James Bliss was a loser. Time and time again, he tried and failed to be a noted Old West badman. A gunfighter, rustler, robber, and whatever else he could find, Bliss went by several aliases—including C.L. Maxwell. Some called him Gunplay Maxwell, a nickname he probably gave himself.
He spent time with Butch Cassidy in the Wyoming penitentiary but Butch allegedly didn’t want Maxwell in the Wild Bunch. Maxwell kept trying to impress the outlaw leader but never did so. Maxwell died in a gun

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