icknames among the Old West characters developed almost to an art form and just hearing them conjures up picturesque images. For example among such...
What’s in a Name: Old West Style
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He Died with His Boots Off
The legend says that Billy Thompson—brother of gunfighter Ben Thompson—met his end in a shootout with Mexicans in Arizona. It seemed plausible....
Like Father, Like Son
Gunfighter Ben Thompson (photo) made his living as a sporting man, a fellow who played games of chance for fun and profit. But he was determined...
Maricopa
In 1857 the San Antonio and San Diego stagecoaches, better-known as the “Jackass Mail” because in the desert a few miles west of Yuma the passengers...
The Tunnel Saloon Fight
May 31, 1888 Pete Gabriel, accompanied by his friend Mike Rice, leaves in a buggy from his Riverside gold mines, headed for Florence, Arizona...
The Train Robbers
By the 1890's train robberies were big business in the West. At one point trains were being robbed on an average of every four days. The Union...
Hard Hearted
Adelbert Ames was a Union general and Civil War military governor of Mississippi. In 1876, he was also an investor in the First National Bank in...
Cavalry Horses
In 1995, a movie with actor, Don Johnson, called In Pursuit of Honor. It tells the purported true story of Army in the 1930’s plans to kill surplus...
‘Stone ‘Em!’
The James-Younger Gang was fighting for its life on September 7, 1876. The attempt to rob Northfield, MN’s First National Bank had gone awry and...
Rough Justice
The James-Younger Gang was on the run after the Northfield robbery debacle, and posses were on the hunt. One group led by Minneapolis Police...
Why Did Wagon Drivers Sit on the Right Side
Traditionally buggy drivers sat on the right because most were right handed and the whip could be wielded without possibly hurting the person seated...
Raid at Ash Fork
June 1st, 1912 the Tucson Arizona Daily Star wrote: PRESCOTT – “Ash Fork is today as innocent as a newborn babe; she is as pure and white, morally,...