I see your point, but if it were true, Elmer Keith would never have published a second article. His hand-written manuscripts were (it is told) almost unintelligible.
Yes, it is frequently claimed that Elmer's writing required excessive editing, but I wonder just how much of that is actually true? Does that mean Elmer couldn't write?
Lets consider the facts. Elmer took only six months of high school, then attended a business college for two years. In his mid-twenties, he started his writing career as an untrained typist using two fingers, a manual typewriter with no correction fluid, and a coal oil lamp. (At the 1924 Camp Perry matches, a well-meaning sergeant offered to let Keith dictate his story about some police matches while the sergeant, an excellent typist, typed it out. Keith politely declined, explaining that his two-finger hunt-and-peck method was sufficient to keep up with his slow writing pace. So, yes, he did type his stories from the very beginning.)
Certainly, there would be lots of typing errors, as would be expected under those circumstances. Does that necessarily mean that he couldn't write and needed an editor just to make his drafts "intelligible?"
I have eight of Elmer's 10 books, and although he wasn't perfect he is one of my all-time favorite writers. I also have a couple of books written about Elmer, including "Letters from Elmer Keith" by Timothy J. Mullin, a 50-year compilation of Keith's letters to a wide variety of people.
Most intriguing are the first three in the book--handwritten letters from Elmer to a Capt. Shank of Fort Sumpter, New York, in the spring of 1924. The letters are photocopied in the book from the originals, and the quality of the copying is very good.
Elmer wrote them while living on a cow ranch in Winston, Montana. He obviously wrote them with a fountain pen, probably on whatever paper was handy. They are each multiple pages in length, and they are very enlightening.
First, there are no misspellings. At times there are some fragmented sentences reminiscent of a telegraph message, but they sound almost conversational in context, and they actually read just fine. Keith's penmanship is not exactly beautiful, but honestly it's a lot neater than mine. There is one instance where he incorrectly uses "to" when he means to say "too." A few times he abbreviates using initials (e.g. p.g. stock for pistol grip stock.) There might be a few instances of inappropriate capitalization (it's hard to tell with cursive writing), but no glaring grammatical errors. He essentially writes like he talks--a Westerner from the 1920's.
These letters were written when Keith was 25 years old, and just about to begin writing professionally. There is nothing whatsoever about them that is "unintelligible" as some critics have claimed about his manuscripts. Their tone is very conversational, and the words flow across the page very naturally. The intended audience was a fellow gun buff; it was obviously not intended for national publication. And this was how Elmer Keith wrote before he became Elmer Keith.
A couple of other things that stand out:
1. Keith was a real rifle looney. The letters ultimately depict a transaction between Keith and Capt. Shank. Elmer had advertised four Sharps rifles for sale, but by the time Shank contacted him, two were sold. Eventually, Keith trades three Sharps rifles to Shank for one 1922 Springfield NRA sporter and a bunch of .30-06 match ammo. Elmer's knowledge of the care and feeding of the blackpowder Sharps is both extensive and obvious. He describes them as being very accurate but requiring "patience" and a lot of "old maid fussing." He is getting rid of a few Sharps rifles because he has too many and is about to move to Idaho.
2. Keith might have been a little bit isolated and lonely on the ranch, and liked to talk, even to a relative stranger who had similar interests. While describing the guns and their loads that are the subject of the trade, Keith also mentions by way of conversation other guns he still owns, the fact that he has to drive his team seven miles to Winston to ship a package or get his mail, and that his cows keep him very busy on the ranch.
3. Keith was really honest as a gun trader. By the time the trade culminates, Keith has decided to break one of his own Sharps rifles down and rebuild it later so that Capt. Shank's rifle can have better wood, as Elmer clearly wants him to be pleased with the rifle. As Elmer describes it, it was a 30" .45-70-420 that would make 1.5" ten-shot groups with his paper-patched loads. Also, Keith expresses his belief that his three Sharps rifles are probably worth more than Shank's one Springfield, and that if Shank agrees, Keith would accept boot in the form of some Western International Match .30-06 ammo. It is clear from the letters that Elmer was getting geared up for match shooting at Camp Perry later that summer.
I've never been tasked with editing any of Elmer's writing. However, I have had the opportunity to read several pieces of his correspondence photocopied from the originals, and there is nothing in the quality of writing of which I would be ashamed. I think his reputation of needing heavy editing is attributable partly to being a bad typist and partly to myth. In later years Keith would personally reply to 250 to 300 letters from his readers per month, without a secretary, so perhaps some of his mistakes were also attributable to being in a hurry. Anyway, if you read the guy's own unaltered stuff, it's really hard not to like him, even more so not to admire and respect him.
