Get outta Dodge: Book reveals the legends, myths that never got outta Dodge City

(“Dodge City and the Birth of the Wild West,” by Robert K. Dykstra and Jo Ann Manfra, $45, 240 pages, University Press of Kansas)

Get outta Dodge.

Dodge City, Kansas, that is.

A figure of speech not quite as appealing as “Gone Hollywood” or “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but still a rare place-name aphorism used by English speakers worldwide, as discussed in the newly-released “Dodge City and the Birth of the Wild West” by Robert R. Dykstra and Jo Ann Manfra.

Despite the fact that Culture Trip, a website that names must-see places from around the word, named Dodge City as the most beautiful town of Kansas, people just can’t seem to want to get out of it - or so they think, even if they haven’t visited the western Kansas town quite yet.

But of all the violent cities of the wild, wild west, why did Dodge City win the distinction of this cultural metaphor?

The book takes you to Dodge City’s first recorded gunfight on Sept. 3, 1872, where a paper in Hutchinson reported one or two people died and four or five were injured.

But it wasn’t until decades later when pioneer George Brown recalled the details, claiming that John Langford harassed a gambler in a low-end saloon. I’ll leave the gory details to the book, but Brown said no man was killed.

The details may be formed on the basis of incomplete information, but the book draws one conclusion - Langford likely was given one piece of solid advice from a friend as he recovered from five bullet wounds:

“Johnnie, you better get outta Dodge.”

In the 240-page book, Dykstra and Manfra dive into the myth, legends and identity of the Kansas town best known for it’s setting of the TV series “Gunsmoke.”

The book explores murder statistics, court cases and contemporary accounts, all of which find Dodge City was neither as violent or lawless as legend has it.

The authors take you to the culprit of Dodge’s not-so-kind reputation for violence - a local attorney named Harry Gryden who fed sensational stories to the national media during the so-called Dodge City War of 1883.

Dykstra and Manfra share juicy headlines about the violence of Dodge, including the Washington Post’s “At the Mercy of a Mob. Dodge City, Kan., Terrorized By an Armed Band of Vigilantes.” and the New York Times’ “A City in the Hands of a Mob.”

Or, my personal favorite, The Atlanta Constitution’s “Lawless Dodge City. A Kansas Town Where Rum Rules and Riot Prevails”.

And while it’s no question that gun violence occurred in Dodge, myth and legend has been mixed with history, and as the author’s put it, Gryden was “putting a shine on Dodge City’s violent reputation.” A reputation that lasts to this day.

The book cite’s Gryden’s obituary that was published in the town’s newspaper:

“Harry Gryden introduced and carried forward a popular-culture conversation about Dodge, adding its colorful depravity and its occasional gun violence to the essence of Old West myth and legend.”

Dodge City now plays on this myth and legend, the book states, as the city welcomes about 100,000 tourists each year.

And what the authors call a “clever play on the ubiquitous catchphrase,” the city urges visitors to “GET THE HECK (into) DODGE!”

History buffs and proud Kansans alike will enjoy the compelling, well-written words of Dykstra and Manfra as they share the legends, myths and reality of Dodge City and the Old West.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Get outta Dodge: Book reveals the legends, myths that never got outta Dodge City."