April 18, 1886 The beautiful Bessie Colvin is fed up. After a year of arguing over “extracurricular activities” and bad accounting, the star...
Clash of the Mad Madams
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Bob Boze Bell
Hell’s Comin’ With Me!
March 20, 1882 With the recent killing of Morgan Earp by assassins, Wyatt Earp spends his 34th birthday attending to the details of shipping his...
The Spark that Launched the Vendetta Ride
March 18, 1882 A one-night showing of the play Stolen Kisses is being staged at the Turnverein Hall, north of Schieffelin Hall. It has been...
The Brutal Truth About Most Billy the Kid Wannabes
We get a “new” Billy the Kid photo sent to us almost every week. The photo of the cocky-looking gent on the opposite page is a good example. Some...
Heart Gone Wild
In 1857, Olive Oatman’s ghostwriter said this about her life story: “Much of that dreadful period is unwritten, and will remain forever unwritten.”...
The Oatman Massacre
Roys Oatman and his family have just finished hauling their belongings up a rocky grade to a bluff on the south side of the Gila River. At the end...
The Mysterious Death of John Ringo
July 2, 1882 John Ringo has decided to move to Tombstone, Arizona Territory (he has been living in San Simon and Galeyville). He arrives in town and...
Classic Gunfights: Don’t Look Back
In office for only one day, acting Ellis County Sheriff James “Wild Bill” Hickok is making his rounds in the Kansas cowtown during the height of...
A Bad Customer
August 21, 1869 Lake’s Hippo-olympiad and Mammoth Circus takes a swing through southwestern rural Missouri, landing in Granby. After the night’s...
Cowboy Hat Etiquette
Before we get to the Boy’s Club Rules, Lynda A. Sánchez, a third-generation rancher, weighs in with her thoughts on how women have made manners...
The Encounter that Dooms Wild Bill
September 1865 George Ward Nichols and Gen. Thomas Church Haskell Smith, the inspector general of the District of Southwest Missouri, arrive in...
“¡No Tire en la Casa!”
May 10, 1871 Tracking a party of rough hombres, Alameda County Sheriff Harry Morse and San Jose Deputy Theodore “Sam” Winchell approach a ranch...