Movies have tried paint Judge Roy Bean, the so-called, "Law West of the Pecos," as a hanging judge. Bean was more of a blowhard with an uncanny...
A Ghostly Battle
An Apache shaman caused a major battle in Arizona. It was a shaman, leading the Ghost Dance, that led to the Battle of Cibecue Creek in Arizona....
The Apache Artist
Naiche was more than just a war chief. Naiche is best known as the last hereditary chief of the Chiricahua Apache. He was the son of Cochise, and a...
National Museum Day at Fort Concho Sponsored by San Angelo
Come celebrate National Museum Day at Fort Concho on Saturday, September 18, and enjoy free admission and the annual Archaeology Fair. Lots of...
From Agent to Miner
Tom Jeffords lived a varied life in southeast Arizona. Thomas Jeffords is best known as a federal agent to the Apaches in the 1860s and ‘70s. He had...
The Chiricahua POWs
By September 1886, Naiche’s beleaguered band of Chiricahua Apache numbered only thirty-nine. They had been running as much of 80 miles a day trying...
Love, Marriage, and Divorce
Judge Roy Bean of Langtry, Texas, aka “The Law West of the Pecos” had no problem exceeding his authority as justice of the peace even when it came...
Johnny Yuma
I was watching the old television series “Johnny Yuma” and Johnny Cash’s lyrics uses the phrase, "Where the only law is a hook and a draw.” I don't...
A Badman Gets his Start
Andy Blevins began his career by terrorizing Navajo. Andy Blevins—alias Andy Cooper—made his bones in Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War (and from...
A Lawman Settles Down
Commodore Perry Owens stayed busy in retirement. Commodore Perry Owens owes his reputation, for the most part, to an 1887 gunfight in Holbrook,...
Surviving a Shootout
John Blevins lived to tell the tale… John Blevins had a particular distinction—he was a survivor of an 1887 shootout between members of his family...
Apache Wars
When was the most dangerous period in Arizona history during the Apache Wars? The most dangerous period began in 1861 and the years immediately...