I’ve been reading Hard Knocks: A Life Story of the Vanishing West by Harry Young, the bartender who allegedly served “Wild Bill” Hickok his last...
Is Hard Knocks: A Life Story of the Vanishing West by Harry Young Accurate?
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Articles
Following the Bent Brothers
So much of the Western story begins in St. Louis, and the tale of William and Charles Bent is no exception. From a family of eleven children, the...
Horsethief Basin
Horsethief Basin, high in Arizona’s Bradshaw Mountains gets its name because rustlers used to steal horses in Mexico, central and southern Arizona,...
Robber’s Roost Defender
Outside the mining camps of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, particularly on the road leading to Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, violent men held dominion...
Revenge Begets Revenge
Ed Crawford was a policeman in Ellsworth, KS (photo) just after Billy Thompson accidentally killed Sheriff Chauncey Whitney in August 1877. ...
What’s in a Name: Old West Style
icknames among the Old West characters developed almost to an art form and just hearing them conjures up picturesque images. For example among such...
Life Lessons from Western Lawmen
Weaving together a fascinating series of Western manhunts, author Chris Enss in Principles of Posse Management: Lessons from the Wild West reveals...
He Died with His Boots Off
The legend says that Billy Thompson—brother of gunfighter Ben Thompson—met his end in a shootout with Mexicans in Arizona. It seemed plausible....
Did Frontier Women own Property during the Old West era?
Did frontier women own property during the Old West era? Patrick Powell Boston, Massachusetts Yes, many frontier women owned land and property. A...
Out of the Bloodshed
On January 29, 1863, Sagwitch Timbimboo stepped out of his lodge in pre-dawn darkness and sub-zero cold. He stood in the Northwestern Shoshone...
Like Father, Like Son
Gunfighter Ben Thompson (photo) made his living as a sporting man, a fellow who played games of chance for fun and profit. But he was determined...
DVD Review: The Hanging Tree
“Sluice robber!” With that bellow, and a well-aimed shot, Frenchy (Karl Malden) and a Montana boomtown mob take after the thief (Ben Piazza). He’s...