By The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
When Hollywood tells the story of America’s westward expansion, the screen fills with wagon trains, cattle drives, and lone sheriffs standing against outlaws. But the real history of how the West was won is far less glamorous—and far more instructive for us today.
It was a story of grit and survival, yes, but also of chaos, mob violence, vigilante justice, and communities struggling to draw the line between liberty and lawlessness. And it is a story that echoes loudly in our own time, as mobs once again roam our streets, and individuals, convinced of their own righteousness, deliver violence in the name of “justice.”
Life at the Edge of Civilization
For settlers moving west of the Mississippi in the 1800s, life was uncertain and often brutal. There were no close courts, no standing police forces, and no modern communications to call for help. If your horse was stolen, your property raided, or your family attacked, waiting for distant authorities was often impossible.
Communities, therefore, improvised their own forms of justice. Sometimes that meant elected sheriffs. Sometimes it meant a deputized posse. And sometimes, when patience wore thin, it meant vigilante committees and mobs taking the law into their own hands.
In the 1850s, San Francisco had one of the most infamous “Vigilance Committees.” Frustrated with rampant crime and corrupt local officials, citizens banded together, arresting, trying, and hanging suspected criminals without legal sanction.
Similarly, in Deadwood, Dodge City, and other frontier boomtowns, horse thieves and murderers could be hanged within hours of capture.
These were not quiet affairs. Executions were public events. Crowds gathered in town squares. Families, even with small children, would attend. Food vendors set up nearby, turning hangings into both warning and spectacle. And yes—signs were often hung around the necks of the condemned: “Horse Thief,” “Murderer,” “Robber.” The message was blunt: this is what happens when you cross the line.
The “Party Atmosphere” of Punishment
To modern eyes, it seems barbaric that parents would bring their children to a hanging. But in the frontier mindset, it was moral instruction. Life was hard. Death was near. Teaching right from wrong wasn’t a classroom lesson—it was often a literal demonstration.
Was it entertainment? In part, yes. Human beings have always been drawn to spectacle. But it was also civic education. These gatherings reinforced community standards: respect for property, respect for life, and consequences for breaking those bonds.
It was messy. It was often unjust. But in a world without formal law, communities turned punishment into public theater—hoping fear would succeed where laws could not.
Judge Isaac Parker: The “Hanging Judge”
Not all frontier justice was mob rule. Some places demanded law and got it. Judge Isaac Parker of Fort Smith, Arkansas—known as the “Hanging Judge”—presided over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas from 1875 to 1896.
During his tenure, Parker sentenced more than 160 people to death, 79 of whom were executed. Unlike lynch mobs, Parker held proper trials, but his courtroom was still a place where the West learned that justice carried consequences.
The West was not truly “won” by hangings, gunfights, or vigilantes. Those were symptoms of lawlessness, not solutions. The frontier was stabilized when real institutions—courts, legislatures, sheriffs backed by law—replaced mobs.
The deeper truth is that a free people cannot survive on vigilante justice alone. Freedom without order collapses into chaos. Order without freedom decays into tyranny. America’s genius was to balance both.
And that balance is being tested again today.
Mob Violence in Modern America
Look around. Riots that burn down cities in the name of “justice.” Crowds that silence opposing voices through intimidation. Assassinations and political violence that claim lives instead of debating ideas.
Here’s the irony: in the Old West, people turned to vigilante justice because there were so few laws and courts. In modern America, we have thousands of laws on the books, courthouses in nearly every county, police departments in every city, and prisons overflowing across the nation. Yet it still doesn’t seem to be enough. Despite the massive legal infrastructure, we are seeing a resurgence of vigilante violence, mob rule, and assassinations.
The frontier had lynch mobs who called themselves “committees.” Today we have activists, rioters, and lone wolves who believe destroying property or targeting opponents is a form of “justice.” Both are cut from the same cloth: people claiming moral superiority while discarding lawful order.
And in both cases, the result is the same—fear, division, and destruction.
Nothing illustrates this more starkly than the recent killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. In September 2025, he was shot and killed at Utah Valley University during a public event, the very type of gathering meant for free debate and open exchange of ideas. Thousands were present. It was a public act, meant not just to end a life, but to send a message: disagree with me, and you die.
That is mob violence by another name. It is the same spirit that drove frontier mobs to hang men in public squares, believing they were protecting order. But it is lawless. It is tyranny. And it is proof that America is in danger of forgetting the balance that sustains freedom.
Charlie Kirk lived by a conviction that the truth is not hate speech. He argued, often fiercely, but he believed ideas should be confronted with debate, not bullets. His assassination reminds us how fragile our freedoms are when mob thinking replaces lawful order.
And then there is the tragic case of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who fled the war in her homeland, only to be stabbed to death on a Charlotte, North Carolina commuter train in August 2025. She was innocent, vulnerable, simply trying to live her life in safety. Her killer was a man with a long criminal history and mental health issues—a man who should have been restrained long before his violence claimed her life.
In the frontier days, such a crime would likely have sparked immediate mob retaliation. Today, we rely on courts, law enforcement, and due process. Yet the outrage is the same: a community shaken, fearful, demanding justice.
Her story echoes those frontier moments when innocent settlers fell victim to sudden, random violence. And it reminds us again that civilization is not a guarantee—it is a fragile fabric, woven by law, order, and a shared commitment to right and wrong.
Teaching Right and Wrong
The question then, as now, is this: how do we teach right from wrong?
Frontier parents brought their children to public hangings to drive the lesson home: crime has consequences. In today’s America, children too often see criminals glorified in media, while law enforcement is demonized. They see mobs excused, while victims are forgotten.
The result? A generation that may not understand that freedom requires discipline.
If the frontier teaches us anything, it is this: societies cannot survive when mobs replace law, when fear replaces truth, or when justice is shouted down by anger.
The West was “won” only when law triumphed over lynch mobs. America today will only be saved if truth triumphs over lies, and if lawful justice triumphs over mob violence.
Because when we allow violence in the name of “justice,” we are no different than a lawless frontier town where the crowd rules—and the rope decides.
The pioneers lived through a dangerous truth: civilization is fragile. It can be destroyed in a moment of violence, or preserved only by courage, discipline, and commitment to law.
And that is the truth America must learn again.
Because the truth is not hate speech—and it is the only foundation that can keep a republic free.
Disclaimer
This educational piece draws historical parallels and modern examples to highlight patterns of violence and justice in American life. It is intended for educational and commentary purposes from The Craig Bushon Show Media Team. It does not condone vigilante justice or mob violence in any form, but warns against their corrosive effects on a free society.
