Tom Harper was a good friend of Curly Bill Brocius during Tombstone’s heyday. He also bit the dust before his Cowboy associates. In September 1880,...
Tom Harper Hangs
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True West Blog
Peg Leg Smith and His Lost Gold Mine
Thomas Smith, ranks right up there with America's legendary mountain men, including Bill Williams, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Joe Walker, Jed Smith...
battle of adobe walls
If you visit Tombstone’s Boot Hill Cemetery, you’ll find a marker for John Heath. He was the brains behind the so-called Bisbee Massacre, a...
Arizona’s Shangri La
When one imagines pristine Arizona’s dry, desolate, sun-baked deserts in the 1850s it’s difficult to picture any of it as being a utopian Shangri La...
Death Valley Scotty
It was called The Battle of Wingate Pass—but it was a con job by the famed Walter “Death Valley Scotty” Scott. In 1906, Scotty was taking an...
Doc’s Gal
The relationship of Doc Holliday and “Big Nose Kate” is well known. But when did it start? Many accounts say the pair met in Ft. Griffin, TX in...
James Brothers First Heist, Maybe?
Tradition says that Jesse and Frank James pulled their first bank heist on February 13, 1866 when they hit the Clay County Savings Bank in Liberty,...
Pony Diehl
Charles Ray liked to hang out with bad guys. Going by the name Pony Diehl (or Deal), he first gained notice as a member of the John Kinney and...
Dry Diggins
Back in 1848, the year it was founded, the California town was called “Dry Diggins” because of the gold mining efforts nearby. That lasted about a...
The Brief And Violent Life Of Cherokee Bill
Crawford Goldsby, aka "Cherokee Bill", was born February 8th, 1876 at Fort Concho, Texas. He was the son of George Goldsby, a sergeant in the 10th...
James Bailey Of The Barnum and Bailey Circus
James Bailey is probably the least known of the founders of the soon to close Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. An orphan born in...
Yes, They Were Romantic
If history does not offer evidence to support the notion that Billy the Kid and Paulita Maxwell had a relationship, it also does not offer evidence...