Jim Murphy joined the Sam Bass Gang in 1878 and almost immediately got arrested (so did his dad). Jim struck a deal—betray Bass (photo) in exchange...

Texas. Just the name alone evokes imagery of a wild and untamed bygone era when anything was possible. I am biased when I speak on the subject of...

I saw my first Gene Autry movie, Guns and Guitars, on my fifth birthday. I was hooked, and I knew right then I wanted to be a singing cowboy like...

All were visualized by a man who immigrated to America in 1846 as a six-year-old boy from Bavaria. Thomas Nast became a political cartoonist...

One of the most well-known lines from a Western is widely misquoted: “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!” Actually, in the 1948 classic “The...

Tiffany Schofield grew up watching Westerns with her grandfather (but agonized over the frail, clumsy women portrayed), and enjoyed horseback riding...

Sitting Bull strived to retain Lakota lifestyle and lands. He belonged to the Hunkpapa tribe of the Lakota people, also known as the Sioux. His...

On the afternoon of September 15th, 1896 a publicity stunt involving two steam locomotives going at full throttle raced towards each other at sixty...

The women of Arizona Territory spent a quarter-century seeking the right to vote in all elections. They'd been given the vote in school elections in...

Around 1880, the Graham and Tewksbury families were friends and neighbors in central Arizona.  The soon ended in arguments over possible rustling,...

During the Civil War, Gen. Irvin McDowell lost the First Battle of Bull Run and then, defying all odds, lost the second Bull Run (although he was...

I’ve heard Westerns state “something” is a day’s ride away. How far was a day’s ride in the Old West era? Mark J. Dirnbauer Copperas Cove, Texas The...