"How did 1880's professional gamblers handle their money when they won big"? Bank it? Carry it? Bury it? We didn't know. First, let’s talk about...
The Gypsy and the Bear
One day during Tombstone’s boom times, a Gypsy came strolling into town with a bear on a leash. He announced to the gathering crowd that for...
Blood on the Green Cloth
Fighting for the Faro Dollar: Johnny Tyler and Tombstone’s Gamblers’ War In the summer of 1880, Tombstone, Arizona Territory, was a silver-rich...
Saloons
The saloon was the hub of the western town. Bar, restaurant, gambling house, town hall, hotel, brothel, and sometimes courtroom and church. Often...
Justice For A Sporting Man – One Way Or Another Charles Cora got a hung jury, followed by a hanging
November 17, 1855. Sporting man Charles Cora brutally murders an unarmed US Marshal William Richardson in San Francisco. The two had some previous...
They Called Him Wild Bill Wild Bill Hickok was arguably the greatest shootist of them all. Wild Bill's other hobby was gambling, although his hand at cards wasn't nearly as skillful as his prowess with his 1851 Navy Colt’s.
Wild Bill Hickok was arguably the greatest shootist of them all. His skill as a marksman with a six-gun, even considering embellishments, can't be...
A Man Of Few Words Ferd Patterson briefly summed up a shooting.
Ferd Patterson was a gambler and shootist who plied his trade on the West Coast in the 1850s and ‘60s. In 1861, he and some friends were on a...
A “Gallant” Gesture Goes Too Far Charles Cora stood up for his girlfriend—and hanged.
Gambler Charles Cora had taken prostitute Arrabella Ryan as his mistress in San Francisco in 1855. U.S. Marshal William Richardson made an insulting...