Outlaws often had a family basis. The younger sibling followed the older, or they were both already involved in something that led to an outlaw posse and just stuck together. Who better to trust than your own family?
Not sibling lawman? Ooh, somebody isn't familiar with the Shootout at the OK Corral.
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Unfortunately, I am not. I know it happened, I know Doc Holiday was in it, and I know Tombstone is on my "To See" movie list but that's all I know.
Short Version: A confrontation between Town Marshall Virgil Earp, along with his brothers and Holiday, and a gang of outlaws known as Cowboys led to a shootout near the O.K. Corral. Several Cowboys were killed and Virgil was attacked and another one Earp brother was later killed in revenge. This led to Wyatt Earp killing the men he felt responsible in a month long hunt before leaving Arizona forever.
In criminal enterprises in general you can pretty much trust family members more than outsiders. That's how shit like the Camorra and the Mafia got started in Sicily and Italy. They are less likely to screw you out of shares of the loot, more likely to take equal shares of the killin' and maimin', and have just as much to lose as you if things go south and the law starts wanting to hold necktie parties at the nearest hanging tree.
Confederates from outside of the family circle can be a tad more unreliable, but as the crimes get more complex and the potential loot from them gets bigger, so does the need to expand the gang into broader familial circles and then into the realms of folks from outside the family.
That's what eventually led to the downfall of the Younger, James and Dalton gangs. Well, that and not properly planning the raids that led to them getting mullered by the townsfolk in the case of the Younger and Dalton gangs.
Another question. Were any Native Americans ever gunslingers or independent (from their tribe that is) outlaws?
Mad Scientist Wannabe
It's a certainty. At least outlaws didn't legalize stomping down on your culture.
Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great
This isn't about Wild West Outlaws per se but it is about the Wild West. Back in medieval times, they had something called journeymen - which were basically wandering craftsmen. Was there anything like that in the Old West. Like any travelling blacksmiths or the like?
Never mind.
edited 10th Nov '14 10:57:16 AM by FantasyLiver
Chapter 1 (Discontinued)
Many natives, who shown themselves to be a threat/nuisance to their tribe or family, were often just sent away to live without them and "exiled". One thing the tribes would do is forbid the speaking of that person's name so they would be forgotten. If they mended their wrongs they would integrate under their new earned name.
There could have been native outlaws but their names would have not been consistent and they would have not been often recorded.
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Okay, so I just realized that a lot of the outlaws of the Old West were brothers like the Farrington Brothers, the Rogers Brothers Gang, the Dalton Gang, and numerous others. Anyone know why that is? After all, you don't see (at least to my limited knowledge) a lot of sibling lawmen or any other occupation. What was it about being an outlaw that attracted so many family members to it? Was it simply being born into the wrong family or something else to it?