It’s been called the West’s bloodiest gunfight. Hugh Anderson and Arthur McCluskie met in the middle of the main street in Medicine Lodge, Indian Territory in July 1873. The duelists emptied their guns into one another; both were severely wounded. The combatants then crawled forward and stabbed each other to death.
It’s a great story, but it didn’t happen. The only report of the fight was a fanciful tale in the New York World. There was no Medicine Lodge in Indian Territory. And Hugh Anderson was killed by lightning in 1914 (photo).
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