Sometimes an outlaw had to die before he or she gained fame. Myra Belle Shirley is a good example. She grew up in an affluent Southern family, was...
Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen
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Articles
Slim Pickens
Show me a magazine cover with a pretty girl, a baby or a dog...and I’ll show you a magazine that sells,” publishing legend William Randolph Hearst...
Knights in Dusty Leather
Despite the violent image of the West there were fewer fatalities in the entire history of a raucous cow town than in an average Hollywood...
What History Has Taught Me: Howard Kazanjian
Emmy Award-winning film producer Howard Kazanjian is best known for his work on The Wild Bunch, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. A former vice...
Bust Cream, Anyone?
We think of the late 1800s as a time of Victorian refinement, with sensitivities so severe, one was to use the term “limb,” rather than the vulgar...
Why Are Old West Figures Portrayed in Such Black-and-White Terms—Either They’re All Good or All Bad?
Why are Old West figures portrayed in such black-and-white terms—either they’re all good or all bad? W.W. Reed Chandler, Arizona Hollywood has given...
Life and Death on the Fur Trade Frontier
Is courage something learned or is it in our DNA? Can we control it? Based on a true story, Mariano’s Choice (Pronghorn Press, $19.95) follows...
Paranoia Takes Jim Murhpy
DON'T LET THE PARANOIA GET YA: That's what should have been etched on the tombstone of Jim Murphy. Jim was a 200-pounder with a red mustache and...
On Walker, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris Had a Recurring Role, Told via Flashbacks, as 19th Century Texas Ranger Hayes Cooper. Did Such a Man Exist?
On Walker, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris had a recurring role, told via flashbacks, as 19th century Texas Ranger Hayes Cooper. Did such a man exist?...
The Cheapskate of All Time
OK, there are probably hundreds of examples of men (and women) being cheapskates—not paying what they owed, or haggling over the bill. But here's...
A Litany of Train Robberies
Credited with pulling the first peacetime train robbery in America goes to the four, relatively unknown, Reno brothers of Indiana, John, Frank,...
Basking in The Limelight
Billy the Kid and four of his gang were delivered to the jail in Las Vegas, New Mexico on December 26, 1880. They were locked up without much...