December 20, 1873. The Horrell brothers wanted revenge for the killing of their brother Ben. So they and some 20 others attacked a Mexican wedding...
The Last Train Holdup in Texas
Willis Newton thought robbing a train would be easier than picking cotton. So he and a pal called Red stuck up the Southern Pacific just outside...
Mannie Clements Found Out that Dead Men Tell no Tales
The cousin of John Wesley Hardin and brother-in-law of assassin Jim Miller was involved in an El Paso-based organized crime ring. Down on his luck,...
Death in the Mississippi
The end of wars does not always mean the end of death and destruction. The Sultana tragedy proved that. In April 1865, Robert E. Lee had...
The Lynching of Red Yeager
The Montana Vigilantes, led by James Williams (pictured on the left) lynched Red Yeager in December 1863. Supposedly, he had warned an outlaw that...
Did John Wesley Hardin get the drop on Wild Bill Hickok?
That’s a legend spread by Hardin in his 1896 autobiography. The event supposedly happened in Abilene, KS in 1871. Hardin biographers Chuck Parsons...
Libbie Custer on the Big Screen
If you happen to see a 1926 silent movie called The Pottery Maker—a how-to-throw-a-pot flick—check out the elderly woman in black. She’s no actress,...
The Murder of Andrew Trew Blachly
Banker Andrew Trew Blachly was murdered during a holdup in Delta, CO in 1893. Such deaths often destroyed families—but not his. His widow Dellie...
McLaurys Get the Short End of the Stick
Tom and Frank McLaury are part of one of the biggest Old West stories—the so-called Gunfight at the OK Corral. Big is a term that doesn’t exactly...
Orders of the Arizona Rangers
For decades, folks thought there were six general orders of the Arizona Rangers. They covered stuff like don’t hang out in bars or brothels, enforce...
Dark Starr
One hundred years ago this month, Henry Starr set out to make history. The career outlaw wanted to rob two banks at once, succeeding where the...
Cole Younger. Confederate Guerrilla. Outlaw. Christian.
He was 69 when he attended a tent revival near his home at Lee’s Summit, MO on August 21, 1913. The pastor was an old family friend, and when the...