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 Private Confession
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True West Blog
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...
Labor Goes to War
A new group becomes militant. May 15, 1893. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) is formed. It's in direct response to a labor action in Coeur...
Earp Goes to Dodge
Earp Goes to Dodge…and puts on a badge. May 19, 1876 (or thereabouts). Wyatt Earp is appointed deputy marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. Over the next...
How to Get a Wife
Western pioneers took extreme measures to change their marital status. The discovery of gold in the Western frontier led a mass migration of eager,...
The Unknown Detective
A killer for hire put fear in the hearts of Arizona rustlers. By 1887, rustling had become such a problem that the Apache County (AZ) Stock...
A Bit of a Blowhard
The fanciful tale of Cyclone Bill. Abe Beck was hired to haul freight around Yuma, Arizona in 1877. But he disappeared with wagon, mules and...
A Botched Hanging
Tom Ketchum lost his head during the execution. April 26, 1901. Outlaw Tom Ketchum is hanged in Clayton, NM. In August 1899, Ketchum tried to...
Crazy Horse Gives Up
The great warrior finally surrenders. May 5, 1877. Lakota war leader Crazy Horse and his band surrender to US troops at the Red Cloud Agency near...
The First Train Robbery
But it didn’t happen in the West… May 5, 1865. About a dozen men derail and hold up an Ohio and Mississippi train at North Bend, Ohio. They rob the...
The Myth of the Murderous West
Killings were relatively rare. Dodge City, 1878 had five killings during its most homicidal year. Deadwood’s most violent year had four killed....
Shootist with a Smile
Pink Higgins and the “miracle birth.” Those who lived by the gun in the Old West were called “shootists, gunman, badmen or pistoleer.” Gunfighter...