Mixologists, or bartenders, of the time were often skilled and jokingly referred to as pharmacists or chemists with a “medicine” chest. Prior to...
Shaken, Stirred and Strong
read more
Articles
Eva Dugan: The Only Woman Hanged in Arizona
Twenty-year-old Eva Dugan took the alias Claw-Finger Kitty while she was working as a prostitute during the Alaska Gold Rush and some thirty years...
Crook Fails Custer at the Rosebud
On a blisteringly hot Saturday in mid-June 1876, Brig. Gen. George Crook fought to the draw Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors led spiritually by...
The Searchers
A question came in recently from a True West reader about the premise of Alan Le May’s great novel, The Searchers, the story of a middle-aged Civil...
What History Has Taught Me: Howard Terpning
As a kid I enjoyed building model airplanes. The best art training I ever got was being Haddon Sundbloom’s apprentice for a year and a half. The...
The Other Assassin
Charlie Ford is the lesser known of the brothers who killed Jesse James—sibling Robert actually pulled the trigger. Charlie was the one with...
Anarchy on the Rails
In 2019, Jack Kelly’s The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America (St. Martin’s Press,...
The Fruits of their Labors
Robert Ford hoped that killing Jesse James would bring fame and fortune. But Ford and brother Charlie were convicted of murder; Missouri Governor...
Did Ballistics Forensics Ever Come into Play in Solving Crimes in the Old West?
Did ballistics forensics ever come into play in solving crimes in the Old West? David Aufiere Columbia, Louisiana Ballistics science has been around...
Was Doc Holliday Really a Deadly Dentist?
More than one writer has called Doc a "deadly dentist" who killed several men during his turbulent life. Most likely Doc encouraged these stories...
The Diné Return to the Four Corners
Fort Sumner, New Mexico, has never been an easy place to live. Winters can be brutal. Summers are often blistering. The scenery’s spartan. Few...
Justice Frontier Style
Many frontier towns had no official judge and usually a man respected for his wisdom would be called upon arbitrate disputes between two parties. If...