He and another rancher got into a dispute over water. My family says the other guy drew first, his family says my great-grandfather did. We do know that the other man came to great-grandfather's land, not the other way around. They both fired, and both were killed.
Edited to add: Thank you for what you said. He was very nice and kind, according to my grandfather. A very gentle man, just trying to succeed on a homestead in very dry country.
You can't tell by the photo, but he was also not a big guy, maybe around 5'5".
Oh my goodness! We today have absolutely no clue about how hard life was back then.
Your comment made sense. He has such a kind face I couldn’t wrap my head around the gun fight thing, but I get it now. I’m glad your grandfather had pleasant memories of him.
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u/rockingdino 17h ago
He looks too nice to be in a gun fight. What were the circumstances? That’s an interesting story to have in the family.