In the Netflix film, The Harder They Fall, a western movie about black outlaws in the 1880's and 1890's, it shows the Old West with "Black towns"...
Segregation in the Old West
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True West Blog
You Can Run but You Can’t Hide
The Missouri Kid thought he’d get away with murder. William Rudolph had no luck. The 20-year-old and a cohort robbed a Union, Missouri bank in 1903....
Wyatt’s One Wedding
Questions surround Earp’s only legal marriage. In January 1870, Wyatt Earp took the plunge. He married Urilla (or Aurilla) Sutherland in Lamar,...
The Empty Chamber
Billy the Kid tricked Joe Grant before killing him. One of the strangest legends of Billy the Kid concerns Joe Grant. The two got into a row in Fort...
Bloody Bill
William Anderson has been called “The Bloodiest Man in the Civil War.” His bushwhackers were bands of soldiers that didn’t belong to an organized...
The Birth of the Colt Revolver
In the years before the 1840's the favorite side arm was a knife, and the big guy with long arms had a distinct advantage. Before the coming of the...
The Last Days of Steamboats on the Colorado
The steamboats on the Colorado weren’t the floating palaces that Mark Twain wrote about. They were built to be strictly functional. They were...
OK Corral Aftermath
The judge received death threats that may have worked. For Tombstone Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer, his decision to dismiss murder charges...
The Lawman who Arrested Doc Holliday
It was just one act in the remarkable life of Harvey Faucett. Harvey Faucett is little remembered—and that’s a shame. He was a lawman in Colorado,...
A Shotgun Wedding?
Actually, it was a pistol that forced Wells Spicer to marry. Tombstone Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer must have had a way with the ladies. In...
The Plight of the Explorer
Growing concern over the independence of the Mormons in Utah caused Congress to appropriate some $75,000 to explore the possibilities of navigating...
Steamboats on the Colorado
One of the most unlikely modes of transportation in Arizona was the use of steamboats on the Colorado River. The high cost of freighting goods...