Davis Tutt

I promised you that and get that done.

Part of the problem with recording at the library is, If you listened to the Wild Bill Hickok Davis Tutt episode about the gunfight, that was done in a room, and that was done with exceptionally good recording equipment.

and that room was not made to record, and they're going through a remodel process.

So we're waiting for the dust to settle, maybe both figuratively and literally on the right, library's remodeling ambitions, and then I believe we can come through with a good product.

By the end of the Civil War, it was actually pretty rare.

As you heard in the last episode, though, the duel that marks the beginning of the gunfighter era is Wild Bill Hickok's face-off with Davis Tutt in 1865.

It was, in almost every respect, a classic Southern duel, only this time the two men used revolvers.

Hickok might not have taken out a newspaper ad or posted his challenge at the tavern, but he clearly did announce his challenge.

In time, we'll talk about all these characters and many others, but first, let's get back to Wild Bill Hickok on that hot Friday evening in Missouri.

Both Hickok and Davis Tutt, we're told, drew their pistols at about the same time, but most folks think Tutt fired first.

[western music] He fired from the hip after all, drawing his gun and shooting it a split second later.

That's the way most everyone shoots in movies, but in reality, the most accomplished gunfighters thought it was an amateur move.

[gunshot] [man groans] A moment later, a red bloom appeared on his chest.

Hickok, who took that extra split second to aim, did not miss.

Davis Tutt staggered forward, shouted, "Boys, I'm killed," and keeled over dead.

[gunshot] As he did, Hickok whirled around to confront a pack of Tutt's armed pals.