July 9th, 2007

It’s amazing how many different accounts are written on one historical event. And everyone insists their version of the event is accurate. Many historians out there claim to be the experts on a subject and are offended should you bring up another version of the story. In the “letter to the editor” in the most recent edition of True West Magazine a distant relative of Soapy Smith took writer Cathy Spude to task about an article she had written about the famous character. I really liked her response. She said, “Like horse racing, differences of opinion make for better Western history.” I agree that it makes for better Western history, but dealing with all the differences of opinion can be a giant pain in the backside.