Billiards in the Wild West

Hambone

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I found this article and thought I would share it with you guys.
It came from a 1973 copy of Real West magazine.
I scanned all of it and hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
 

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Thanks for sharing those scans. Do you have higher resolution versions you could share?
 
More Wild West Trivia

The famous Wyatt Earp was born in the same town as Ralph Greenleaf---Monmouth, IL.

Wyatt's brother Morgan was killed in a poolroom in Tombstone, AZ.

Two months after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in December 1881, Virgil Earp was seriously and permanently wounded in an assassination attempt. By February 1882, Morgan had seen enough of the general danger to the Earps in Tombstone and sent his common-law wife Louisa Houstin Earp to the Earps' parents in Colton, California. However, Morgan chose to remain in Tombstone to guard Virgil, support Wyatt, and continue to work in law enforcement.

Morgan was ambushed about 10 P.M. on Saturday, March 18, 1882. After going to see a musical, he went to play a late round of pool against owner Bob Hatch at the Campbell & Hatch Billiard Parlor on Allen Street, in Tombstone. There, while playing, he was hit by a rifle shot to the side of his lower back. An assassination attempt was also made at the same time on Wyatt Earp, who was watching the game, but the bullet missed.

The rifle shots entered the lighted billiard parlor through a glass-windowed locked door which opened from the rear of the parlor onto a dark alley, which ran between Allen and Fremont Streets, along the side of the parlor. The Campbell and Hatch Billiard parlor and card room no longer exists, having burned in a fire in May 1882. It was two lots east of Hafford's Saloon on 4th Street and Allen, which was re-built after the fire and may be seen today. An old photo said to be of the interior of the Campbell & Hatch billiard parlor room, is actually of another similar institution.

The bullet that hit Morgan shattered his spine and passed through his left kidney. The wound was pronounced fatal by the three doctors who examined him a short time later. After being shot, Morgan was unable to stand even with assistance, and said "This is the last game of pool I'll ever play." Wyatt reported in his biography years later that Morgan, before dying, whispered to Wyatt "I can't see a damned thing," a reference to supposed visions of Heaven seen by dying people, which Morgan and Wyatt had discussed on a previous occasion. To the last, Morgan's behavior is in keeping with what is known of him. He died less than an hour after being shot, while lying on a lounge in an adjoining card room of the billiard parlor, not on the billiard table, as some accounts report.



Earl Newby, who started the old Billiard News in the 1960s, also claimed to have been born in Monmouth, IL.
 
i like this one

Hambone said:
.............
i used to be able to say that i have made a ball with every object in the room. i can't say that after seeing this.

interesting way to rack too.

M.C.

edited to add, since the pic did not come up i'm reffering to the one where he is using a guys head.
 
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In the Middle Ages, slate was quarried primarily for floor tiles and roof shingles. By the mid-1800s, it was also used for counter tops, billiard tables, school black boards, window sills, and lintels.
Circa 1910!
 
cmbwsu said:
ExplorePAHistory-a0k9p2-a_349.jpg


In the Middle Ages, slate was quarried primarily for floor tiles and roof shingles. By the mid-1800s, it was also used for counter tops, billiard tables, school black boards, window sills, and lintels.
Circa 1910!
Awesome pic,that wagon is really loaded down..
 
Artist Kay Beaubien has a few cool Wild West pool paintings!
 

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Here's a little snippet from the Forney Tribune in Forney, TX in 1891, speaking about Daughtery's Billiard Parlor there, as depicted below:

Those Dallas reprobates [prostitutes] who were here Saturday night stole the keys to the McKellar and Martin Layden hay [warehouses] and used those buildings for their disreputable practices. This is the second time they have used the McKellar barn.

Today, Forney is "dry," meaning no alcohol is sold within the city limits. But at one time, Forney's reputation was less than pristine. The newspapers of the era are filled with stories of drinking, brawls, gambling and other colorful incidents.


