CHAPTER 6
VIOLENCE AND VALUES
Out in the country there was an emphasis on highly traditional, not modern, values. Loyalty to family, individual self-reliance, and self-redress of wrongs were a m o n g the values most highly regarded. In reflection of a free-and-easy attitude toward rustling and outlaws throughout the rural West, there was little esteem for law and order as such. —RICHARD MAXWELL BROWN
I,
.n his b o o k No Duty to Retreat, Richard Maxwell B r o w n offers vivid insights into the values a n d attitudes t h a t led to the E a r p C l a n t o n feud a n d t h e celebrated gunfight at t h e O K Corral. Brown's d e s c r i p t i o n is of Cochise C o u n t y in early A r i z o n a , b u t it c o u l d well have b e e n of a n y n u m b e r of places in t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y West. Lincoln County, New Mexico; Johnson County, Wyoming; and B r o w n s P a r k — t h e s e w e r e j u s t a few of t h e w e s t e r n b a t t l e g r o u n d s w h e r e social conflicts t u r n e d i n t o violent c o n f r o n t a t i o n s . U t a h largely avoided t h e social strife t h a t characterized m u c h of t h e developing West. Following t h e d o c t r i n e s of their faith, m e m b e r s of t h e L D S c h u r c h w e r e i n c l i n e d t o reject v i o l e n c e a n d t o a c c e p t 102
