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May 30: The Gunslinger

lawrencebush
May 30, 2012

Jim Levy, a Jewish immigrant from Dublin who worked as a miner in Pioche, the second largest silver mining town in Nevada, witnessed a murder on this date in 1871 and became a gunslinger. Levy testified at the coroner’s inquest that Michael Casey had shot Ted Gasson in cold blood. Casey then came gunning for Levy, who killed Casey, was shot in the jaw and disfigured by one of Casey’s sidekicks, and went ahead to be acquitted of Casey’s murder and to collect a $5,000 reward that Ted Gasson had offered on his deathbed to anyone willing to avenge his murder. Levy spent the next decade as a “regulator” (hired gun) and gambler in Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, and Arizona, including in the infamous town of Tombstone. One newspaper described him as a “pistolferous gambler.” After evading several murder trials and surviving an estimated sixteen gunfights, Levy died at age 40 on June 5, 1882 in an ambush after a spat in a saloon in Tucson, Arizona.

“The incident that was to make him most famous took place in Cheyenne, Wyoming on March 9, 1877, in which he engaged in a shoot out with Charlie Harrison. . . . The dispute began in The Shingle and Locke’s Saloon where there was either a gambling argument or derogatory comments were made toward Levy about his ethnic background. . . . Although Harrison was an accomplished marksman and duelist, in his effort to be the quickest draw he shot wildly and missed his mark. On the other hand, Levy took his time. He looked through the sights on his pistol, which is a very essential thing to do when shooting at an adversary who is returning your fire. . . . Both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp believe this battle was a keen example of how ‘calm deliberation’ will always have an edge over speed in situations such as these.” —JGrit, the Index of Tough Jews