I believe part of the myth of the fast draw duel in the street (did this begin with the "Dime Novels" and "Penny Dreadfuls" of the 1870's?) owes its origin to the very real ritual of dueling and how widespread it had been a generation earlier.
Sometimes when reading early Texas History it seems we lost about as many guys to them offing each other in duels as we did to the Indians.
Earlier than that, the famous Andrew Jackson vs Charles Dickinson duel, 1806. By that point Charles Dickinson, age 26, is reputed to have killed TWENTY SIX men in formal duels. He would badger his victims into challenging him so, as the challenged party, getting to choose the weapons; his own .70 cal pistols. He was a fast and precise shot who always shot his opponent in the heart, dropping him instantly.
After being obliged by Dickinson's public comments to challenge him to a duel, Jackson faced a dilemma, he knew he was neither faster nor more accurate than Dickinson. Travelling 300 miles to fight the duel in Kentucky (where it was still legal), Dickinson, a sort of dark celebrity, was giving shooting demonstrations to crowds of spectators.
This is when Jackson came up with the subterfuge of wearing an over-sized coat and contorting his body inside it to move his heart a precious couple of inches away from where Dickinson would expect it to be. It worked; Dickinson's .70 cal ball barely missed Jackson's heart tho he carried it painfully the rest of his life. If Jackson really did cheat by recocking his pistol after a misfire, perhaps he can be forgiven for that in as much as for all Jackson knew at that moment he was going to die too.
Anyhow Charles Dickinson a 26 year old psychopath and bully who had killed a man for every year of his age, a dead shot and a fast one. Fits the gunfighter myth perfectly but 70 years too soon.
