The Tenderfoot's Turn

Pay with

About The Tenderfoot's Turn

Fans of the writings of William B. "Bat" Masterson (gunfighter, lawman, gambler, and newspaperman) likely know The Tenderfoot's Turn only from an abridgement that appeared in a 1960s issue of Guns Quarterly. Now the full work is once again available to aficionados of firearms and fine writing.Excerpt:To the “bad man” of the old Western frontier, the swift use of a pistol was as necessary an accomplishment as it is for a cowboy to ride a bucking horse; otherwise he stayed bad only a very short time. To the professional killer of killers, the peace officer—who was the law in all the border towns, the placer camps, and the railroad camps—the authority of a quick, unerring pistol was the only backing that meant anything. Border etiquette was rude; justice, if sometimes tardy, was none the less stern, and every man who held his own was bred to the use of arms.Skill in the use of the pistol, upon which a man attained great reputation, was invariably inborn. But there were plenty who learned to shoot well simply because they had to. Everybody who was not a reasonably good shot went back to where he came from, and quickly; even some most creditable performers found it expedient to take the back trail—-“and take it good and fast.” Only a genius, good or bad, could uphold a reputation for skill with the pistol, for speed counted quite as much as accuracy. That means a good deal when it is remembered that it was the religion of the frontier not to miss.