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Cowtown Gun Fight

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Shakey Jake
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Cowtown Gun Fight

Post by Shakey Jake » Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:57 pm

LUKE SHORT VERSUS “LONGHAIR JIM” COURTRIGHT
February 8, 1887
Fort Worth, Texas
An easy nominee for “Last Great Duel of the Old West,” this clash between two prize gunfighters was sparked by a fairly mundane dispute over gambling hall kickbacks.

The players: Luke Short, a dapper gambler and saloonkeeper who’d once dealt for the house at the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone and recently had sold his stake in Fort Worth’s White Elephant Saloon; and Timothy Isaiah “Longhair Jim” Courtright, an ex-Fort Worth marshal who was back in Cowtown running a “detective agency” that was little more than an extortion operation.

When Courtright approached Short about protection money for the White Elephant, Short told him where to go.

“That’s when people started talking about something brewing between these two guys,” says Doug Harman, Western historian with the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. “If any gunfight had a certain High Noon-style anticipation to it, it was this one.”

On the fateful night, a drunken Court­right entered town and called out Short. The two men stood face-to-face at close range outside the White Elephant. In one of the more well-documented but hard-to-believe draws, Short took off Court­right’s thumb on his first shot. Unable to cock his pistol, Courtright “border shifted” to his other hand too late. Short had already planted two bullets in his chest.

The duel’s aftermath wasn’t short on irony, notes Harman. “The building Courtright fell against when he died was a target practice spot called the Shooting Gallery. And to this day, the two men are buried just a few feet apart in Fort Worth’s Oakwood Cemetery.”
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JEBar
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Re: Cowtown Gun Fight

Post by JEBar » Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:08 pm

its rare indeed to find documentation of men actually drawing on each other at a short range .... thanks for posting the story
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Grunt67
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Re: Cowtown Gun Fight

Post by Grunt67 » Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:18 pm

Not familiar with Courtright, but Luke Short wasn't a man to mess with.
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Centaur
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Re: Cowtown Gun Fight

Post by Centaur » Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:45 pm

https://whiteelephantsaloon.com/
The White Elephant is still there. I was a cop in Ft Worth in the early 70s, and worked the north side for a time. A rough part of town then, but it is pretty touristy now. I remember an officer involved shooting in front of the place when I was on the job. Can’t say that I am missing it.
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Shakey Jake
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Re: Cowtown Gun Fight

Post by Shakey Jake » Sat Jun 19, 2021 4:29 pm

Yep, went to TCU from 1972 thru 1975. Ft. Worth is a nice place to live. I enjoyed my time there. I did my student teaching at North Side H.S. Everyone said it was a rough school but like all others it's just how you treat the kids. You treat them fairly with respect and you'll get it back. I remember going to a bar down by Collinsworth and University and one of the students was there. She knew I recognized her but I didn't call her out for being underaged. I did let her know that wasn't the place for her and she and her girlfriends left.
Jake
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