Remarkable gunfight photo 1905

[glowe]

. . . "I think the Officer is shooting a large-caliber .44 or .45 caliber revolver with black powder loads. The muzzle of the gun is elevated from either recoil or the process of thumb cocking the revolver for another shot if needed."

I agree. Look at the crowd, as they are looking at a ground level person, not one on the roof. I also used to shoot full-boat BP 45 Colt rounds and my Colt SAA kicked like a mule, not to mention the cloud of white smoke covering the target on a calm day. The perp is standing directly behind that ball of smoke and is obscured by the cloud.

 

[Sistema1927]

7th & S. El Paso Street would be about 2 blocks north of the border, in an area of town known as Chihuahuita (Little Chihuahua). For the 1980 primary election I served as a Republican poll watcher in the area just to the east of this, Segundo Barrio. It was still the wild, wild west down there.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[glenwolde]

I think the bikes belonged to the cops.

The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Bicycle Police - IPMBA).

 

[WR Moore]

Looking at the picture enlarged, there appear to be shadows of next pole from the one the officer(?) is using that go across the ground and onto the store. However, at the lower right of the smoke cloud is a dark area in front of the wall that can't be a shadow. The person who was shot at?

 

[Telecaster]

Someone mentioned derby hats. Derbys were extremely common in the old west, more common than what we think of as cowboy hats.

 

[Peak53]

Is that a bicycle gun being fired?

 

[oldbrownhat]

Post #75 on Page 3 of The Colt Forum link I posted above (I hadn't read that far) has details on this:

#75 · Nov 9, 2020

Found it. Nov 1, 1906 El Paso Times. It was a domestic situation, a Manuel Rodriguez killed his wife, barricaded himself, started shooting others. He owned a restaurant beside the El Popular saloon, adjoining. Officers climbed the roof, entered the saloon, and (by our photo) shot a fusillade of bullets for less than an hour at the restaurant. The door was battered in, and Rodriguez was dead on the floor with 4 bullet wounds.

"The four men who rushed the house and first gained entrance were deputy Sherriff George Briggs, police officer Tom Miller, Tom Powers, and constable Manny Clements."

The article is hard to read, very long and windy. But interesting points:

"The shooting attracted fully two thousand people, who crowded about...laughed in defiance of the edicts of police to keep back...."

"Officers declared....indiscriminate shooting by unauthorized persons and several of the officers delayed the taking of Rodriguez..."

"Officer Juan Para [actually Alderete] used a telephone pole near the restaurant as a breastworks..."

"An investigation showed that the post behind which the officer had been standing contained three bullets from the revolver of Rodriguez..."
​

from Post #76:

Four people died, Rodriquez, his wife, and a bystander 2 year old boy. 3 more were wounded. I've got the whole article, but it's pretty hard to piece it together to be readable, it's a PDF or two.

"hundreds of shots were fired....:
An outhouse that they thought he was in had 38 bullets from a .30-30 it it.
​

And from Post #106:

I covered this event extensively in my book, "Hell Paso: Life and Death in the Old West Most Dangerous Town," which was published last year.

-Samuel K. Dolan​

 

[glenwolde]

Post #75 on Page 3 of The Colt Forum link I posted above (I hadn't read that far) has details on this:

#75 · Nov 9, 2020

Found it. Nov 1, 1906 El Paso Times. It was a domestic situation, a Manuel Rodriguez killed his wife, barricaded himself, started shooting others. He owned a restaurant beside the El Popular saloon, adjoining. Officers climbed the roof, entered the saloon, and (by our photo) shot a fusillade of bullets for less than an hour at the restaurant. The door was battered in, and Rodriguez was dead on the floor with 4 bullet wounds.

"The four men who rushed the house and first gained entrance were deputy Sherriff George Briggs, police officer Tom Miller, Tom Powers, and constable Manny Clements."

The article is hard to read, very long and windy. But interesting points:

"The shooting attracted fully two thousand people, who crowded about...laughed in defiance of the edicts of police to keep back...."

"Officers declared....indiscriminate shooting by unauthorized persons and several of the officers delayed the taking of Rodriguez..."

"Officer Juan Para [actually Alderete] used a telephone pole near the restaurant as a breastworks..."

"An investigation showed that the post behind which the officer had been standing contained three bullets from the revolver of Rodriguez..."
​

from Post #76:

Four people died, Rodriquez, his wife, and a bystander 2 year old boy. 3 more were wounded. I've got the whole article, but it's pretty hard to piece it together to be readable, it's a PDF or two.

"hundreds of shots were fired....:
An outhouse that they thought he was in had 38 bullets from a .30-30 it it.
​

And from Post #106:

I covered this event extensively in my book, "Hell Paso: Life and Death in the Old West Most Dangerous Town," which was published last year.

-Samuel K. Dolan​

Ha! What a difference. A gun fight breaks out today and everybody runs while screaming their head off.

 

[charlie sherrill]

Ha! What a difference. A gun fight breaks out today and everybody runs while screaming their head off.

That close to a saloon the crowd of observers had probably already consumed a sufficient amount of liquid courage and turned the event into a festival.

 

[oldbrownhat]

From EP History.com, a 2-hour interview with the author who posted about describing this shootout on the Colt Forum.

January 2, 2021 Both Hours, author Samuel K Dolan explains his new book "Hell Paso"