Bud Ballew (left in photo) was an Oklahoma lawman and gunfighter with numerous notches in his gun. He was known as a tough customer—something former Deputy US Marshal Dow Braziel forgot. The two had long standing issues. On January 31, 1919 they met up at the California Café in Ardmore, OK.
Braziel got off two shots before Ballew returned fire, hitting his target five times. Braziel died on the fl

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus