They laid poor Jesse James in his grave. April 3, 1882. Outlaw Jesse James is gunned down in a rented home in St. Joseph, Missouri. The culprit? ...
The Death of a Legend
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True West Blog
April Fools!
Hoosier outlaws pull a fast one on their jailers. On this date in 1868, those words are written above a hole in the wall of the Council Bluffs, Iowa...
Breaking the Bank
The Reno Gang empty Missouri county treasuries. March 29, 1868. Pinkerton agents arrest four members of Indiana's Reno Gang, far from home in Iowa....
School Days in Arizona
Education was an adventure. The Fourth Territorial Legislative Assembly passed a bill in 1867 creating school districts in Arizona. But it took four...
The Classic Gunfight
Wild Bill versus Davis Tutt. It’s reputed to be the first (and one of the only) Hollywood-style gunfight in the Old West. On July 21st, 1865, Wild...
The Arizona Ghost Story
The truth behind the Red Ghost The legend of Red Ghost began in 1883 at a lonely ranch at Eagle Creek in Arizona. A woman was stomped to death by a...
A Deadly Lottery
Texas militia are given a strange opportunity to live or die. March 25, 1843. The Black Bean Incident. A group of Texians are part of the Meier...
The Big Fight
Cowboys vs. small ranchers in Tascosa. March 21, 1886. An ongoing dispute between cowboys at the LS Ranch--many former associates of Pat...
A Deadly Arrest
Several Texas State Police die in a fight with the Horrells. March 19, 1873. Seven members of the Texas State Police arrest Bill Bowen for illegally...
A Fight for the Ages?
Did Jim Young deck the champ in a Tombstone bout? Tombstone legend has it that in 1882, heavyweight boxing champ John L. Sullivan came to Tombstone...
A Cowboy Legend
Buffalo Bill and the tale of Buck Taylor. The legend began with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th, 1883. Cody decided to...
Crossing the Canyon
A railroad bridge in Arizona was a major undertaking. When the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (Santa Fe) was building a transcontinental line from...