Abilene, Kansas Marshal Tom “Bear River” Smith gained a reputation for using fists instead of guns. According to one story, he earned that rep....
Marshal Tom “Bear River” Preferred Fists to Guns
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True West Blog
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Ladies
Gambling was a favorite pastime in frontier towns and among the most skillful and prosperous were a few free-spirited women. They included Prairie...
No One Steals from Barton’s Joint
Jerry Barton was associated with the Cow-boy faction in southeast Arizona. He ran a bar in the town of Charleston—a Cow-boy hangout. And he wasn’t...
Tom Bullocks Railroad
Tom Bullock was a gregarious, smooth-talking promoter. He'd been a bartender Prescott's Whiskey Row before heading to New York where he made a...
Bud Ballew: Lawman Gone Bad
Bud Ballew was a lawman around Ardmore, Oklahoma after the turn of the century. He had a string of killings to his credit and the reputation of a...
The Sage of Salome
Since its earliest days Arizona has attracted an array of colorful characters. They arrived from all over the globe and ran the wide gamut of...
Pancho Villa Pt. III: The Fall of Pancho Villa
At one time Pancho Villa got an American film company from Hollywood to make a war movie from one of his battles. He even offered to attack at a...
Pancho Villa Pt. II: The Rise to Power
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 gave Pancho Villa the opportunity to get involved in a cause and make his countrymen forget that he was a bandit. He...
Stuart’s Stranglers
Stuart’s Stranglers had a brief but deadly life in 1884. Civic and political leader Granville Stuart formed the group after several of his cattle...
Osceola’s Imprisonment
Osceola is probably the best known leader of the Seminoles. He was not born a chief in 1804 (his father was an Englishman). But his natural...
American Horse’s Embarrassing Mistake
The story is told of how the great Sioux leader American Horse made a painful mistake in battle. It was sometime in the 1860s, before he had become...
Nate Champion
April 9, 1892 Johnson County, Wyoming: The column of hard-looking men rode up to within a short distance of the small ranch headquarters just south...