Tombstone: Marshal Fred White
In movies, White was seen as an old gentleman, with a not so
pleasant disposition and not conforming to the standards of what a lawman
should be. Many would say he was well
liked and had the respect of not only the Earps, but the Cowboys as well. It was told he had their cooperation when
having to arrest any members of the Cowboys.
You would think that with “Curly” Bill Brocius nasty behavior they would
be mortal enemies, but the stories told are that they actually got along. So how did Brocius accidentally shoot White
to death?
History says that on October 28, 1880 some of the members of the
Cowboys were in town consuming lots of liquor, were rowdy, and shot their pistols
up to the night sky. White dealt with
each of them, surrendering their weapons without confrontation. When he met up with Curly Bill, he found him
extremely drunk and shooting his gun off.
White demanded his pistol and Curly Bill handed it to him barrel
first. When White snatched the weapon,
it discharged and shot him in the groin area.
Wyatt Earp, who witnessed the shooting, pistol-whipped Curly Bill and
knocked him unconscious thinking he shot him on purpose. Wyatt and his brother Morgan eventually
arrested him for shooting Marshal White.
Curly Bill was said to have regretted shooting White and that it
was an accident. White lived for only
two days after the shooting. He died in October of 1880 and just before his death he testified that the shooting was
an accident. He noted that the gun was
half cocked and because Curly Bill was so drunk he never noticed it. Because of White’s testimony, all charges
were dropped against Curly Bill. White
was buried in the Boot Hill Cemetery (old city cemetery) in Tombstone. A sign stands at the site where Marshal
Fred White was shot by Curly Bill Brocius.
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| Tombstone, Allen Street, 1882 |
I remember Fred White from the movie Tombstone. It is good to read the back story. Movies never go to deeply into these things and the history is so often wrong.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I checked several different sources and some information was not exact. All of the sources said he was in his early 30's when he died.
DeleteAs a police psychologist for the last 24 years I find the supposed "testimony" of Martial White and of Curly Bill suspect, in that:
ReplyDelete1. If the two men were on friendly terms it is quite possible that White was trying to defend a friend.
2. If White says it was dark and he "didn't notice" the hand gun was cocked, he may have had enough doubt to make the above statement.
3. Against this is the fact that no one only half-cocks a colt unless it is to load the pistol--in fact the cylinder of the gun moves out of "battery" at half cock and even if a round did discharged the bullet would miss the barrel and plow through the ejector rod at the side of the guns barrel, i.e., the gun would blow up.
4. Also, if the intention is to fire the weapon it is at "full cock," the trigger cannot be pulled at any other time, meaning; if Whites statement was that the pistol discharged when he "snatched" it Curly Bill would have had to fully cock the weapon first--meaning he intended to shoot the weapon.
5. Brocious later bragged to several cowboys that he shot White on purpose preforming a "boarder shift" (holding the gun butt first then using your crooked trigger finger to spin the gun into firing position to simply pull the trigger) which would then discharge the weapon.
To conclude: Either White was lying because it was dark and he "didn't notice" the gun having been cocked (he would be testifying to something he didn't see), or Brocious was lying to his cowboy friends about his boarder shift.
Finally, as a police psychologist I see "risk taking behavior" every day of the week. Both criminals and law enforcement people engage in this abnormal behavior, but with the vast percentage of this kind of behavior being more usual for the average crook and only police officers who have "issues" engage in this on a regular basis.
My conclusion is that Brocious probably cocked the gun on purpose and took advantage of the fact that he was "drunk" to see if he could pull the trigger (although he may have been surprised when the gun fired, it still takes deliberate volition to pull the trigger--he did it on purpose). Additionally Brocious may have actually allowed White to assume later that it was his own fault (remember the trial was still pending when White made his statement) because the gun discharged when he "snatched" it.
Today Brocious would be guilty of 2nd degree murder (manslaughter).