Civil War Horror: A practical joke in the Wild West

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

A practical joke in the Wild West

The Wild West was a tough place to live. Fun was hard to come by and people resorted to such strange diversions as anvil artillery. Practical jokes were popular too.

In Tombstone, Arizona, a tenderfoot was sure to come in for some ribbing. One popular trick was to take him out "Apache hunting". The guys in on the joke would slip the bullets out of his gun. Once they got out in the desert, they'd ditch him (a bit like snipe hunting) and then some other forntiersmen dressed up as Apaches would leap out from behind some rocks and charge at him, giving out blood-curdling war whoops.

The tenderfoot would try to fire, only to find he didn't have any ammunition! This was all good fun until one newcomer in Tombstone pulled out a holdout weapon and blazed away at the dressed up cowboys. Luckily nobody was hurt. The game kind of lost popularity after that.

Image of The Apache by Henry Farny courtesy Wikipedia.

4 comments:

Misha GerrickDecember 12, 2012 at 7:46 AM
Hahahahahahaha yeaaaaah... I can see why people didn't see it as a lot of fun after that. :-D
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D.G. HudsonDecember 12, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Men seem to think this sort of thing is funny. Sounds like an initiation rite for sure. I like that photo, Sean.
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Alex J. CavanaughDecember 12, 2012 at 12:39 PM
It's only fun until someone almost dies. Except in the South, where they just keep playing anyway.
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Sherry EllisDecember 12, 2012 at 7:47 PM
I wouldn't have wanted to be a tenderfoot!
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

A practical joke in the Wild West

4 comments: