Originally published at: Elmer Keith: 1899-1984 - Sixguns Firearm Fraternity
An era has passed. Elmer Keith, the Grand Old Man is dead. Elmer, who seemed bigger than life, should have died in a gunfight, or have been mauled by a grizzly, or simply rode off into the sunset. Instead, the big Stetson and the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum were set aside in December of 1981 when he suffered the de-habilitating stroke. His strength showed as he fought the stroke for over two years, passing away on February 12, 1984 in a Boise nursing home. Elmer was born right at the end of the frontier period on March 8, 1899 in Hardin, Missouri, and consequently knew many Civil War veterans and gunfighters in his early years. In fact, he recounted learning to shoot a handgun from a former gunfighter turned barber, shooting at the patterns in the linoleum in the back of the barber shop. In 1911, Elmer was burned terribly in a hotel fire in Missoula, Montana, and carried scars for the rest of his life. An ordinary man would have died from the fire. His entire body was covered with burns and his chin was "welded" to his right shoulder with his left hand turned upside down on the back of his left wrist. Elmer recounted this: "When we moved from Missoula back to Helena I was considerable of a wreck. My left hand was just turned upside down and back on my wrist, just a claw extended from the top of my wrist. I used to wrap a towel around it when…
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Broke my wrist and couldn’t work so read His autobiography. Wonderful book and big book!
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