Am I the only one who has noticed, or does every hotel in Arizona have a resident ghost? The Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff is allegedly haunted by...
Ghosts Going Gangbusters?
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Bob Boze Bell
The Slopers
In 1880s Tombstone, the Police Gazette reported a rivalry between gamblers: West Coast card sharps, called “Slopers,” competed with gamblers east of...
When Good Horses Were Ridden Down
One of the longest posse chases in Arizona history came after the attempted robbery of the Benson Stage on March 15, 1881, when a large posse,...
O.K. Fight
“Three Men Hurled into Eternity in the Duration of a Moment” October 26, 1881 The Earp brothers and John Henry “Doc” Holliday confront the Cowboys...
A Short Storm at a Deadly Address
On February 25, 1881, after an earlier altercation inside, faro dealer Luke Short, shot and killed fellow gambler Charley Storms outside the ...
An Outlaw with a “Faultess” Figure
Arizona authorities in 1902 reported 22 train robberies in the territory. Lawmen, including the Arizona Rangers rounded up and shot down more than a...
Unsung Hero?
Deputy Jim Flynn ran unsuccessfully for city marshal of Tombstone on January 3, 1882. Two weeks later, working as a policeman, he disarmed and...
Tom Horn, Roper Extraordinaire
Cowboy Tom Horn of Pleasant Valley, Arizona, won the steer tying competition at the Globe Fourth of July Celebration in 1889 with a record-setting...
Baseball at the O.K. Corral
Thanks to Rev. Endicott Peabody, mere months after the so-called Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in October 1881, Tombstone formed a baseball team and...
The Great Western and the Biggest Leg in Mexico
At six feet two and 200 pounds, red-headed camp follower Sarah Bowman was nicknamed the “Great Western,” after the largest steamship afloat in the...
When Languages Collide: The Ten Gallon Hat
Many people incorrectly assume the term “ten gallon hat” refers to the amount of water that will fit in the crown of a big hat, but the term more...
The Country Jake
In 1876, Arizona cowboy Gus Gildea described seeing the young outlaw Henry McCarty near Henry Clay Hooker’s Sierra Bonita Ranch: “He came to town,...