Gunfighters, Highwaymen, & Vigilantes: Violence on
the Frontier. By Roger D. McGrath. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984. Bibliography. Photographs. Index. Maps. 291 Pages. $16.95
Reviewed by Richard W. Crawford, Assistant Archivist,
Research Archives, San Diego Historical Society.
Crime has become an increasingly popular topic for readers
and researchers alike, so the appearance of Roger McGrath's study of crime in
Aurora and Bodie, two nineteenth century trans-Sierra mining camps, is welcome
news. During brief, spectacular boom periods, each town reached a population of
5,000 and together they produced gold and silver valued at over 35 million
dollars. Both towns established reputations as violent, lawless communities.
McGrath attempts to answer the questions: how violent and lawless was the
American West, and to what extent is modern violence attributable to our frontier heritage?
McGrath's investigation, based largely on a thorough reading
of local newspaper accounts, results in a lively, social narrative of stagecoach
highwaymen, claim-jumpers, gamblers, prostitutes, opium addicts, vigilantes, and
badmen. These "typical" frontier towns were indeed violent, but only in certain
categories. Western lore staples such as bank robbery, cattle rustling, and
horse theft were missing in Bodie and Aurora. Modern problems of burglary,
theft, rape, juvenile crime, and racial violence also were rare. Thus McGrath
refutes the notion that present-day lawlessness stems from our frontier experience.
Both towns suffered from an inordinate amount of
inter-personal violence. Fistfights and shootouts were "fairly regular events."
If, as McGrath suggests, the prevalence of guns deterred felonies such as
robbery, it also insured high homicide rates. Armed with a Colt Lightning,
carried in the pocket or waistband, the "Bodie Badmen" contributed 29 homicides.
Most shootings were the result of "reckless bravado," which McGrath defines as
the "willingness to exchange gunfire over a careless remark, an insult, or a
challenge to fighting ability." Bravado was frequently abetted by the
"prodigious quantities of whiskey" consumed in scores of saloons (Bodie had
nearly fifty saloons on its main street-one for every hundred men). Since most
shooting victims were town toughs or badmen and were willing combatants, local
citizens were not troubled by the fearsome toll. On the rare occasion when an innocent victim was killed-vigilantism
resulted. Unlike the popular image of an unruly mob, vigilantes were
well-organized, disciplined, and effective, and they only acted after the
established legal system had failed.
This is a well-crafted book. A few minor criticisms, however,
need to be noted. McGrath's brief stab at quantitative analysis is shallow and
unoriginal. Comparing Bodie homicide rates with modern eastern cities is
tenuous. Contemporary comparisons with other western regions would be
enlightening. For example, his Bodie homicide rate of 116 per 100,000 com-pares
favorably with the 117 rate for San Diego County in the 1870s. Murder frequency
in the rough world of mining camps was hardly unique. McGrath's sparing use of
public records, particularly court case files, is also frustrating. Accepting
the author's statement that he "exhausted every available source" (court records
are cited, but inclusive dates are not indicated) one can only conclude that
much of this material is no longer extant. As an appendix, McGrath adds a
useful historiographical essay on frontier violence.
This fine work should stand as a notable example in the field
that only recently has begun to attract the scholarly attention that it deserves.
