Were there any outlaws or cowboys who were disabled?

Stace Webb

Via the Internet

The disabled were far more common back in the Old West than today. The Civil War created a lot of amputees. Gunshot wounds, wagon accidents, mine injuries and horse wrecks, to name a few, also left many disabled. Even Doc Holliday carried a cane on his way to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Little things, such as a lifetime of walking in high-heeled boots (read Jack Schaefer’s classic, Monte Walsh), could cripple a cowboy. Since many of us draw our perceptions of the Old West from movies, perhaps Hollywood should hire more handicapped people to star in them.

Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian.

His books include The Arizona Trilogy and Law of the Gun.

If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall,

PO Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at marshall.trimble@sccmail.maricopa.edu