Larry Jay Martin did a lot of living before settling down and getting serious about his writing career. “I’ve been plane wrecked, car wrecked, boat wrecked, horse and mule wrecked a dozen times or more, and damn near wrecked by everything but a train,” he says. His parents were Oklahomans who moved to California’s Central Valley during the Grapes of Wrath era. “My mom worked in a drugstore and my father worked in the sheds and later became successful in the post-war car biz, until

July 2004
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Silver J Western Wear
- “I Will Laugh No More While Living”
- Santos Furniture
- Puttin’ the Hirt on Your Head
- Country Crossover Colorado Style
- State of the Union
- Wind River Historical Center
- Seventh Cavalry Sells High
- Kill Bill
- Digging Up Billy the Kid’s Mother
- A Pictorial Historian
- On the Trail of Wild Bill Hickok
- What did women use as hairspray years ago? Miss Kitty’s hair was always in place.
- When did they stop hanging men for horse theft? Also, what was the penalty after hanging was outlawed?
- Have you heard of West Texas badman Charlie Small?
- While watching Joe Kid and The Journeyman, I’ve noticed the use of Mausers. Was this gun typical of the period?
- Did cowboys really make tenderfeet “dance” by firing their pistols at their feet as is often shown in old Westerns?
- Can you describe a drover’s typical day on the Long Trail?
- The Three Charleys
- Nerves of Steel