Billy Bailey was a Texas cowhand who made his way up the trail to Newton, Kansas in 1871. He had a reputation for being handy with a gun and...
Cop vs. Cop Two Kansas lawmen couldn’t keep the peace between themselves.
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True West Blog
The Hanging of Gus Dilda
Dale Walker's Death Was the Black Horse, is an excellent biography of Arizona’s, William O. Buckey O’Neill. In it is the story of Dennis W. “Gus”...
Dealing with Mosquitos, Ticks, and Chiggers
How did cowboys, Indians, and settlers deal with ticks and chiggers? When I was a kid in northern Arizona every summer, we’d ride the Santa Fe...
Belgian Jennie
Jennie Bauters aka “Belgian Jennie” arrived in New York City in 1896 with her 14-year-old son and migrated to Chicago. Three months later she left...
Switching Sides Alexander McSween’s move didn’t pan out.
When Alexander McSween came to Lincoln County, NM in the early 1870s, he went to work for the Murphy-Dolan company. That outfit controlled...
Paying the Price? James Dolan didn’t have to pay the piper for Lincoln County actions.
James Dolan was a 25-year-old hothead when he got in trouble in Lincoln County, NM in 1873. He got into a tiff with Captain James Randlett, an...
And the Winner Is…. Susan McSween may have been the winner of the Lincoln County War.
If there was a winner in New Mexico’s Lincoln County War, it may have been Susan McSween. The widow of Alexander McSween used some gift cattle and a...
Jesse James Guns
Jesse James was assassinated on April 3rd , 1882 at his home in St. Joseph Missouri by two members of his gang, Bob and Charlie Ford. There are...
The WagonMaster
The wagonmaster was almost invariably a powerful man who rose from the ranks of bullwhacker on the basis of his leadership qualities. His word was...
John B. Stetson
When Doubleday & Co. published my first book back in 1977, they sent me an advance that was more than I was making annually as a high school...
2021 True Westerner Award Facebook Live Ceremony
Author and Historian Paul Andrew Hutton to receive 2021 True Westerner Award in Facebook Live Ceremony True West Magazine will present author,...
The Fatal Favor John Denson mistakenly tried to help a relative…
John Denson was a kinsman to both John Wesley Hardin and Jim Miller. And he apparently helped the latter with some of his illegal activities. But...