Oliver Yantis was not the most successful outlaw. He was one of the first members of the Bill Doolin Gang. Just a week…
A Laughing Matter? Outlaw Rube Burrow had fun when he was captured.
Being captured didn’t faze train robber Rube Burrow. On October 9, 1890 he was grabbed by two black men, Jesse Hildreth…
Death by Association Charles Cooper shouldn’t have seen a gunfight.
For Charles Cooper, being a friend of Chunk Colbert didn’t turn out well. The two were eating with Clay Allison at Cima…
Friends unto Death One outlaw, one lawman, both killed.
William Collins was an associate of Sam Bass, and a member of the Joel Collins (his brother) Gang (photo) that held up a…
The Death of the Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James Killer Ed O’Kelley’s short-lived fame ended in a fatal fight with police.
Ed O’Kelley has his claim to fame. On June 8, 1892, he walked into a tent saloon in Creede, Colorado, and emptied two sh…
A Gunfight between Lawmen Bud Ballew got the better of Dow Baziel.
Bud Ballew (left in photo) was an Oklahoma lawman and gunfighter with numerous notches in his gun. He was known as a to…
An Engraved Invitation The first hanging in Navajo County, AZ was delayed.
The first hanging in Arizona’s Navajo County was going to be stylish. Sheriff F.J. Waltron (who doubled as a teacher an…
A Lawman pays the Price A killer gets killed in an act of vengeance.
Early in 1901, Yuma (AZ) Constable H.H. Alexander was sent to serve papers on local farmer J.J. Burns. Instead, the law…
The Rangers Ride In The famed force broke up a vigilance committee gone amok.
In the 1880s, a vigilante group organized in San Saba, TX, to take on criminal elements. The so-called “Buzzard’s Water…
Taking the Law in their own Hands The Anti-Horse Thief Association did a good job of fighting crime.
The Anti-Horse Thief Association (AHTA) helped combat crime in many U.S. states and territories, mostly in the 19th Cent…