Here's Daughtery's, formerly R.H. Russell Saloon! Friendly looking bunch. :eek:
 

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Ed Wiggins said:
The famous Wyatt Earp was born in the same town as Ralph Greenleaf---Monmouth, IL.


So was I! July 8, 1943. But... I'm neither famous nor deserving of fame. :groucho:



But I stayed at a Holiday ................ :rolleyes:
 
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Ed Wiggins said:
The famous Wyatt Earp was born in the same town as Ralph Greenleaf---Monmouth, IL.

Wyatt's brother Morgan was killed in a poolroom in Tombstone, AZ.

Two months after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in December 1881, Virgil Earp was seriously and permanently wounded in an assassination attempt. By February 1882, Morgan had seen enough of the general danger to the Earps in Tombstone and sent his common-law wife Louisa Houstin Earp to the Earps' parents in Colton, California. However, Morgan chose to remain in Tombstone to guard Virgil, support Wyatt, and continue to work in law enforcement.

Morgan was ambushed about 10 P.M. on Saturday, March 18, 1882. After going to see a musical, he went to play a late round of pool against owner Bob Hatch at the Campbell & Hatch Billiard Parlor on Allen Street, in Tombstone. There, while playing, he was hit by a rifle shot to the side of his lower back. An assassination attempt was also made at the same time on Wyatt Earp, who was watching the game, but the bullet missed.

The rifle shots entered the lighted billiard parlor through a glass-windowed locked door which opened from the rear of the parlor onto a dark alley, which ran between Allen and Fremont Streets, along the side of the parlor. The Campbell and Hatch Billiard parlor and card room no longer exists, having burned in a fire in May 1882. It was two lots east of Hafford's Saloon on 4th Street and Allen, which was re-built after the fire and may be seen today. An old photo said to be of the interior of the Campbell & Hatch billiard parlor room, is actually of another similar institution.

The bullet that hit Morgan shattered his spine and passed through his left kidney. The wound was pronounced fatal by the three doctors who examined him a short time later. After being shot, Morgan was unable to stand even with assistance, and said "This is the last game of pool I'll ever play." Wyatt reported in his biography years later that Morgan, before dying, whispered to Wyatt "I can't see a damned thing," a reference to supposed visions of Heaven seen by dying people, which Morgan and Wyatt had discussed on a previous occasion. To the last, Morgan's behavior is in keeping with what is known of him. He died less than an hour after being shot, while lying on a lounge in an adjoining card room of the billiard parlor, not on the billiard table, as some accounts report.

Earl Newby, who started the old Billiard News in the 1960s, also claimed to have been born in Monmouth, IL.

exactly as it happened in the movie, Tombstone. One of my favorite's.
 
Sorry for the poor scanner images. I had to reduce the pic size a couple of times to get AZ to accept them and it made the text blur slightly.

Heres some more info I found.

The game expanded to the west before the 1800's. Around 1764 when the city of St. Louis was founded one of the first buildings erected in the villlage was a billiard room. It was built by Jacques Denis. He may have also built the billiard table as transporting one up the river from New Orleans would have been difficult.

In the 1830's the Bents Fort outpost on the Santa Fe Trail contained what were probably the only billiard tables in Colorado at the time. This fort saw the likes of Kit Carson, John Fremont and countless Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa Indians as its guests.

In 1859 Michael Phelan's slate tables could be bought in San Francisco at The Billiard Table Manufactory of M.E. Hughes. Not far away was a competitor, Jacob Strahle & Company, Billiard Table Manufacturers. Strahle had tables with "slate, marble or wooden beds always on hand", and "all necessary fixtures for billiard saloons constantly on hand and for sale at the lowest prices".

A.E. Schmidt began turning out ivory billiard balls in 1850 and was producing tables around 1880. I belive they are still in business today.

There is alot of billiard history in New Orleans going back to the late 1700's but I'll have to put that up another time.
 
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