I was watching a cowboy western movie over the weekend, one from the 50’s or 60’s. Yeah, you know the kind.
In this particular movie – how bad is it that I don’t even know the name of the movie – the bad guys were riding into town to rob a bank, all hidden in the back of a wagon. (No surprise there.) The sheriff had rounded up a posse (again, no surprise there) to ambush the gang. As the gang attempted to make their getaway, there was a fantastic shoot ’em up, with bullets flying everywhere, dead people falling over railing and all the usual ruckus.
As I was watching the shoot-out scene, I suddenly wondered: why doesn’t the sheriff and his posse just shoot the horses pulling the wagon? That would be the most expedient way to prevent the gang’s escape.
Ok, I know, what did the horses do to anyone? Whilst I am NOT suggesting animal violence, let’s consider that the sheriff and his posse are planning to stage a shoot-out in the middle of the town. Clearly, they are open to (a) the use of violence and (b) killing as a means to achieve one’s goal. I would have thought that killing the horses would have made it easier to kill the gang and thus win the day.
And for the record, this is Hollywood we are talking about. The horses wouldn’t really be shot or killed. ‘No animals were harmed in the making of this film ’ would still apply.
It would also have meant that the terrible movie would have been over that much the sooner!
I think that if I were around in the days of the wild west, I would have been more than willing to join any posse that was within a hour or so horse ride from me. Do you think employers treated an absence for posse duty similar to that for service with the national guard or army reserves? I like to think that while I am out serving justice and all with the posse that my job was still going to be there when I got back.
What I always wonder is where do the bullets go that do not hit the intended target? I find it hard to believe that in the wild shoot-out that goes on there are no stray bullets that hit innocent bystanders.
Did they have anything like those rapid-deploy tire-shredders that police use now days? Like a rapid-deploy barbed-wire fence or something?
@ Mark – I think those cowboy days were pre-workers’ rights, so one might be joining a posse at one’s own peril. That said, I think I would probably have joined one or two myself, just to give it a go.
@ Bridget – Well, you would have thought so. There are always stories about innocent children being shot on the playground, killed by a bullet meant for someone else.
@ Conall – I am guessing ‘no.’ Pre-electronics days, remember?