Having worked in the emergency room as a young physician throughout the 1970s, I learned the difference between human “sweat” and “stench,” as these...
That Cowboy Stench
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Inside History
Chimney Wells Roundup
August 14, 1899 Near dusk, two members of the Wild Bunch, Will Carver and Elzy Lay, ride into Virgil Lusk’s cow camp near Chimney Wells, New Mexico,...
What’s in the Bag?
Colorado Territory, February 1874. Fictional frontier doctor Elijah Baines sat quietly at the bedside of his 64-year-old female patient Sarah, who...
Brothers of Blood
July 10, 1881 The west Wisconsin town of Durand today is hot—the mercury hits triple digits. For the two Coleman brothers, it’s about to get a lot...
Devil Canyon Shoot-Out
APRIL 9, 1905 Navajo County Sheriff Chet Houck and his deputy Pete Pemberton hop a train from Winslow, Arizona, to Canyon Diablo (Devil Canyon), 26...
A Bullet for Your Troubles
October 03, 1900 It’s cold, just after dawn in Colorado’s Brown’s Park area when Isom Dart comes out of his cabin, dressed heavy with long...
Food Poisoning in the Old West
While watching our favorite Western movie or TV characters eat a sumptuous meal at the local boarding house, café or sitting around the old...
The Great Race of Mercy
The place was Nome, Alaska. Dr. Curtis Welch waited anxiously for his prayers to be answered in the early morning hours of February 2, 1925....
Hang ’em High and Fast
Thanks to an inquiry from my electrician friend Rob Brown of Montrose, Colorado, I am treating you to a medical discussion of Old West hangings....
Diabetes in the Old West
To the frontier doctor in the 1800s, the term “diabetes” referred to the patient who produced excessive amounts of urine. The term “diabetes” is...
Wild Bill’s Disease of Passion?
In his 1986 book Deadwood, Pete Dexter depicted Wild Bill Hickok as suffering from some form of venereal disease (VD) and more so from the remedies...
Not Just a Sea Plague
"Before the railroad, in the days of stage-coaching, the Western traveler subsisted principally on fried bacon and canned tomatoes," wrote Lt. John...