Somebody called Ellsworth the “Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas,” and the place had its moments. But its time was brief—and it almost didn’t get to...
The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas
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Inside History
Sold Off By Her Father
One of the better known stories circulated about Polly Bemis is that Charlie Bemis, the son of a Connecticut Yankee jeweler, won her in a poker...
True West Moment: Horses Hate Horseradish
Back in the old days the word “horse” was often used to describe something large. So, when the pioneers saw a large white radish, they put the two...
Buffalo Bill Lies Here—Or Here
William F. Cody—Buffalo Bill—was arguably one of the great showmen of all times. He would probably enjoy the ongoing public spectacle about where...
Emperor of the United States
In 1849, Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England around 1818, arrived in San Francisco, California, from South Africa with a $30,000 inheritance and...
The Last Stage Robbery?
The nation’s last stagecoach robbery took place on December 5, 1916, at Nevada’s Jarbidge Canyon. Calling it a “stagecoach” robbery is an...
TRUE WEST MOMENT: Geronimo on the Beach
According to Apache lore, one day Geronimo and a few warriors took off running from their hideout in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico and kept...
When Mrs. Satan Ran for President
When Victoria Claflin Woodhull died, three months shy of her 89th birthday, news of her passing was announced on two continents. The press called...
The Coward of Little Big Horn
Marcus Reno’s historical reputation is: coward. He was a man who ran at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, leaving Lt. Col. George Custer and the...
Jesse James Tastes Blood
Jesse James had just turned 17 when the opportunity for violence first arose—up close and personal. He and his older brother, Frank, were riding...
Tombstone’s True Hero
In the spring of 1896, during the manhunt for the Apache Kid, Arizona’s most wanted, Tombstone surveyor H.G. Howe recommended to Sen. William M....
Ask the Marshall
The June issue shows Doc Holliday’s tombstone in the Linwood Cemetery in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Is that his real burial spot? Harry Thomas...