Spoiler alert! John Wayne made sure the ending of his last film, The Shootist, was to his liking. His character, the dying gunfighter J.B. Books,...
The Duke’s Last Film
read more
Mark Boardman
The Original Pike Bishop
Back in the 1960s, actor Lee Marvin was slated to play gang leader Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch—even before director Sam Peckinpah became involved...
The Vásquez Incursion
Nearly six years after the Battle of San Jacinto seemed to solidify Texas independence, Mexico reconsidered—with force. The Treaties of Velasco,...
Mannen Clements’ Revenge
Texas’ Mannen Clements (photo) was a rancher, feudist, gunfighter—and cousin of John Wesley Hardin and father-in-law of Jim Miller. He could be a...
Barney Riggs vs “Killin” Jim Miller
Gunman Barney Riggs (photo, seated center) was tending bar in Pecos, TX in October 1896 when two men approached and drew down. John Denson and Bill...
The Legend of “Killin” Jim Miller
The legend: an orphaned “Killin” Jim Miller murdered his grandparents when he was a small child in Texas. The truth. Miller was living with his...
Frank Canton’s Assassination Squad
In the late 1880s, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association put together an assassination squad, led by the infamous lawman Frank Canton (photo). The...
Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 really lit the fuse of the Civil War. The measure allowed citizens in those territories to decide whether or not to...
The Croquet Kid
An earthquake hit the Old West field in the fall of 2015. And a staid, relatively genial and, for the most part, collegial area of study was dragged...
The Camp Grant Massacre – Arizona
In 1871, many Apache began flocking to the Camp Grant, AZ, area (photo) where they had access to food and supplies—in exchange for work. Other...
John Bull’s Fists
John Bull made a reputation as an Old West gunfighter. But he was also pretty good with his fists. In February 1864, it was the Irish vs. the...
The Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, basically prohibiting any and all Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States....