Death by a Colt
This is a big day in the history of the American Old West – beginning with a major happening that occurred in 1881. Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid in Pete Maxwell’s bedroom in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A year later, Johnny Ringo was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head up on west Turkey Creek in Cochise County, Arizona. It was ruled a suicide, but he may have been murdered by Buckskin Frank Leslie. Leslie was treacherous and prone to jealousy when drunk. The two men had been drinking together since the Fourth of July. I’ll be taking a break from writing tomorrow evening to learn how to shoot. I’ve always wanted to learn how to load and fire a revolver so I’ll be heading to the range to have my first lesson with a Colt six-shooter. One of my favorite Old West slogans is about the man who designed and made the famous six-shooter. “God made some men big and some men small, but Sam Colt even things up.” I guess no one knew that better than Billy the Kid and Johnny Ringo. Both were shot with a Colt revolver.
