelled 1900
miles overland; others went far around /
by Panama or Cape Horn. In fifty
nine 100000 gold seekers stampeded
wildly across the sunburnt plains of
Colorado. Only 10000 stayed the year
through. OF like kind, although of
grimages that are more or less respon-
sible for the cities Of the west, the
finding Of a streak Of magic yellow,
its story leaking out and growing,
the glimpse Of nuggets and speci-
mems and then the grand, %senseless
rush to the Land of Get-Rich- Quick.
Thousands Of daring spirits were
drawn by the yellow loadstone, intent
OF nothing but the accumulation Of
wealth. Then necessity produced some
weird ~assemblages of tents, shanties
and log cabins, many Of which grew
into cities. Often full grown towns
sprang up in a few months. Far from
any state or territorial government and
composed of a conglomerated herd Of
excited men, lone of whom had time
| for civic affairs, these embryo cities ex-
listed and grew under conditions that
| were unique and extremely wild.
Our f~orefathers landed on the east
ern coast full Of religious zeal and a
| desire for freedom of thought and life.
Their leaders and law came with them.
They prayed and lived communistical-
" as long as they could, then in
creased, expanded and developed into
a nation. But the gold discoveries Of
California, Nevada, Colorado and Mon
tana brought thousands Of independ-
ent men to the wilderness who were
full of the hunger for gold, not homes;
who had no leaders, no laws to which
they could appeal and nothing to bind
them together. Then the leaders came
out Of the crowd, and the law grew as
1t was needed. It was only after a
time that any of these men came to
consider remaining permanently in the
country, and it was these venturesome
builders who developed the newer part
Of our nation.
From the nature of things, with SO
much at stake among such hard living
men, there were plenty Of fights and
disputes. There being NJ authority to
which to appeal, differences were set
tied between man and man. A six
shooter was the greatest help a man
could get toward a physical superior
ity over other men, and SO everybody
carried a "gun" and knew how to use
It. The trigger finger grew nimble
with practice, and there developed u
condition where frequent killings and
sh~ootings occasioned little comment or
criticism, where men were almost in
different to the splitting Of blood and
looked death square in the face with
a n%onchalance that is hardly conceiv-
able now. Shooting ARRAYS were the
froth Of a very strong brew of the bor-
der life, and they put a settlement to
questions quickly and definitely. If
when the smoke cleared away some
good man lay biting the dust, his light
had gone out according to the code Of
the time, fierce and barbarous as codes
must be when man first struggles with
nature.
And yet there was always safety in
"leaving it to the crowd" The gener-
al sentiment Of the community was
very partial to fairness and honesty
during the early days Of most border
towns, There were no locks or keys,
almost any mans credit was good to
any amount, and stores and provisions
could lay untouched for months In
wholly u~nguarded places. It was the
natural, frank honesty Of the virgin
west and a veritable paradise for
thieves and criminals:
And they came, hordes Of numbering,
plundering adventures who knew no
code of morals or chivalry, and resorted
to anything to accomplish their ends
They found plumber rich, crime easy
and escape still easier and, drifting all
over the country, levied tribute from
each new camp as It sprang into being
Often these men were in such a ma
jority that a man who believed In hon
esty and Justice was a man indeed II
he had the courage to back his ideals
But there were such men, men as Coz
meant men to be, full Of the sense Of
right and the fitness Of things and I'M
afraid. They stepped right into th'
opening and tackled some Of the cuss
edest crowds in Christendom, teaching
4 wholesome respect for life. nbert.
and the pursuit Of happiness" t
punches Of drinking; blasphemous an
embarrassed tempers. The gun fight
ings, lynchings and wanton ,spillings Q
hlood that aniced the histories Of tn