Detectives bomb the James farm and have a p.r. nightmare. January 25-26, 1875. Pinkerton agents attack a farmhouse outside Kearney, Missouri. It is...
A Pinkerton Plan Blows Up
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True West Blog
Cactus Derbies
Car races across the deserts promoted road building. When the first horseless carriage sputtered and jerked into Arizona soon after the dawning of...
An Institution of Many Parts
The saloon was many things to many people. The saloon was the hub of a Western town, serving as a bar, restaurant, gambling house, town hall, hotel,...
Bawdy House Sobriquets
What’s in a nickname? The bawdy houses produced a litany of ladies with colorful sobriquets. Some, like Irish Queen, and Spanish Queen, were related...
A Capitol Fight
Two Kansas towns vie for county seat status. January 12, 1889. The Gray County War in Kansas. A group of men from Ingalls--including Bill...
The Lion of Tombstone is Silenced
Wyatt Earp cashes in his chips. January 13, 1929. Wyatt Earp dies in Los Angeles at the age of 80. The next day, the Arizona Daily Star has front...
Facing Down a Mob
Tombstone lawmen protect Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce. January 14, 1881. Gambler Michael "Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce" O'Rourke kills mining engineer Phillip...
The Deadly Ending
The finish to the OK Corral shootout. As the so-called OK Corral gunfight continues on October 26, 1881…Morgan Earp’s shot hits Billy Clanton in the...
The Street Fight Begins
And shots ring out. October 26, 1881. As the Earps near the Cow-boys in a Tombstone empty lot, Doc moves into the street, holding the shotgun Virgil...
Prelude to the Gunfight
The Earps and Cow-boys make their way to the empty lot… October 26, 1881. After being informed the Cow-boys are armed, Virgil Earp decides to make...
The Fleeting Image of Power
John Clum—mayor of Tombstone…for at time. January 4, 1881. John Clum is elected mayor of Tombstone, making him one of the most powerful men in the...
Death of a Hardcase
Cullen Baker dies the way he lived life—violently. January 6, 1869. Hardcase Cullen Baker and a pal are killed in Cass County, TX. Either the two...