Putting aside what you see in western movies, just how tough must it have been to be a sheriff ?

I can only imagine it as the loneliest job, a thankless job, very little pay so that begs the question; what sort of a man would take on that position!

How long is the life expectancy of a sheriff?

They must have either been courageous men or desperate for work because it is not exactly an attractive job to take on

Your thoughts please?

Putting aside what you see in western movies, just how tough must it have been to be a sheriff ?

I can only imagine it as the loneliest job, a thankless job, very little pay so that begs the question; what sort of a man would take on that position!

How long is the life expectancy of a sheriff?

They must have either been courageous men or desperate for work because it is not exactly an attractive job to take on

Your thoughts please?

I'll do some research to try and answer some of those questions, John. I have many books about the Old West and I imagine some of them have pertinent info.

BTW, if you saw "No Country For Old Men", in which Tommy Lee Jones plays a sheriff very lackadaisically tracking some people, all the while mouthing a bunch of meaningless platitudes, you'll get the idea it wasn't a hard job at all. :wink:

Somehow, I have the idea it may have been a little more difficult than TLJ made it appear.

Its a tough one to answer Stumpy, We can all be 'blinkered' by movies but in reality, I suspect, is totally different

If members here have a 'take' on this topic I would love to read their replies

Its a tough one to answer Stumpy, We can all be 'blinkered' by movies but in reality, I suspect, is totally different

If members here have a 'take' on this topic I would love to read their replies

You might want to look through this (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-LawmenList.html)site, John.

I'm sure the difficulty of the job had a lot to do with the location. There were probably hundreds of early settlements that had little or no lawbreaking, thus no need for a big, bad sheriff. On the other hand, you had places like Dodge City (Kansas), Tombstone and Tucson (Arizona) and their like that required a great deal of control by tough hombres like Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok.
Jim

I also had that thought, the location!

But still, it must have been daunting taking on the job in a 'quiet' town then someone of noteriaty turns up!

Like I posted earlier, its a brave man whom takes up the post

According to what I've read, some of the bravest (and toughest) lawmen operated in what is now the state of Oklahoma. It didn't become a state until 1907 and for many years prior to statehood (and several years afterward), was a pretty lawless place. As we saw in "True Grit", many of the worst lawbreakers chose to hide out there prescisely because it wasn't a state and was relatively unpoliced, being populated mostly by the Indian tribes that had been forcibly placed on reservations in what was called (naturally enough) Indian Territory. (My maternal grandma was born in Tecumseh, IT in 1898).

After oil was discovered in Oklahoma, things really got wild and that's when a need arose for very tough lawmen who could tame the oil boomtowns.

Good reply Jim, I never knew that about Oklahoma, very interesting, I will look that up

As you may gather, I love history, I drive my wife crazy with my thirst for it,but, as you said the oppurtunity for crime is there, simply because its there for the taking

Thanks for your posts on this

Cheers

John

As you may gather, I love history

Well, thank goodness someone in the UK does. I couldn't believe this (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/13/ncarta113.xml) article when I read it the other day. And not too long ago, I read that a sizable percentage of England's population didn't even know who Winston Churchill was. That's disgraceful. Perhaps you should launch a petition drive to whoever controls education over there, John. :wink_smile:

I love history too - it was always my favorite subject and even today, most of my reading is history (either actual or fictional) or biographys. Much of my boyhood reading were Forester's Hornblower novels of the Royal Navy. Of course, from what I've read about the RN of 2 or 3 hundred years ago, Horatio was an exception to the rule of very cruel captains.

Even I know who Winston Churchill is... he's the guy who invented pizza! :stunned:. Anyway my favorite historical figure is Teddy Roosevelt.

Even I know who Winston Churchill is... he's the guy who invented pizza! :stunned:. Anyway my favorite historical figure is Teddy Roosevelt.

Mine is Churchill. I'm convinced he was almost solely responsible for saving the world from Hitler's Nazis.

Of Americans, I'd have to say my favorites would be a tie between Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jefferson but they both would rank just behind Churchill in my esteem.

It was shameful how the voting british public treated Churchill after the war, voting him out of office

His guidence saved this country, no doubt

In my opinion he was the greatest man England has produced, a fine, honourable man, he has my total respect

Roosevelt was also a great leader, even the Japanese prime minister at the time sent his condolences

Putting aside what you see in western movies, just how tough must it have been to be a sheriff ?

I can only imagine it as the loneliest job, a thankless job, very little pay so that begs the question; what sort of a man would take on that position!

How long is the life expectancy of a sheriff?

They must have either been courageous men or desperate for work because it is not exactly an attractive job to take on

Your thoughts please?

I've read that the first Texas Rangers, who were organized in the 1820s primarily to protect settlers from Indian raids, were paid as little as $1.25 per day and even then, were expected to provide their own horses, saddles and weapons. Of course, those first Rangers were merely precursors to the more famous lawmen who came along in later years. But even then, they were effective in enforcing the law and protecting people on the frontier.

I bet the rangers have a good, interesting history since forming

Something I will look into

Stumpy, that link you gave on page one, listing the different lawmen in the old west and a brief history on each one, made for fascinating reading!

I noticed the following . . . :wink_smile: . . .

William L. "Buffalo Bill" Brooks (1832–1874) - Lawman turned outlaw, Brooks served as Marshal in Newton and Dodge City, Kansas, before being arrested for horse theft. He and two other men were lynched by a vigilante mob in Caldwell, Kansas on July 29, 1874

Hm-m-m-m . . . I wonder if there's any connection . . . :ohmy:.

Chester :newyear:

Rough justice in the old west Chester

I wonder what made him turn from lawman to thief ?

I don't know, but in reading just the first page of the site, there were quite a few entries that were both outlaw and lawman, and it went both directions, with at least one guy as an outlaw, a lawman, and then back to an outlaw.

What an interesting time in history!

Chester :newyear:

I guess it is a case of knowing who to trust !! :ohmy:

I've often though that there's a very fine line between the two. Even in modern times, we often read of "lawmen" breaking the law. A good example is the now-deposed governor of New York. Before he became governor, he was the attorney general and thus responsible for enforcing the laws. Suddenly, he's shown as breaking the law by hiring hookers. And what about the cop in Ohio??? who they think may have murdered his missing wife.

IMO, wearing a badge and gun gives many of 'em a feeling of invincibility and they begin thinking they're above the law. I've met many a young cop who were extremely arrogant. Had to take a couple of 'em down a notch or two by filing complaints with their superiors.

Our police Chief a few days ago committed suicide ( he lept off a cliff in the welsh mountains)

His inquest is on-going

John,
The following are some references I compiled about various well-known lawmen of America's frontier days, which you may enjoy reading.

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/law/index.html

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/met4.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander_H._McNelly

http://www.texasranger.org/halloffame/Hughes_John.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Valley_War

http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2004/sample/Courtwrightintro.pdf

http://www.kancoll.org/articles/tomsmith.htm

http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/sd/pages/profiles/sb/sb.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Garrett

http://www.sangres.com/history/batmasterson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Tilghman

http://www.shootingtimes.com/gunsmoke/madsen_0731/

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-HeckThomas.html

http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/hickok.html

In reading about these old-time lawmen, something that is very ironic is that in many cases, they were so effective at what they did (keeping the peace and enforcing the law), that they were often forced out of office by the town councils where they worked. Forced out, that is, after they had made the settlement so peaceful that there was no longer a need for their services. I think that was the cause, at least in some instances, of them then turning to a life of crime.

Thanks Stumpy for your hard work compiling the links for me, I appreciate your effort. I will be reading them tonight when I get home from work

Thanks

John