The Burr in the Burgh

One of the fun-est things I did while working as a seminary recruitment officer back in the olden days was make a sidetrip to Tombstone, Arizona. I'd been in Tucson meeting with prospective students at a Lutheran church when I noticed the famed Western town nearby on the map. I had a half day I could afford to kill so I hustled on down there.

For reasons I cannot quite identify, I have long been fascinated with the legendary gunfight at the OK corral where Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday whooped the Clanton boys. So the opportunity to walk those same dusty streets was too good to pass up. I was not disappointed. The route there was right through the deadest and hottest desert I'd ever been in. This was before I had a cell phone and I actually got a bit nervous on that lonely road. If my car were to stall, I pictured myself becoming buzzard bait.

The first thing I did was visit the cemetery on Boot Hill, hoping to read some of the famously funny epitaphs. One said:

Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a .44
No Les no More

Re-read that once or twice until the macabre humor of it dawns on you. I was also struck by the great number of Chinese buried there, railroad workers I'd imagine. And the high number of infants and very small children.

Oh, I did a few other touristy things. Had a snort at one of the local watering holes. Saw the presumed site of the OK Corral and watched a re-enactment of the gunfight.

This all comes to mind again because I re-watched the movie Tombstone from the early 90s starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, plus an unmistakable Billy Bob Thornton in a throwaway role. There've been better Westerns than this. And those are not my favorite actors (though I do confess that Kilmer should've gotten an Oscar for his Doc Holliday). It's moderately accurate historically, however and not un-entertaining.

Why I am writing this? I'm curious. What is it about gunfighting, bloodlusting murderers like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday (or Tony Soprano for that matter) that makes them almost iconic figures for Americans? It's not the classic good vs. evil dynamic because these yahoos were every bit as vicious as anyone they ever felled. Maybe it's just the testosterone effect.