FAQs
There might be more famous outlaws out there who roamed the Wild West, but few of them, if any, were deadlier than John Wesley Hardin. He bragged about gunning down over 40 men, although newspapers of the time were only able to corroborate around 25 victims.
Who was the most feared lawman in the Old West? ›
Bat Masterson: The Most Feared Lawman of the Wild West.
Did any outlaws survive the Wild West? ›
What happened to outlaws/gunslingers after the Old/Wild West ended? In the case of Wyatt Earp, he was one of the luckier ones: he actually managed to live to an old age. Once the days of the Old West were over, Earp had different jobs over the years.
Who was the most feared outlaw? ›
Many infamous outlaws terrorized the Old West, gunslingers like Billy the Kid and John Wesley Hardin. But one name stands out as the most efficient, elusive killer of the bunch—Deacon Jim Miller. His dastardly deeds included the first documented murder on the South Plains.
What famous outlaw was killed by one of his own men? ›
The End of Jesse James
He was killed by Bob Ford, a member of the James gang, to collect a $10,000 reward offered by Governor Tom Crittenden. Jesse died at the age of 34 after living a lawless career for 16 years.
Who was the meanest outlaw ever? ›
The most feared man of his day was John Wesley Hardin. Even in his lifetime, it was known that he was so mean, that he shot a man for snoring. Who was the most dangerous outlaw in the Old West? John Wesley Hardin hands down.
Who is the fastest gunslinger in the Old West? ›
Original question: “Who was the fastest gunslinger in the Old West?” It's probably a toss up between Wild Bill Hickok, who claimed to have killed 100 men, or Doc Holliday. Holliday only killed one to three men. Most of Hickok's kills were while he was in the Union Army during the Civil War as a civilian scout.
Who is the baddest cowboy of all time? ›
Hyman G. Neill, better known as Hoodoo Brown, was the leader of the Dodge City Gang in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1879 and early 1880. According to Harold Thatcher, curator of the Rough Rider Museum in Las Vegas, Hoodoo was "the baddest cowboy of them all".
Who was the most notorious gunslinger in the West? ›
1. Wild Bill Hickock. Born on May 27, 1837, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok would accrue fame and infamy during his 39 years of living as a gunslinger who had been through it all.
Who was the corrupt sheriff in the Wild West? ›
John Morco, usually known as "Happy Jack" Morco (1848? – October 16, 1873), was an alleged gunman by his own accounts as well as a corrupt lawman of the Old West, most notably during the wildest days of the cattletown Ellsworth, Kansas.
Quick draw and hip shooting was a rare skill in the West, and only a handful of historically known gunslingers were known to be fast, such as Luke Short, John Wesley Hardin, and Wild Bill Hickok.
Who was the last outlaw in real life? ›
Now meet Harry Tracy, the Old West's last outlaw. Tracy was a walking bundle of contradictions. Strikingly handsome with an Abercrombie & Fitch model's disdainful smirk, he could be excessively polite. Women adored him, and he revered them as symbols of Victorian purity.
Did cowboys actually duel? ›
3) I also note that movie and tv cowboys dueled and real people in the west didn't have formal duels very often and were more likely to shoot or stab someone in the back, which was a lot safer.
Who was the number one outlaw? ›
Who's the most famous Outlaw of the Wild West? Jesse James is probably the most famous. He was a product of the Civil War who never really accepted the South losing the war. Southern sympathizers saw him as more of a Robin Hood type.
What was the biggest killer in the Wild West? ›
Even if they were in towns, most MDs had such limited knowledge that the biggest killer in the wild west was germs. Disease alone killed more than all the bullets and arrows fired throughout that era.
