Jim Courtright of Fort Worth: His Life and Legend

Rating:
Summary: a man like few others
Review:

Of the many colorful characters who walked the dusty streets of Fort Worth's Hell's Half Acre, few equal the enigmatic Jim Courtright. Movies would have us believe that the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys black. Courtright wore both. He was by turns city marshal, deputy sheriff, deputy U.S. Marshall, private detective, hired gun, and racketeer.

According to biographer DeArment there's not much known about Courtright's childhood or youth. It's believed he was a Union soldier during the Civil War, and law abiding. But things changed after the great battle when he moved to the West.

During the railroad strikes in 1886 he found himself in a shootout, and accusers in New Mexico said he was a murderer. Deputies were dispatched to Fort Worth to bring Courtright back to New Mexico to stand trial. How he eluded them is the stuff of legend.

Death came to Courtright during a shootout with gambler Luke Short. Some say that Courtright provoked Short but there is no verifiable data concerning their fight. What is known is that Courtright was evidently esteemed by the townspeople because he had the longest funeral procession Fort Worth had seen.

The life of Courtright, both myth and reality, may be found in two early biographies. Historian DeArment studied these as well as contemporary newspapers and other accounts in order to present his version of the lawman/outlaw's life. In large part he takes the myth apart and then presents a very human Courtright - warts and all.

Those with an interest in the early West and gunfighters in particular will find much to enjoy in this exhaustively researched portrait of a man like few others.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: In Every Life Time A Legend Is Born
Review: In every life time it seems a legend is born and in the town of Fort Worth, Longhair Jim made his way through the streets. Longhair Jim was the name people called him, but by birth his name was Timothy Isaiah Courtright. Not a lot was known about Timothy's early years, the years when he was only known as Timothy Isaiah Courtright. That all changed, it seemed that Forth Worth had another name given to the town, Hell's Half Acre a name that was used for the type of town it was in the good old days just like the name given to Courtright, Longhair Jim. It seems that Longhair Jim worked bout sides of the law, save a few people from the outlaws to burying a few when they got in Longhair Jims way of making money. It seems that Longhair Jim got in little trouble down New Mexico way. Some said he murdered a man and the law came to town one day to take him back to New Mexico for the crime he was accused of. The New Mexico lawmen had their hands full with Longhair Jim, he wasn't going back, and he escaped pulling a gun out from its hiding place under the Restaurant table. Courtright lived and died by the gun and had one of the largest funeral processions in the history of Fort Worth. If you like stories of the old west, then you will love this story. The old west is like a coloring book, some pages colored very well while others just seem to passed over. Don't find yourself passing over these pages of the old west. A must read-Larry Hobson author-"The Day Of The Rose"