True West Blog
Burnin’ Love

Burnin’ Love

April 25, 1896. Dance hall girl Jennie Larue and her boyfriend Otto Floto get into a fight in Cripple Creek, Colorado's red light district. A gas...

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Bad Luck Ranch

Bad Luck Ranch

It just didn’t pay to own ranch land along the Feliz River in Lincoln County, NM. Robert Casey (photo) squatted on the land, building a dugout and...

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Shoot the Messenger

Shoot the Messenger

Lincoln, NM deserved its reputation as a deadly town. Example: February 21, 1878. Private Edward Brooks is carrying messages from Ft. Stanton to...

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Little Gertie the Gold Dollar

Little Gertie the Gold Dollar

The boom towns of the Old West had a shortage of eligible women and that void for the lusty young men was filled by what were euphemistically...

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The Cowboy’s Rope

The Cowboy’s Rope

Cowboys then and now considered roping as the feature that separated real cowhands from gunsels. Even today a cowboy won’t stay with an outfit long...

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Johnny Mack Brown

Johnny Mack Brown

The Alabama “artful dodger” was an All-American halfback at Alabama who scored two of Bama’s three touchdowns in the 1926 Rose Bowl. He was named...

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A Deadly Card Game

A Deadly Card Game

Josiah Gordon “Doc” Scurlock is best known as a compatriot of Billy the Kid during the troubles in New Mexico. But Doc was no stranger to violence...

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The Cross Draw

The Cross Draw

A True West reader asks if Old West gunmen and cavalrymen using the cross draw were as fast as using a normal draw. I went to two fast-draw experts,...

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