It takes something for an Old West shootout to be called “The Big Fight.” That’s the handle they stuck on a free-for-all in Tascosa, Texas, in the...
The Big Fight
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Inside History
The Martyrdom of Mangas Coloradas
Mangas Coloradas was a great Apache chief, and he felt betrayed by the U.S. Settlers and miners had been taking over Apache land in the Southwest,...
Hit by a Volcano
E.E. Phelps and F.A. Tipple left Lance Graham for dead, covered in ashes, facedown in the snow. Carrying his 200-pound body down the hill would have...
The Death of the Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James
Ed O’Kelley has his claim to fame. On June 8, 1892, he walked into a tent saloon in Creede, Colorado, and emptied two shotgun barrels into the neck...
The Black Father of Fort Worth
A black kid with a shining smile suddenly appeared in Colorado City, Texas, in 1886, hoping to make two bits a pop as a bootblack for blacking a...
A Thirst for Destruction
Carrie Amelia Moore, born in Kentucky on November 25, 1846, grew into a crusader who chopped her way to legend as Carrie Nation. In 1867, Carrie...
Robber’s Roost Defender
Outside the mining camps of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, particularly on the road leading to Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, violent men held dominion...
“…Kill or Hang All Warriors…”
If one winner came out of the Battle of the Washita, his name was Custer. In 1868, Southern Cheyennes and other tribes were camped along the Washita...
From Slavery to Cattle King
Born a slave near Inez, Texas, on September 15, 1860, the year before the war began that would free him, Daniel Webster “80 John” Wallace had a...
The Father of Montana
Granville Stuart, who died 100 years ago this October, is one of the most remarkable men in the history of the West. Born in what’s now West...
The Youngest Prisoner
On July 19, 1904, Claude Hankins snuck up behind George Mosse while he was milking a cow at the Bolles Ranch. Claude put a pistol near George’s...
Upping the Ante
The Cow-boy and Earp factions were already at loggerheads in the fall of 1881. A stagecoach robbery took things to another level. On the night of...