Robert Ford received threats after killing Jesse James in 1881. People didn’t like that he’d shot the outlaw in the back of the head—or tried to...
The Knife Didn’t Cut
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Mark Boardman
Death for a Killer
Ed O’Kelley is best known for killing Jesse James’ assassin Robert Ford in 1892. After O’Kelley did 10 years in the Colorado pen for the murder, he...
Manhunters
Robert DeArment’s near 40-year writing career is amazing, and he’s still cranking out new books at the age of 92—and books of quality and substance,...
A Good Time to get Sick
To many, Granville Stuart is the Father of Montana, a giant of a man who shaped the territory and state over half a century. But he almost didn’t...
The Stage Holdup that Led to a Gunfight
September 1881. Two masked gunmen held up the Sandy Bob stage headed from Tombstone to Bisbee. Cow-boys Pete Spence (in photo) and Frank Stilwell...
The Power of a Book
Author Helen Hunt Jackson wanted the public to better understand the plight of Native Americans—much as Harriet Beecher Stowe had done for black...
The Road to and from China
Anson Burlingame is a name mostly forgotten today. But over a 22-year period, from the early 1860s through mid-1880s, he was well known in two...
The Strike and the Spinoff
Clint Walker, who died recently, is best known for portraying the title character of “Cheyenne” for seven TV seasons between 1955 and 1963. It was a...
Recycling a Western
“Sugarfoot,” the late ‘50s TV Western produced by Warner Brothers, wasn’t a new idea. It was based on a 1954 film The Boy from Oklahoma, starring...
A Hero on the Run
Hardware merchant Ray Simpson was the sharpshooter who fought the McCarty Gang when they robbed a bank in Delta, CO in September 1893. He was...
A Sad End For Matt Warner
Matt Warner rode with Butch Cassidy and was one of the outlaw’s closest friend. Warner—real name, Willard Christianson—pulled off a number of jobs...
Bad Horsemanship
Hank Vaughan was a gunfighter in the Northwest. One shootout claimed the life of a lawman; Vaughan did hard time in the Oregon Territorial Prison...