The editor of The Epitaph made a surprising switch. William H. Kelly was editor/publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph from 1928 through 1930. During...
A Change of Career
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True West Blog
The Making of a Legend
Why did Jesse James become so famous? Why was Jesse James one of the most famous outlaws of the Old West? Well, for starters, he had a great name,...
Wine, Women, and Song
The females who frequented the Old West saloons… Old West saloons were pretty much a man’s world. There were saloon girls and prostitutes....
Classic Westerns Playing all Summer Long
It’s showtime at Western Spirit! True West magazine has joined forces this summer to screen 25 classic Westerns at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s...
The Cowboys from Hawaii
Paniolos made their mark—even in the Old West. In 1823, the king of Hawaii, King Kamehameha III, imported some vaqueros from Spanish California to...
Earp Comes to Dodge
But he didn’t really build his legend there… May 19, 1876 (or thereabouts). Wyatt Earp is appointed deputy marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. In late...
Bleeding Kansas
The sacking of Lawrence helped lead to the Civil War. May 21, 1856. Some 800 pro-slavery men sacked the free-state town of Lawrence, Kansas. Two...
The Big Payday
The Reno Gang struck it rich in train robbery. May 22, 1868. Outlaw Frank Reno leads a group of men to rob an Ohio & Mississippi train at...
What’s in a Name?
Johnny Ringo sounds like a gunfighter…but…Having a catchy “gunfighter” name was almost a sure way to immortality. Henry McCarty might never have...
On the One Hand…
John Slaughter found a way to avoid the stock inspectors. There are many stories about rancher John Slaughter chasing outlaws out of Cochise County....
The Private Confession
A conman beat the law and a priest through some chicanery. The story goes that in 1910 Anthony Blum conned Father Arthur DeBruycher into investing...
The Train Business
Ketchum catches the railroad bug. May 14, 1897. Tom Ketchum--already, mistakenly, being referred to as "Black Jack"--goes into the railroad...