Frank Hamer’s ties to an outlaw family. Frank Hamer has gone down in history as one of the greatest lawmen of all time. But before he became a Texas...
Strange Connections
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Lawman
Switching Sides
Zeke Proctor—outlaw turned lawman. Zeke Proctor was a hard man, living in the Cherokee Nation in the 1870s. He was responsible for several killings....
Shot or Sprained?
What kind of injury did Bill Tilghman suffer during a famous raid? There are a lot of Old West stories that may or may not be true. One of...
The Power of the Pardon
A territorial governor let himself go scot-free. Isaac Stevens was a controversial governor of Washington Territory. In the 1850s, he enacted brutal...
Sheriff’s Duties: Other Than Keeping the Peace
As a rule peace officers in the Old West weren’t held to the high standards they are today. It wasn’t unusual to rough up a suspect in order to get...
Shooting off his Mouth
Or—never threaten a man if you’re unarmed. Rowdy Joe Lowe was one of the best-known saloon owners in the West during the 1870s thru ‘90s. When...
The Dead Robber Reward
A legendary lawman took issue with a controversial bounty system. In the 1920s, Texas was beset by bank robberies. So in 1927, the Texas Bankers...
Ketchum and Hamer
Two legendary Old West names came together in 1900. In 1900, sixteen-year-old Frank Hamer—later a Texas Ranger legend--was severely wounded by Dan...
The Myth of Frank Hamer
The legendary lawman’s first killing never happened. The story goes that legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer killed his first man when he was just...
Picking the Wrong Horse
Bill Tilghman lost the job of his dreams by backing the wrong candidate Bill Tilghman may have been a great lawman, but as a politician he left much...
Bounties
How was reward money collected in the Old West? Was it paid out by local law enforcement, banks, the court system, or did it come from some other...
Burt Mossman and the Arizona Rangers Part 2
Read Part 1 HERE During that year the Rangers put 125 outlaws behind bars, killing only one in the process. They also lost one Ranger, Carlos...