Burt Mossman was Governor Murphy's choice to be the first captain of the Arizona Rangers. The rawhide-tough cowman had made quite a reputation for...
Burt Mossman’s Rangers Part 1
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Lawman
Birth of the Arizona Rangers
Arizona greeted the 20th Century as a frontier Jekyll and Hyde. On one hand, communities like Phoenix, Prescott and Tucson were becoming modern...
Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton
In his autobiography, Pistol Pete: Veteran of the Old West, Frank Eaton spins a bigger-than-life tale of his life as a Deputy United States Marshal,...
Revenge Begets Revenge
Or, one good bullet deserves another. Mike Meagher (right in photo, next to twin brother John) was a great lawman in Kansas and the Indian...
Bringing a Bike to a Gunfight?
A hard lesson for a lawman—leave the cyclist alone. Douglas (Arizona Territory) Constable Ed Scarborough must have been in a bad mood. It was March...
Crossing the Line
Johnny Owens used trickery to arrest an outlaw. Johnny Owens was the sheriff of Weston County, based out of Newcastle, Wyoming (photo) in the early...
Roy Bean The Law West of the Pecos
Movies have tried paint Judge Roy Bean, the so-called, "Law West of the Pecos," as a hanging judge. Bean was more of a blowhard with an uncanny...
The Brief Rule Of Brown Hoodoo ran Las Vegas, NM—until people stood up.
Hyman Neill—better known as Hoodoo Brown—was the driving force in Las Vegas, New Mexico from 1879-1880. He became justice of the peace. And then...
Henry Plummer And The Not So Innocents Handsome Henry Plummer was a ladies man, lawman and politician in California during the Gold Rush. He was also crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
The big gold strikes at Bannack in 1862; Alder Gulch in 1863, which late became Virginia City; Last Chance Gulch in 1864, which became Helena and...
The Wayward Lawman Something pushed Burt Alvord to the wrong side of the law.
Burt Alvord seemed headed down the righteous path in Tombstone and Cochise County. In 1886, at age 19, he was hired as a deputy sheriff by John...
A Two-Fisted Lawman Jeff Mynatt used his guns and more in the line of duty (and beyond).
Jeff Mynatt spent much of his adult life in law enforcement. He was a deputy U.S. marshal in Indian Territory, a lawman in various Texas locales,...
Outlaw Turned Lawman Turned Outlaw The strange tale of Ben Sippy.
Ben Sippy is best known as the man who beat Virgil Earp in the election for Tombstone marshal in 1880—and then suddenly (and somewhat mysteriously)...