An accused killer, freed to become a lawman. Little Wes Hudson (photo) made an unusual deal. Languishing in an Oklahoma jail in 1905—charged with...
A Good Deal for Little Wes
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old west lawmen
The Seminole Burnings
Deputy U.S. Marshal Bill Tilghman's Courageous Work was the Greatest of His Legendary Career. The largest and most sensational criminal trial that...
Battle of the Plaza
Bat Masterson vs. Peacock & Updegraff Things Go Lickety-Bang! Bullets Careen into the Long Branch Traveling mostly by rail, Bat Masterson...
Bat Masterson
The deadly and dangerous life of the man who invented Wyatt Earp. Thanks to a 1960s television show starring Gene Barry, Bat Masterson was called a...
Vengeance for a Marshal
Cowboys who killed a New Mexico lawman paid a price. On January 22, 1880, drunk cowboys were causing trouble in a Las Vegas, New Mexico saloon....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...