Gunman Joe Lowe had an ignominious end. Rowdy Joe Lowe came by his nickname honestly, by being a hellraiser, a gunfighter and a saloon owner in...
Taming the Rowdy
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Saloon
Saloon Etiquette
The men of the West These private men of the West were also accustomed to inquiring of another man’s first name only. With their varied and often...
Saloons
A saloon might also be known as a "watering trough, bughouse, shebang, cantina, grogshop, and gin mill.” The first saloon was established at Brown's...
Blood on the Green Cloth
Fighting for the Faro Dollar: Johnny Tyler and Tombstone’s Gamblers’ War In the summer of 1880, Tombstone, Arizona Territory, was a silver-rich...
Protecting the Clean Shirts
Jim Moon faced down a mob at a Chinese laundry. On October 31, 1880, drunken mobs went after Chinese in Denver. Most of Chinatown was destroyed—but...
Saloon Etiquette
There were certain customs that had to be respected in the Old West Saloons. For example, it was considered coarse manners to inquire of another...
How Did Saloons Preserve Beer?
How did saloons in the old west out in the middle of nowhere serve beer? It must be refrigerated and does not travel well. In warmer climes the...
The Tom Jonas Map Quest
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to get a map of the location of Doc Holliday’s Saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico (“Classic Gunfights,”...
A Different View Shorty Anderson was witness to one of the West’s most infamous killings.
Shorty Anderson had a tale to tell. On August 19, 1895, he was in El Paso’s Acme Saloon. And he watched as lawman John Selman walked and gunned...
Saloons
The saloon was the hub of the western town. Bar, restaurant, gambling house, town hall, hotel, brothel, and sometimes courtroom and church. Often...
The Coup De Grace Tom Sherman: saloon keeper and brutal killer.
Tom Sherman’s Saloon was a hot spot in early Dodge City, Kansas—sometimes for the wrong reasons. The owner himself was not averse to picking...
Mining Camp Law A white man from Tennessee arrived in the California gold camps with 3 slaves
A white man from Tennessee arrived in the California gold camps with 3 slaves. He put them to work while he rested in town. This didn’t set well...