On vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a stiff President Calvin Coolidge cut a comical figure, wearing cowboy boots and a 10-gallon hat, as...
The Digital Frontier
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Investigating History
Bent’s Fort’s 50th Anniversary
In 1833, the Bent brothers—Charles and William—along with partner Ceran St. Vrain were building a trading empire in the Southwest. The plan: to...
Tracking a Vendetta Rider
Most folks know that the violence in Tombstone, Arizona, didn’t end with the Gunfight behind the O.K. Corral in 1881. A number of shootings—several...
A Tall Order?
I must confess that investigating history (the process, not the column) can be a big undertaking—but sometimes it’s a simple matter of asking a...
A Grave Matter for Mattie Earp
You may know Celia Ann Blaylock-Mattie-from movies such as Tombstone or Wyatt Earp. She’s the drugged out, paranoid shrew who tried the patience of...
The Original Boot Hill
In the streets of a Kansas prairie town on an evening in mid-1872, a familiar pattern unfolded-a crowd gathered, somebody fired a gun and somebody...
Who Killed Col. Fountain?
In February 1, 1896, Col. Albert Jennings Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry were on the last leg of the 150-mile trip from Lincoln, New...
Who Killed Col. Fountain?
In February 1, 1896, Col. Albert Jennings Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry were on the last leg of the 150-mile trip from Lincoln, New...
Digging Up Billy the Kid’s Mother
This is a unique moment in jurisprudence where law, history, legend, myth and modern criminology come simultaneously to the forefront in a single...
Digging Up Billy the Kid’s Mother
This is a unique moment in jurisprudence where law, history, legend, myth and modern criminology come simultaneously to the forefront in a single...
Eating His Weight in Democrats
It was one of the most outrageous quotes of the Old West about one of the most barbaric crimes. In 1883, a 34-year-old tracker named Alferd Packer...
Dodging Fakes
"You’ve seen more Old West autograph forgeries in the last three years than in the previous 20 years combined.” It’s a pretty stunning statement,...