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Volume 4, Issue No. 6 June, 2006
STAGE 3 CHALLENGED JUNE SHOOTERS
Lightning McCoy squints down the barrel of his ’73 Winchester, while the Rev. Adam Jones is on deck at the loading table.
The June Shoot was a humdinger. There was a bad guy hiding behind a barrel, and folks who got him with rifle and pistol received bonus points. And we shot Double Hop Skip Nevada sweeps with rifle and pistols. And then there was stage 3.
Somebody said, when they 1st saw Stage 3, “Let’s hang T-Bone!” But ol’ Horseshoe John sorta smiled, cause he wrote Stage 3, not T-Bone. On Stage 3, cowfolk shot rifle targets, and 3 were way out there. And then they shot pistol targets on a stationary Texas star. And the shotgun targets? Well, they were, fun and challenging.
Falling cowboy targets tossed clay pigeons into the air. And galloping rabbits thundered across the range, to the sounds of shotgun booms and many shooters saying, “Oh shucks,” or something about like that. And then clay birds flushed from behind and headed for the woods, flying straight away. Of course Dustin Clays thought it was great dustin’ them clays. Carolina Gem, Marshal Too Tall, and several of their compadres were just ready to get on to next stage, which they considered more civilized.
65 cowgirl and cowboy shooters participated in the match. When it was over, Diamondback Dennis rode away as the Top Gun. The sparkle of his eye, Carolina Gem, was the Top Cowgirl Shooter. The Top 10 Shooters were: (1) Diamondback Dennis (2) Doc Duncan (3) Marshal Too Tall (4) Dustin Clays (5) Pleasant (6) Tennessee Snuffy (7) Unpleasant (8) Double Eagle (9) Carolina Gem and (10) Fiddleback. 3 cowboys shot matches with no misses: Lightning McCoy, Dustin Clays and Pleasant.
Deadeye Drew
Tucson Tuco – Stage 3 Rabbit Launcher.
SHOOTING RESULTS
Top Gun – Diamondback Dennis Top Cowgirl – Carolina Gem
Buffalo Shoot:
Ø Long Range Lever Action – Marshal Too Tall Ø Long Range Single Shot – Marshal Too Tall Ø .22 Cal. – Outrider Ø 100 Yard Pistol – Sundance McNeyman
Traditional
1. Diamondback Dennis
2. Dustin Clays
3. Unpleasant
Cowgirl
1. Carolina Gem
2. Emerald Isle
3. Last Kiss
49er
1. Marshal Too Tall
2. Double Eagle
3. Festus D. Deputy
Duelist
1. Horseshoe John
2. Tucson Tuco
3. Judge’m All Duncan
Senior
1. Mr. Pistol
2. Wildcat Wilkey
3. Outrider
Gunfighter
1. Doc Duncan
2. Pleasant
3. Widowmaker
Outlaw
1. Curly Bill
2. Loose Cinch
3. TN Tombstone
Black Powder
1. L.D. Pondscum
2. Hombre Sin Nombre
Modern
1. TN Snuffy
2. Limpalong Charlie
Classic
1. Lightning McCoy
UNPLEASANT PLACES 4TH IN FIELD OF 182 SHOOTERS
AT MISSISSIPPI STATE CAS CHAMPIONSHIP
Unpleasant
In May, the York family shooters journeyed west to shoot in the Smokin’ Guns At Rabbit Ridge, the Mississippi State CAS Championship. In a field of 182 shooters, Unpleasant placed 4th overall and 1st in the Traditional category. Ol’ dad, Pleasant, placed 28th overall and 2nd in the Gunfighter class. Pyro placed 43rd overall and 4th among Gunfighters. Cool Waters also shot in the match, He placed 17th overall and 3rd in the 49er category.
