Bank and train robber Jess Newton was on the lam in Mexico when he decided to compete in the Del Rio, TX rodeo on July 4, 1924. The law was waiting...
Frank Hamer’s Brother
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Mark Boardman
The Pinkertons
The Pinkertons had their own way of doing things. The agency was trying to get three labor leaders (photo) to Idaho to face charges for allegedly...
Dock Newton’s Midnight Burglary
The Newton Boys pulled off dozens of bank and train holdups in the nineteen-teens and ‘20s. Apparently it was hard to break the habit. March 5,...
The Reno Gang’s Last Hurrah
Indiana’s Reno Gang had a last hurrah on May 22, 1868. They held up a train at Marshfield and got away with an estimated $96,000. But they also...
Remington’s Arizona Play
In early 1897, Augustus Thomas was discouraged, despite being one of America’s finest playwrights. Thomas turned to a neighbor in New Rochelle, New...
John Tunstall’s Journey West
John Tunstall is best known for his ties to Billy the Kid—but he almost never made it to New Mexico. At the age of 19, in 1872, he left his home in...
Pat Garrett’s Assassin
Western author Emerson Hough (photo) was a friend of Pat Garrett, the man who shot Billy the Kid. And when Garrett was assassinated in 1908,...
Tom Ketchum and J.N. Powers
It’s not clear why J.N. “Jap” Powers was murdered. Maybe he was a cattle thief. Or he was unpopular with his neighbors around Knickerbocker, TX. Or...
The Ketchum Brothers
Legend says Sam Ketchum (photo) was sent out by the family to try to talk younger brother Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum out of a career in crime....
The Bandit Queen Meets Her End
Belle Starr rented land to Edgar Watson in 1889, but then wanted him out. She threatened to reveal that he was wanted for murder in Florida. Watson...
Salado Creek
San Jacinto didn’t end the fighting between Texas and Mexico. There were some skirmishes after April 1836. In March 1842, Mexican troops briefly...
Billy the Kid’s Great Escape
Godfrey Gauss witnessed Billy the Kid escape the Lincoln County Jail on April 28, 1881. Gauss said Deputy J.W. Bell died in his arms after Billy...