As Wyatt Earp worked as a law enforcement officer in Dodge City from 1876-1878, lets look at some of the things that were written in the cities daily paper.
This is a continuation of another thread that got locked where another member wanted documentation that not being able to carry guns in Dodge [ a gun ban ] during Wyatt Earps tenure preserved the peace and kept violence with firearms at bay..
July 7, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
"Wyatt Earp, who was on our city police force last summer, is in town again. We hope he will accept a position on the force once more. He had a quiet way of taking the most desperate characters into custody which invariably gave one the impression that the city was able to enforce her mandates and preserve her dignity. It wasn't considered policy to draw a gun on Wyatt unless you got the drop and meant to bum powder without any preliminary talk."
July 7, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
"Mr. G. C. Noble, of the Atchison Champion, made the following observations during his recent visit here:
'At Dodge City we found everything and everybody busy as they could comfortably be. This being our first visit to the metropolis of the West, we were very pleasantly surprised, after the cock and bull stories that lunatic correspondents had given the public. Not a man was seen swinging from a telegraph pole; not a pistol was fired; no disturbance of any kind was noted. Instead of being called on to disgorge the few ducats in our possession, we were hospitably treated by all. It might be unpleasant for one or two old time correspondents to be seen here, but they deserve all that would be meeted [meted] out to them. The Texas cattle men and cow-boys, instead of being armed to the teeth, with blood in their eye, conduct themselves with propriety, many of them being thorough gentlemen.
August 11, 1877 - Reminiscences of Dodge by Frank Barnard of the Corpus Christi Gazette, reprinted in the Dodge City Times:
and yet with all this mixture of strange human nature a remarkable degree of order is preserved. Arms are not allowed to be worn, and any noisy whisky demonstrations are promptly checked by incarceration in the lock-up.
September 22, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
Here rowdyism has taken its most aggravated form, and was it not for the exceedingly stringent ordinances (some of which are unconstitutional) and a fair attempt to enforce them, the town would be suddenly depopulated and very much in the same manner as Ireland got rid of her snakes.
December 8, 1877 - Dodge City Times
"There is an evident purpose to malign and create false impressions that a person here is insecure in life, and that the citizens of Dodge City are walking howitzers. This is a bad impression that should by all means be corrected. Having but a short residence in this town, it is our deliberate opinion, from a careful observation, that Dodge City is as quiet and orderly as any town of its size in Kansas. We have been treated with the utmost cordiality. We have observed officers prompt and efficient in the discharge of their duties. There is an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms, which is rigidly enforced. The citizens are cordial, industrious, and display a business alacrity characteristic of the frontier tradesman.
These excerpts from the Dodge City Times above, written by various people who visited or lived in the area when Earp was the law dog there.
From the mouths of those who did witness the cities flavor in that era. Someone wanted proof, here's eye witness accounts, including one who wrote the ban might be unconstitutional but there was a "remarkable degree of order" [ in other words, where the ban was enforced ].
The 1876-1878 years when Wyatt ruled the streets as a law dog and enforced not wearing firearms in the city limits produced some interesting observations. From the writings posted, there's clear evidence violence in general and hearing gun fire was almost non existent when Earp ruled the streets and enforced the carrying of firearms ban.
This is a continuation of another thread that got locked where another member wanted documentation that not being able to carry guns in Dodge [ a gun ban ] during Wyatt Earps tenure preserved the peace and kept violence with firearms at bay..
July 7, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
"Wyatt Earp, who was on our city police force last summer, is in town again. We hope he will accept a position on the force once more. He had a quiet way of taking the most desperate characters into custody which invariably gave one the impression that the city was able to enforce her mandates and preserve her dignity. It wasn't considered policy to draw a gun on Wyatt unless you got the drop and meant to bum powder without any preliminary talk."
July 7, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
"Mr. G. C. Noble, of the Atchison Champion, made the following observations during his recent visit here:
'At Dodge City we found everything and everybody busy as they could comfortably be. This being our first visit to the metropolis of the West, we were very pleasantly surprised, after the cock and bull stories that lunatic correspondents had given the public. Not a man was seen swinging from a telegraph pole; not a pistol was fired; no disturbance of any kind was noted. Instead of being called on to disgorge the few ducats in our possession, we were hospitably treated by all. It might be unpleasant for one or two old time correspondents to be seen here, but they deserve all that would be meeted [meted] out to them. The Texas cattle men and cow-boys, instead of being armed to the teeth, with blood in their eye, conduct themselves with propriety, many of them being thorough gentlemen.
August 11, 1877 - Reminiscences of Dodge by Frank Barnard of the Corpus Christi Gazette, reprinted in the Dodge City Times:
and yet with all this mixture of strange human nature a remarkable degree of order is preserved. Arms are not allowed to be worn, and any noisy whisky demonstrations are promptly checked by incarceration in the lock-up.
September 22, 1877 - Dodge City Times:
Here rowdyism has taken its most aggravated form, and was it not for the exceedingly stringent ordinances (some of which are unconstitutional) and a fair attempt to enforce them, the town would be suddenly depopulated and very much in the same manner as Ireland got rid of her snakes.
December 8, 1877 - Dodge City Times
"There is an evident purpose to malign and create false impressions that a person here is insecure in life, and that the citizens of Dodge City are walking howitzers. This is a bad impression that should by all means be corrected. Having but a short residence in this town, it is our deliberate opinion, from a careful observation, that Dodge City is as quiet and orderly as any town of its size in Kansas. We have been treated with the utmost cordiality. We have observed officers prompt and efficient in the discharge of their duties. There is an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms, which is rigidly enforced. The citizens are cordial, industrious, and display a business alacrity characteristic of the frontier tradesman.
These excerpts from the Dodge City Times above, written by various people who visited or lived in the area when Earp was the law dog there.
From the mouths of those who did witness the cities flavor in that era. Someone wanted proof, here's eye witness accounts, including one who wrote the ban might be unconstitutional but there was a "remarkable degree of order" [ in other words, where the ban was enforced ].
The 1876-1878 years when Wyatt ruled the streets as a law dog and enforced not wearing firearms in the city limits produced some interesting observations. From the writings posted, there's clear evidence violence in general and hearing gun fire was almost non existent when Earp ruled the streets and enforced the carrying of firearms ban.