August 24, 1877 A wild picnic is in progress just outside the city limits of Denver, Colorado. Notorious brothel owner Mattie Silks is among the...
The Nude Duel that Will Not Die
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Bob Boze Bell
Burning The Candle At One End
In 1880, young Juan Oliveras of Tucson was caught in an amorous act with his mother-in-law by her husband who chased his son-in-law down and killed...
Rockin’ It On The Navajo Trail
The Navajo Trail is more of a song than an actual Old West Trail. Recorded in 1945, “Along the Navajo Trail” is a classic Country song written by...
Supreme Cowgirl
This Arizona cowgirl grew up on the Lazy B, a cattle ranch near Duncan. Her father, Harry Day, expected her to pull her own weight and learn the...
Shoot ‘em, Groom ‘em, Entomb ‘em
George Ruffner arrived in Prescott in 1882 and in the years that followed was a cowboy, freighter, rancher and, in 1894, sheriff of Yavapai County....
Hays in an Uproar
Deputy U.S. Marshal James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok converses with the bartender at Paddy Welch’s in Hays City, Kansas. Without warning, two 7th...
Warren Earp’s Lover?
Wyatt Earp’s younger brother, Warren, worked around Willcox as a bartender, stagecoach driver and livestock inspector. On July 6, 1900, Johnny...
A Surgical Disarming of Outlaws
In the early 1950s, Hollywood partially dodged the ban on “excessive violence” for TV shows watched by children by having heroes like Hopalong...
Wyatt Earp in Hollywood
In a letter, written in December 1928, the 80-year-old frontiersman Wyatt Earp opined that perhaps “my health will be back to normal when this story...
The Standoff
Mike O’Rourke, 18, also known as Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce, and his roommate Robert Petty, 23, are eating in Smith’s restaurant in Charleston,...
Moonlighting Lawmen
Henry Brown rode with Billy the Kid in the Lincoln County War, then after cowboying in the panhandle of Oklahoma he became a respected city marshal...
Shot Down In A Blaze of Gory. Yes, Gory.
Unlike in the movies (where actors get paid to die on screen), being on the wrong end of a shoot-out was a sad day in the Old West. Bad shots,...