January 1888. Apache County (AZ) Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens arrested Ike Clanton Gang member Kid Swingle and was transporting him by train from...
Leaving the Law Behind
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Mark Boardman
A Bad Man Goes Down
Bob Dozier was a successful farmer before—for whatever reason—he turned to crime in the Indian Territory. He delved into various and sundry...
Black Hills and Gold Dust
The Sioux considered the Black Hills to be sacred, the center of the earth and a place to speak to the Great Spirit. They had controlled the area...
A San Diego Civic Leader
Ned Bushyhead had a big impact on San Diego. The Cherokee left the reservation in 1850—he was 18—to go to the California gold fields. After moving...
The Cheyenne Go On Trial
In September 1878, Chief Dull Knife and his band of Northern Cheyenne left the reservation in the Indian Territory, headed for their ancestral lands...
Bragging Rights for a Badman
Andy Blevins—alias Andy Cooper—was a Texas hardcase who specialized in rustling cattle. But things got too hot for Andy, his father and brothers so...
Gun Notches for Rawhide Jake
Jonas V. Brighton—aka Rawhide Jake—is best known to history for killing Ike Clanton in 1887 as the outlaw tried to escape arrest. But Brighton had a...
A Broken Nose, A Broken Life
John Fletcher Fairchild’s lawman career ended because of a punch in the nose. Seriously. Family lore says Wyatt Earp broke Fairchild’s nose in a...
No Luck for Comstock
Henry Comstock gave his name to the biggest silver strike in US history, the Comstock Lode of Nevada. In one sense he was lucky. Two brothers...
The Doctor is in…and Out
Josiah “Doc” Scurlock was a major player in the Lincoln County War. And he was in the region even before, going to work for cattleman John Chisum...
A Silver Strike by an Other Name
The largest silver strike in US history could have been the Grosh Lode. In 1857, the Grosh brothers discovered silver in the Virginia Range of...
End of the Line
California train robbers Chris Evans and John Sontag had evaded posses for four months, through six fights. But they were finally cornered at a...