Tom Horn died a tough death on the gallows November 20, 1903. Western legend Tom Horn was to be hanged in the Cheyenne, WY jail for the murder of...
Give ’em Enough Rope
read more
old west outlaw
Marion Hedgepath the Debonair Bandit
Someone asked me the other day why Marion Hedgepath isn’t a better-known outlaw. I have at least a dozen outlaw encyclopedias and he isn’t listed in...
A Good Deal for Little Wes
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...
Momaday’s Billy the Kid Pistola
The famed Pulitzer Prize-winning writer shares his obsession for Billy the Kid in his tale of a gun he believes the outlaw owned. This is the story...
Wild Bill
Wild Bill Hickok was very likely a good marksman with a handgun, which was something of a rarity on the frontier; he also was supposedly a very...
Aces and Eights
The question about what hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding has come up a number of times here's how the late Joe Rosa, Hickok's biographer explains...
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....
A Bitter Brew
An outlaw got more than he bargained for… Caleb Hall got around. He was with the John Kinney Gang, fought in Texas’ Mason County War, and got...
The Lone Star Myth of John Ringo
His time in Texas was not what it’s been cracked up to be. In August 19, 1875, a rider—or maybe riders—approached the Bader ranch in Mason County,...
King of the Gunmen
Pistoleer Fisher racked up a long list of kills. Texan King Fisher had a fearsome reputation as a gunman—one that was built in the 1870s. He was...
In the Palm of his Hand
An outlaw learned the hard way that a palm print was strong evidence. Ben Kuhl was caught red-handed—so to speak. He and two pals pulled the last...
Pearl Hart: “The Girl Bandit”
For most of her life Pearl Hart lived in dismal obscurity. She got her chance for fifteen minutes of fame following a bungled stagecoach robbery on...