For the Reno Gang of Indiana, their last big holdup was the last straw. They robbed a train near Marshfield, Indiana of some $97,000 (around...
The Last Straw An Indiana train robbery led to a vigilante action.
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True West Blog
Innocent, but Lynched? Will Reno died without evidence of his guilt.
The vigilantes were determined when they entered the New Albany, Indiana jail on December 12, 1868. The targets: four members of the Reno Gang,...
The Birth of an Outlaw
By the end of the nineteenth century the old ways of outlawry in the West were slowly dying out. The James-Younger Gang, the Daltons, Doolins, and...
Kate Warne, Detective Extraordinaire
The Union Pacific Railroad took a dim view of outlaws blowing up one of their express cars and they failed to see the humor in money falling from...
Hotel Bathrooms
Did hotels really have bathtubs upstairs? How did they get filled? More curious, how did they get rid of the used bath water? Hotels in the West...
The Great Apache Scout Alchesay’s service to the U.S. earned him the nation’s highest honor.
Alchesay was a chief of the White Mountain Apaches—but he worked closely with the U.S. government. In the 1870s and 1880s, he served as a scout for...
The True Chief of the Chiricahua Naiche led the band—including Geronimo—during the tough times.
Geronimo is usually portrayed as the leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, the band that continually left the reservation and headed into Mexico in the...
A Man of Peace Warrior, statesman, advocate—Kicking Bird was all of these.
Kicking Bird was one of the greatest leaders of the Kiowa nation in the 1860s and 1870s. He was an outstanding warrior and a master tactician. But...
The Wilcox Train Robbery
Who were the outlaws who robbed the train at Wilcox, Wyoming in June 2nd, 1899? That depends on who you ask. One version of the story goes, Harvey...
The Stonewall Jackson Mine
Charlie McMillan was a man, to put it politely, strongly addicted to ardent spirits. One night in 1876, he was doing the town of Globe with his...
What was the “Romance of the Old West?”
Life always looks a lot better in hindsight. Movies have cleaned up and sanitized life in the West. The romance of the West meant many things to...
No Holiday for Holliday Doc kept very busy in the mid 1880s.
For Doc Holliday, 1884-1885 was a booming period. In August 1884, he and Billy Allen got sideways over a $5 debt that Doc failed to repay. Doc took...