Bill Cook grew up in the Indian Territory, where he also made a name for himself. Born in 1873, he was busted for whiskey peddling in 1893. After...
Sometimes the Bear Gets You
There was a real-life Grizzly Adams (but very different from the 1970s TV character). John Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1812 and went West...
The Texas Cattle Drives
Although there were cattle drives prior to the Civil War their heyday came in the years that followed. The war had pretty much depleted the beef...
Muddied Waters
Frank Waters’ 1960 book The Earp Brothers of Tombstone was once considered an authoritative look at the Earps, as seen through the eyes of Virgil’s...
Who is Fred Harman?
Who is Fred Harman? Walter Wehlauch Jacksonville, Florida Fred Harman was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1902, but his family moved to Pagosa...
Judge Roy Bean and His Unrequited Love For the “Jersey Lillie”
Somewhere along his wild and wooly way Roy Bean had developed a schoolboy crush on the beautiful English actress Lillie Langtry. He went so far as...
Gold Rush Fugitive
This is a powerful, American melodrama with strong, fearless characters willing to endure anything to realize their dream of striking it rich in...
A Final Drink of Water
Isaiah Dorman was the only black man killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Dorman was an interpreter based on his years living with the...
No Cane for Bat Masterson
The old TV show said “he wore a cane and derby hat.” There’s plenty of photos of Bat Masterson wearing derbies—but none of him carrying a cane....
A Deadly Card Game
Long Haired Sam Brown led a gang in California’s Calaveras County in the 1850s. He was dealing cards in 1855 when a Chilean miner grabbed someone...
Not a Chip Off the Old Block
Ed Scarborough isn’t as well-known as his lawman father George, who killed John Selman. But Ed made his own mark. He originally served as posse...
Boone Gets His Man
Boone May is not the biggest name in Old West annals, but he was a terror to outlaws in the 1870s—first as a shotgun messenger for the Cheyenne and...