Queen of the Kansas Cowtowns

Queen of the Kansas Cowtowns

Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed sitting on his porch listening to old men tell stories about a famous town marshal they knew named Wild Bill Hickok. As a boy in Abilene, young Ike couldn’t get enough of the Old West. Even as he fought in America’s great conflicts,...
Marie Delores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert aka Lola Montez

Marie Delores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert aka Lola Montez

The women who played the frontier theaters—singers, dancers and actresses—had a head start on the road to success simply because they were women; in much of the West that alone was enough to attract a crowd. There were other ways of getting rich off the earnings...
I Killed John Wayne

I Killed John Wayne

Who would’ve guessed that, in the last decade of his life, a lung lost to cancer, John “Duke” Wayne would star in a dozen films, three of them—1969’s True Grit, 1972’s The Cowboys and 1976’s The Shootist—among the best of his career? The premise of The Cowboys was...
Curly Bill Brocius: Before Tombstone

Curly Bill Brocius: Before Tombstone

His true name remains a mystery. Some accounts say it was William Brocius Graham while others claim it was William Bresnaham or William Graham but in outlaw lore, he was known as Curly Bill Brocius. Little of his past can be substantiated.  He left no letters or...