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The Ocoee Ranger page 2 June 2006
The Reel West, The Real West And The West Of Our Imagination
THE REEL WEST – JANE RUSSELL
Jane Russell as Rio
Jane Russell was born in Minnesota in 1921, but in the early 1930’s, she and her family went west to California, home of movie stars and Western movies. In 1940, Jane was “discovered” by aviator and movie producer Howard Hughes. Those were the days before Howard went nuts. He gave Jane a 7-year contract to work for his studios, and he set out to make her a star in his 1st film Western called The Outlaw. The movie was supposed to have starred Jack Buetell as Billy the Kid, with Jane in a supporting role as Rio. Actually, the film starred Jane’s cleavage, which from a sexist’s viewpoint was the movie’s only attribute. Shucks, Howard, the designer of fast airplanes, had a special bra designed for Jane to make sure the camera shots portrayed her cleavage at her best. But when the movie was finished, the censors wouldn’t let Howard release the film. It was too provocative then. The film wasn’t released until years after it’s 1941 production. Jane was in several other movies before her stunning performance in The Outlaw was seen by the movie going public.
During her career, Jane made a number of movies, and some of them, in addition to The Outlaw, were westerns. In Montana Belle, she starred as Belle Starr. And she was in 2 sorta comic westerns, Paleface and Son of Paleface with Bob Hope, 1 of which also had Roy Rogers and Trigger in it. But her best Western movie was The Tall Men, with Clark Gable. In the 1970’s, Jane was a frequent commercial gal for Playtex in their bra commercials on TV. She advertised the “full figured bra”, which in her case was appropriate. That was back in the days when gals modeling bras on TV wore them over a tight sweater, not out in the open like they do now.
These days, Jane’s retired. But she still appears in movies on DVD and on TV. If you haven’t seen The Tall Men, take a look the next time it’s on TV. This ol’ wordscratcher’s anxiously waiting for it to come out on DVD. It’s a good western.
THE WEST OF OUR IMAGINATION – MARSHAL TOO TALL
Marshal Too Tall
Marshal Too Tall started cowboy shooting back in the days when our core shooters shot at Guns & Stuff. “Awful Close got me started. I’d heard about it, but I couldn’t see me dressing cowboy. But I went, and I got hooked.” Back then, he wasn’t Marshal Too Tall. “I started as Too Tall, because I thought it was humorous. But when I went to join SASS, they already had a Too Tall. So, I became Gravemaker. But people kept calling me Too Tall, because they thought it was funny. 1 day I looked at my badge that I’d bought at a gun show. It said Marshal, with 1 L. So, I changed my alias to Marshal Too Tall. People are always putting 2 L’s on Marshal.”
“Back then, we shot the Buffalo Shoot on a range that was only about 30 yards long. Tellico shot his .45-70 Sharps, and it was so close that he always tore the target up. So, we started making him shoot last.”
When he started shooting, Marshal Too Tall shot .45’s. “But I have small hands, and they were too big for me. So, I got some new guns to shoot .38’s, but they were still not comfortable in my hands. I finally tried reproduction Lightnings in .38 Colt, and they feltgood in my hands. So, I bought 4 of ‘em, so I’d have a spare. I shoot .38 Specials in my ’73 Winchester.”
Who’s his favorite movie cowboy? “Tom Selleck. I’ve just always liked Quiggley Down Under and his other stuff.”
THE REAL WEST – MATTIE “SILKS” THOMSON READY
(1846 – 1929)
Mattie “Silks”, Queen of Denver’s Red Light District
Mattie “Silks”, her birth name unknown, was born in 1846 in either Indiana or Kansas on a farm. But she wasn’t content milking cows, feeding chickens and such. So she left home and became an entrepreneur, a very successful businesswoman running brothels in lots of places. Places like Georgetown and Leadville and Denver, Co. and Alaska, and other places. She supposedly never was a prostitute herself, but that ain’t likely. How would a naive little farm gal learn the business, unless she started on the bottom level, pardon the pun. But she became “Queen of the Red Light District” in Denver. Interviewed by a reporter years later, Mattie candidly told why she got into the business. “I went into the sporting life for business reasons and no other. It was a way for a woman in those days to make money, and I made it. I considered myself then, and I do now, as a businesswoman. I operated the best house in town, and I had as my clients the most important men in the west.”
Mattie was colorful in her dress and in her life. Supposedly, she fought a duel in 1877 with another sporting lady, Katie Fulton, over the affections of her lover, Cortez “Cort” Thomson.
