Tom Clavin > Quotes

“Whether on the scaffold high, Or in the battle’s van, The fittest place for man to die Is when he dies for man.”
― Tom Clavin, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

“Before the end of the day there will take place what became known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral … All Ike Clanton needed, and had really been seeking all morning, was an audience. He launched into a soliloquy: “You fellows haven’t given me any show at all. You’ve treated me like a dog. Fight is my racket, and all I want is four feet of ground. If you fellows had been a second later, I would have furnished a coroner’s inquest for the town. I will get even with all of you for this. If I had a six-shooter now, I would make a fight with all of you.”
― Tom Clavin, Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell

“There would ultimately be three main hideouts, and they would be connected by what came to be known as the Outlaw Trail. It extended from Canada to Mexico, and unlike other such trails elsewhere in the U.S., this one, according to Charles Kelly, “was provided with better hideouts, was used by more outlaws,”
― Tom Clavin, Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West

“To its acolytes, the Marine Corps was no less than a secular religion-Jesuits with guns-grounded in a training regimen and an ethos that relied on a historical narrative of comradeship and brotherhood in arms stretching over 150 years. In short, if a man wanted to be part of America's toughest lineup, he had best join the institution that had fought at the Halls of Montezuma and Tripoli, Belleau Wood and Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Iwo Jima.”
― Tom Clavin, The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

“The cowboy-outlaw era began about 1875, reached its climax in 1897, and ended about 1905.”
― Tom Clavin, Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West

“Already, rumors had reached a fever pitch, that ruthless men including Dirty Sock Jack, Cold Chuck Johnny, Black Jack Bill, Dynamite Sam, Rowdy Joe, and Shotgun Collins had flocked to Dodge City when Bat and Wyatt had sent out a call to arms.”
― Tom Clavin, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

“Wyatt didn’t necessarily aim to be a saint in Dodge City, but being less of a sinner could be a more satisfying life. There”
― Tom Clavin, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

“On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point in Utah, the last spike was pounded in to complete the transcontinental railroad. The iron horse made it much easier for thousands of men and women to seek new homes a thousand miles or more away from their old ones.”
― Tom Clavin, Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West

“When the hunters, many of them retaining the foul odors and wretched stains of their gory work, were in town, they wanted whiskey and women. Good manners would only result in them having to wait longer for both.”
― Tom Clavin, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

“In March 1872, he turned 24. He was already a widower, and a fellow who had had repeated brushes with the law. He had no home and no real prospects, and, writes Sherry Monahan, he apparently continued his downward spiral into the depths of depravity. Wyatt was a lonely man touched by tragedy who was reluctant or unable to make friends and to let anyone get close to him. It would have been very easy for him to fall in with the wrong crowd and repeat the ill-advised horse stealing escapade, or worse. Instead, Wyatt went to Wichita and found redemption.”
― Tom Clavin, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West