The "ten commandments" of the Old West, summed up, were as follows:
- Thou shalt not appear too inquisitive about one's past.
- Thou shalt be hospitable to strangers.
- Thou shalt give thine enemy a fighting chance.
- Thou shalt not shoot an unarmed man.
- Thou shalt not make a threat without expecting dire consequences.
- Thou shalt not practice ingratitude.
- Thou shalt defend thyself whenever self-defense is necessary.
- Thou shalt not rob.
- Thou shalt honor and revere all womankind; ay, shalt thou never think of harming one hair of a woman.
- Thou shalt look out for thine own.
This was just as unwritten as the constitution of England, yet just as binding and just as effective. It was the unwritten law of the Western frontier, and the pioneers understood it quite plainly and they appreciated it - and what is more, they enforced it!
(From page 62 of The Bad Man of the West.) Home
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