Don’t Shoot Too Fast

He simply had the best nerve, which is a quality quite different from courage. Courage, generally speaking, is daring.

Continuing Gunfighters of the Old West,
our selection from an article in Human Life Magazine by Bat Masterson published in 1907. The selection is presented in four easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Gunfighters of the Old West.

Levi Richardson is another case in point that will serve to show that coolness and deliberation are very essential qualities in a shooting scrape, and unless a man possesses them, he is very apt to fall a victim to the man who does. Levi Richardson had been a buffalo hunter with me on the plains of western Kansas for several years. We were very close friends and shared our blankets with each other on a great many cold winter nights, when blankets were a very useful commodity. He was thoroughly familiar with the use of fire-arms and an excellent shot with either pistol or rifle. He was a high-strung fellow who was not afraid of any man. He got a notion into his head one night in Dodge City, Kansas, that a young gambler by the name of Frank Loving, generally known as “Cock-eyed Frank,” had done him some wrong, and forthwith made up his mind to kill him on sight. He publicly declared what he intended to do to Loving as soon as he met him, and some busybody who had been listening to the threats hastened away to put Loving on his guard.

Frank Loving was a mere boy at the time, but he was not afraid and immediately proceeded to arm himself and be prepared to deal out the best that he had when his man came. He did not have to wait very long, for Richardson was a man to act promptly when once he had made up his mind to do a certain thing; and as he had decided on killing Loving with as little delay as possible, the battle was on almost before a person had time to think. Richardson found Loving sitting unconcernedly on a card table in the Long Branch Saloon and instantly opened fire on him with his Colts 45 caliber pistol. He fired five times at his man in rapid succession, but missed with every shot, and was finally shot dead by Loving, who took his time about his work. It was the cleanest possible shot.

Richardson, like Harrison and Sherman, did not take sufficient time to see what he was doing and his life paid the penalty. No one, however, who knows both men, could truthfully say that Loving possessed a greater degree of courage than Richardson, or that under ordinary conditions he was a better marksman with a gun. He simply had the best nerve, which is a quality quite different from courage. Courage, generally speaking, is daring.

Nerve is Steadiness

I was the sheriff of the county at the time and refused to lock Loving up in jail, holding that he had, in killing Richardson, only acted in self-defense; and permitted him to be at large on his own recognizance until his preliminary examination was held, which exonerated him, as I knew it would. I have never stood for murder and never will, but I firmly believe that a man who kills another in defense of his own life should always be held blameless and will always lend a helping hand to such a man.

Frank Loving was himself murdered three years later by another gambler by the name of John Allen, in Trinidad, Colorado. Allen, soon after his acquittal for the murder of Loving, became a street preacher and of course all has been forgiven.

The Career of Ben Thompson

But all this is preliminary to the real purpose of this story, which is to tell something about Ben Thompson, the famous “gunfighter” of Austin, Texas. Ben Thompson was born in England and came to this country with his family when a boy. The family settled in Austin, Texas and Ben learned the printer’s trade and set type in the local newspaper offices of the city.

When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a private in one of the Texas regiments and went to the front to fight the battles of the lost cause. He was only a boy in years when he enlisted, but was not long in showing the kind of mettle that was in him. While serving in General Kirby Smith’s command during the campaign along the Red River, young Thompson performed many deeds of great daring, such as crossing into the enemy’s lines and in carrying important dispatches for the officers of his command.

For the dash and courage he displayed at the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, just above the mouth of Red River in Louisiana, he was promoted to the rank of captain by his commanding officer. At the conclusion of hostilities between the North and South, Ben returned to his home in Austin, but did not remain long. The spirit of war was now upon him and he longed for more conflict.

Austin was too peacefully disposed for him, so he immediately set out for old Mexico, where Maximilian was just then having a lively time maintaining himself in his position as Emperor of Mexico. After getting on Mexican soil Ben lost no time in reaching the headquarters of Maximilian’s army, where he tendered his services in behalf of the invader’s cause. He was instantly accepted and commissioned a captain and was soon wearing the uniform of the Emperor’s army. Ben, however, was not given much opportunity to achieve distinction in the invading army, for Maxmilian soon after suffered a collapse and Thompson was lucky to get away from the Mexicans and reach his home in Austin with his life.

Ben Thompson was a remarkable man in many ways and it is very doubtful if, in his time, there was another man living who equaled him with the pistol in a life and death struggle. Thompson, in the first place, possessed a much higher order of intelligence than the average “gunfighter” or man killer of his time.

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