Life on the frontier was hard. Life on the frontier was especially hard on women. The men spent their days working in the fields or hunting and the...
A Woman’s Work
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True West Blog
Death of a Legend
Crazy Horse’s tragic end. September 5, 1877. The noted Oglala warrior Crazy Horse is killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Crazy Horse and his band are...
Listen to Your Elders
A James-Younger Gang holdup has a weird ending. August 30, 1874. Frank and Jesse James and one of the Youngers rob a stage outside North Lexington,...
A Sad Farewell to Jana Bommersbach
Our wonderful historian, columnist, and friend, Jana Bommersbach, who wrote our Old West Saviors column has died at age 78 after battling a long...
The Battle of Ingalls
Bill Doolin and company vs. U.S. marshals. September 1, 1893. Bill Doolin and several members of his gang are in the outlaw hangout of Ingalls (in...
Booze and the Baptist Minister
Bass Reeves makes the collar—of his own pastor. A fascinating story in The Arkansas Van Buren Press of August 24, 1907. “Rev. Wilson Hobson, a Negro...
Bill Doolin Checks Out
A posse kills the outlaw chieftain. August 24-25, 1896. Outlaw leader Bill Doolin is gunned down by Deputy US Marshal Heck Thomas' (photo) posse at...
A Wild Bunch Stickup
The Tipton train robbery of 1900. August 29, 1900. Kid Curry (photo) leads Bill Cruzan, Ben Kilpatrick and another unidentified man in holding up a...
The Romance of the Stage Line?
Riding a coach was a challenge. Rafael Pumpelly was a travel writer who hitched a ride on the Butterfield Overland Mail Line traveling cross country...
Underground Hazards
The life of a miner was tough. Those hard rock miners faced a number of hazards including gas pockets, cave-ins, silicosis of the lungs caused by...
The Angel of Tombstone
Nellie Cashman had a giving heart. Tombstone’s Nellie Cashman participated in many worthy causes. Her requests for donations brought her in contact...
Butch Busts his First Bank
Cassidy grabs the cash in Idaho. August 13, 1896. Butch Cassidy, Elzy Lay and Bub Meeks hold up the bank in Montpelier, Idaho. They get away with up...