Photo courtesy New Mexico Magazine. http://www.nmmagazine.com
I recently watched the Billy the Kid episode on PBS’s American Experience (you can watch the entire episode by clicking on the blue link).
The Kid is a legend in all of America and especially in New Mexico.
I had to laugh when I read this excerpt from the Golden Age of the American Cowboy on the American Experience site:
“Although they were harmless on the plains, cowboys were often dreaded in towns, where they had a reputation for drunkenness. Many residents believed cowboys, as a class, to be morally corrupted, vulgar, profane, and lecherous. Several towns created gun control ordinances that fined those who insisted on wearing a six-shooter.”
I’ve been around a lot of cowboys and cowgirls when they were drunk. I’ve been around a lot of other classes of drunk people, too. Who is not just a bit vulgar, profane and lecherous when indulging?
