Articles
A Botched Execution

A Botched Execution

Silon Lewis was the last man executed for murder under Choctaw law. But the November 4, 1894 execution didn’t go very well. The attending physician...

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What Exactly is Locoweed?

What Exactly is Locoweed?

I’ve seen cowboy movies from the 1950s where the actor said he had to shoot his horse because it ate locoweed. What exactly is locoweed? Were they...

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Burnin’ Love

Burnin’ Love

April 25, 1896. Dance hall girl Jennie Larue and her boyfriend Otto Floto get into a fight in Cripple Creek, Colorado's red light district. A gas...

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Bad Luck Ranch

Bad Luck Ranch

It just didn’t pay to own ranch land along the Feliz River in Lincoln County, NM. Robert Casey (photo) squatted on the land, building a dugout and...

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Shoot the Messenger

Shoot the Messenger

Lincoln, NM deserved its reputation as a deadly town. Example: February 21, 1878. Private Edward Brooks is carrying messages from Ft. Stanton to...

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Little Gertie the Gold Dollar

Little Gertie the Gold Dollar

The boom towns of the Old West had a shortage of eligible women and that void for the lusty young men was filled by what were euphemistically...

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Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln’s origin story doesn’t involve an Indian uprising or a whisky-soaked shootout. The town was founded as Lancaster in 1856, and the reason was...

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