The legend is that both Mattie and Katie were topless when they fought their duel, with pistols. Both missed their targets, but Mattie’s bullet nicked Cort, who was evidently dumb enough to be down range. Mattie married Cort in 1884, after his wife died. Cort’s only contribution to unwedded or wedded bliss was to spend Mattie’s money. He died years later, and Mattie gave him an expensive funeral and burial. Shucks, he spent her money right up to the end, which included paying the feller to throw the last shovel full of dirt on his grave. When she was 77 years old, Mattie married her bouncer, “Handsome” Jack Ready, who was several years younger than she was.
Times change, people age, and financial success creeps away. Prostitution was outlawed, and Mattie’s business ended. A woman who at one time was one of Denver’s richest citizens, Mattie died leaving an estate of only about $4,000. “Handsome” Jack buried her next to good ol’ worthless Cort.
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The Ocoee Ranger page 3 June 2006
DON’T FORGET TO SUPPORT THE VENDORS WHO SPONSORED OUR 2005 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SHOOT AND FAMILY EVENT
Hey cowboys and cowgirls! Please remember the following Ocoee Ranger friends when you buy or order cowboy related or other items for yourself of others. These folks very generously helped us conduct our 2005 Christmas Shoot and Family Event. They donated the gifts that were awarded as prizes. So, please remember them and help our friends. If you order from them, please send a personal “Thank You” note or comment, thanking them for their help in making our 2005 Christmas Shoot and Family Event a success.
Brownells, Inc.
200 South Front Street, Montezuma, Iowa 50171-1000
800-741-0015
Gun parts, cleaning stuff, cowboy gun leather, etc.
Red River Station
Route 1 box 26M,
Devol, Oklahoma 73531
580-512-0584
Wild Rags Cotton or Silk
Henry Repeating Arms Co.
110 8th Street
Brooklyn, New York 11215
www.henry-guns.com
American made firearms
Sharpco Distributors
434 Riverbriar Lane
Kodak, TN 37764
(865)933-9387
Knives, cowboy buckles, cowboy movies, etc.
Ten-X Ammunition
5650 Arrow Hwy.
Montclair, CA 91763
Richard Pumerantz
(Owner SASS Life 20466)
Early West P.O. Box 9292 College Station, TX 77842 800-245-5841 979-764-7758 FAX
earlywest@verizon.net
Books – Western History & other West Related
Steven H. Maddock
Apishapa Studio
9 Holiday Drive
Tijeras, NM 87059
(505)286-9763
email: sawe21@hotmail.com
apishapa.com
Western Art Sculptures
West Creation
7916 FM 1241
Hamilton, TX 76531-3129
www.westcreations.com
email: westcreation@htcomp.net
Cowboy kitchen silverware, dinnerware, glass ware and other western related products
Reflection of the Past
Judy & Melissa Jurgensen
2278 Harrods Pointe Trace
Lexington, KY 40514
www.ReflectionsOfThePast.org
Judy@ReflectionsOfThePast.org
Victorian ladies jewelry, hats & costumes
Buckaroo Bobbins
P.O. Box 1168
Chino Valley, AZ 86323-1168
www.buckaroobobbins.com
Authentic Vintage Western Clothing Patterns
FMG Publications
12345 World Trade Drive
San Diego, CA 92128
Publishers of these magazines:
American Handgunner
Guns
True West
P.O. Box 8008
Cave Creek, Arizona 85327
(408)575-1881
True West magazine
Benton Shooters
Highway 411
Benton, TN 37307
(423) 338-2008
www.Bentonshooters.com
Guns, hunting, fishing – all sporting equipment
Hamilton Dry Goods
4075 Roberts Matthews Hwy.
Sparta, TN 38583
(931) 739-6061
email: hamiltondrygoods@miltipro.com
Cowboy & Civil War Period Clothing and Merchandise
Saddlebag Bullets (Cool Waters)
Bullets, reloading & gun cleaning supplies
Outrider
Leathergoods
Wild West Wicks
11011 Desert Springs
Houston, TX 77095
281-851-0234 phone
info@wildwestwicks.com email
Candles with western scents
River Bend Rough Riders Cowboy Action Shooting Club
Canton, GA area
Contact: Sheriff Donald (770) 607-0794
sheriffdonald@hotmail.com
Terry’s Toys
Cowboy guns
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