As a kid, we lived on a small farm in eastern Kansas, where I literally had no playmates. My play consisted of doing little farm chores (gathering...
What History Has Taught Me: Dolan Ellis
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Articles
A Warning for Abolitionists
Anthony Bewley was a Methodist pastor south of Ft. Worth just before the Civil War. He was outspokenly abolitionist, and that angered his...
Morgan Woodward
Actor Morgan Woodward is known for many things, most of them unpleasant: he’s so good at playing bad that, “although it was an unwritten law that no...
Arizona’s First US Marshal
Milton Duffield was a seasoned gunman, claiming his first victim in 1854. That reputation must have helped him in some ways; in 1863, he was...
Dead Man Running
Ruben Flanoah “Noah” Wilkerson stepped out of Joe Erimmer’s buckboard, and after thanking him for the ride from Parachute, Colorado, mentally...
Attacks on the Butterfield Stage
A True West reader recently asked, did the Butterfield Overland and Mail in Arizona ever come under attack? And where in the Arizona were the...
Did Old West Cowboys Really Wear Bib Shirts?
Did Old West cowboys really wear bib shirts? Barbara Young Little Rock, Arkansas Bib shirts were popular military wear and worn by militias and...
Old Jails
We always see on Hollywood westerns, the jails in towns like Tombstone, Dodge City are portrayed with large windows with bars to prevent escape. But...
The Tragedy of Texas Jack
Texas Jack could have been the person about whom the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” was coined. And Giuseppina Morlacchi was a heartbreaker. She...
Setting up Shop
Ed Schieffelin must have been a brave man. In 1877, he set up shop at the Brunckow Cabin, a few miles southwest of the town he would help found and...
Baz Outlaw
Baz Outlaw was the kind of guy you didn’t want be anywhere near when he was drinking. Baz came from a good family, was educated and had fine...
What Did Cowboys Do After Reaching the End of a Cattle Drive?
What did cowboys do after reaching the end of a cattle drive? Wes Shinn Saratoga Springs, New York When the cowboys hit a trail’s end town like...