Real Wild West
With the arrival of the Southern Pacific, Texas and Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by 1890 census. With a tempting green valley and a nearly perfect climate year-around, the town attracted a constant stream of newcomers: gamblers, gunfighters, thieves, cattle and horse rustlers, murderers, priests, Chinese railroad laborers, prostitutes, and entrepreneurs.
During the Wild West era, El Paso was dubbed as the "Gunfight Capital of the World"[citation needed] due to its great remoteness and lawlessness. El Paso hired a town marshal with rough reputation, Dallas Stoudenmire, who was known to shoot first and ask questions later. The "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight" took place here on April 14, 1881. This was prior to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Dallas Stoudenmire, the sixth marshal in eight months, was hired to "clean" and civilize a remote, violent and wild town. Stoudenmire was an effective marshal; he instilled fears by terror to control the City Council. With his fierce reputation and dexterity with his pistols, he intimidated a violence-hardened town. On May 28, 1882, the City Council announced they were firing the marshal. When Stoudenmire learned of this, he entered the Council Chambers. Upon seeing Stoudenmire, the council members remained quiet and became terrified. Stoudenmire strolled up and down the chamber as he scolded, cussed profanities and threatened to shoot. In a blink of eyes, he pulled out and twirled his pistols as he growled, "I can straddle every God-damn aldermen on this council!" Council members quickly voted unanimously to retain Stoudenmire as their town marshal. Stoudenmire glared at them for a few seconds before he calmed down and put away his pistols. Knowing Stoudenmire's fearsome reputation, the Mayor defused a tense situation when he called for an abrupt adjournment. Stoudenmire exited the Chamber. A potential fatal incident was averted.
In 1883 the county seat was moved from Ysleta, Texas to El Paso. This was decided in a strongly disputed election in which counted votes were nearly three times the number of voters. Before Ysleta, San Elizario, Texas was county seat, and lost the seat after the 1877 San Elizario Salt War with a company of Texas Rangers.
Prostitution and gambling flourished until World War I, when the Department of the Army pressured El Paso authorities to crack down on vice. Many of these activities continued in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, especially during the Prohibition, which benefitted bars and saloons on the Mexican side of the border.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
