Print The Legend
May. 27th, 2022 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloFrom one set of heavily mythologised ne'er-do-wells- the 17th and 18th century pirates- to another- the gun hands of the old West- and the question arises, "Who shot Johnny Ringo?" It's a cold case killing that is never going to be solved- unless by remote viewing (and I don't think evidence obtained thataway is going to stand up in a court of law) while its continuing fascination depends on two of the suspects being a couple of the immortals- Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.
The movie Tombstone goes with Doc- and that's the artistically satisfying answer- especially when the beautifully scripted re-enactment provided Val Kilmer with one of the highest peaks in his brilliant career- but in actuality there's written evidence that Doc was in another State at the time, making one his many coutroom appearances. Wyatt- in old age- claimed the killing for himself- but he was deep in his self-mythologing phase by then- and no-one believes him.
Ringo is a shady character in both senses of the word. We don't know a whole lot about him. He seems to have done a fair bit of killing- most of it in a cowardly fashion- and Morgan Earp may have been one of the notches on his gun butt- but no-one really knows. He was a mean hombre- but then so was Doc, so were the Earps. Who gets to play the hero and who the villain in these sagas of the Old West depends on little more than the spinning of a tin star.
The likelihood is that Johnny Ringo killed Johnny Ringo. He was found sittting propped up under a tree with a bullet in his head and a bullet missing from the chamber of his six-shooter. A clear cut case of suicide? Witnesses say he'd been drinking madly and dropping hints he was on his way out. Still, questions remain- relating to odd and unexplained circumstantial details like, why in the absence of his boots had he wrapped his feet in torn up strips of his undershirt? and why had a half-hearted attempt been made to scalp him?
The old West was shabby and dirty and scruffy- buth ethically and physically- and the owlhoots who criss-crossed it didn't deserve its buttes and its sunset-tinted cloudscapes but, oh, how we wish that they did!
The movie Tombstone goes with Doc- and that's the artistically satisfying answer- especially when the beautifully scripted re-enactment provided Val Kilmer with one of the highest peaks in his brilliant career- but in actuality there's written evidence that Doc was in another State at the time, making one his many coutroom appearances. Wyatt- in old age- claimed the killing for himself- but he was deep in his self-mythologing phase by then- and no-one believes him.
Ringo is a shady character in both senses of the word. We don't know a whole lot about him. He seems to have done a fair bit of killing- most of it in a cowardly fashion- and Morgan Earp may have been one of the notches on his gun butt- but no-one really knows. He was a mean hombre- but then so was Doc, so were the Earps. Who gets to play the hero and who the villain in these sagas of the Old West depends on little more than the spinning of a tin star.
The likelihood is that Johnny Ringo killed Johnny Ringo. He was found sittting propped up under a tree with a bullet in his head and a bullet missing from the chamber of his six-shooter. A clear cut case of suicide? Witnesses say he'd been drinking madly and dropping hints he was on his way out. Still, questions remain- relating to odd and unexplained circumstantial details like, why in the absence of his boots had he wrapped his feet in torn up strips of his undershirt? and why had a half-hearted attempt been made to scalp him?
The old West was shabby and dirty and scruffy- buth ethically and physically- and the owlhoots who criss-crossed it didn't deserve its buttes and its sunset-tinted cloudscapes but, oh, how we wish that they did!
