22-05-2025
‘The Gunfighters' Review: The Duelists of Texas
On the Friday evening of July 21, 1865, a recently discharged Confederate soldier named Davis Tutt stood in the courthouse square of Springfield, Mo. He wore a leather duster and he carried a pistol and a gold pocket watch.
Facing him on the south side of the square, writes Bryan Burrough at the outset of 'The Gunfighters,' his lively chronicle of a uniquely American creature, was a 28-year-old Union scout with 'weary eyes and a nose so long it almost reached his upper lip; one wag had nicknamed him 'Duck Bill''—but likely not within his hearing, as the scout was James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok. He, too, had a pistol—a big Navy Colt revolver.
'Dave,' he called. 'Here I am.'
His martial career behind him, Tutt had become a professional gambler, but not a wise one. He and Hickok had recently quarreled over a poker game. Tutt claimed that Hickok owed him $35; Hickok said it was only $25. Tutt chose to settle the matter by grabbing Hickok's watch and running off with it.
