Gobsmacked!

Gus Walker, “The Mapinator” (below) spent three weeks tracking all the moves of the Daltons in their descent into hell. A brilliant point-by-point take down of the entire, bloody event. All Artwork and Images Courtesy True West Archives Unless Otherwise Noted.

Thanks to the late, great Gus Walker (“The Mapinator”), you are about to experience the very best step by step, blow-by-blow maps and visuals on the Dalton debacle at Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1892.

If memory serves me correctly, Gus spent over three weeks on the project, tracking all of the participants and labeling all of the streets and buildings in the dramatic and tragic gunfight. Also deserving kudos for their wonderful work on this feature is our crack design team, led by True West art director, Dan “The Man” Harshberger and Robert Ray, our production manager. Excellent editorial tweaks were provided by Mark Boardman and Stuart Rosebrook. The combined effort gives you the best explanation of how a daring raid went south, quickly, and why it’s still talked about today.

And, lest you think this is all rah-rah horn-blowing, here is the author’s response to the layout and design:

“I have over 400 articles in print, and I’ve grown philosophical about how magazines have handled the art direction around my work. However, I have never seen a more thorough, tasteful job of enhancing one of my pieces, both verbally and pictorially. I’m [expletive] gobsmacked. Many thanks for doing an absolutely spectacular job.” —Ron Soodalter, author of our cover story on The Daltons vs. Coffeyville

What does “gobsmacked” actually mean? It’s a cousin to slack-jawed, or awe-inspiring. Technically, “gobsmacked” is a combination of smack (“to hit”) and gob, which was originally a Northern English, Scottish and Irish word for “mouth,” which makes it literally “mouth-slapped.” Prepare to be gobsmacked.