America’s wide-open West is marked by reminders of its legendary, lawless frontier days. Apache County in the Arizona Territory of the late 1800s...
The Cavanaugh-Snyder Gang
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True West Blog
Third Time’s the Charm for Bob Boze Bell’s Billy the Kid The Final Word
The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy The Kid: The Final Word (Two Roads West Publishing, $24.95) is Bob Boze Bell’s magnum opus on the subject...
Discover Makers in San Angelo Sponsored by Discover San Angelo
From saddlery to silverwork, San Angelo and the surrounding area is home to an abundance of local makers. Explore the wealth and handiwork that...
A Bad Summer Day June 1904 proved to be violent in Colorado.
June 6, 1904 was a bloody day in Colorado. A union assassin blew up a train depot near Cripple Creek; 13 men were killed. Then the two sides in...
At The Sound of The Bell Colorado’s National Guard leader declared war on the unions.
Sherman Bell was a gung-ho type who got noticed. After service as a lawman and a Rough Rider, he was put in charge of the Colorado National Guard. ...
A Target on His Back Union assassins tried to kill Colorado’s governor.
Colorado Governor James Peabody was a target—literally—during the labor wars that wracked that state in the early 1900s. Leaders of the Western...
Saloons
The saloon was the hub of the western town. Bar, restaurant, gambling house, town hall, hotel, brothel, and sometimes courtroom and church. Often...
The Mexican Revolution of 1910: Part II
On the night of March 9th Villa attacked the small American town of Columbus, New Mexico, leaving seventeen dead Americans behind. It was the last...
The Mexican Revolution of 1910: Part I
President-dictator, Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico with and iron fist for thirty-four years. El Porfiriato had been in office since 1877. There was...
Friends Turned Foes A woman came between Loving and Richardson.
Frank Loving and Levi Richardson were friends, often gambling together in Dodge City’s Long Branch Saloon in 1879. But then a woman came...
Don’t Shoot! A former lawman failed in his attempt to surrender.
George Campbell had built up a solid reputation as a lawman in Texas and New Mexico during the late 1870s and early 1880s. For a couple of...
The Springfield Trapdoor vs The Spencer Carbine
The Spencer rifle fired seven rounds in about 12 seconds. Army Chief of Ordinance, James Wolf Ripley, rejected saying Spencer saying it was an...