The Conner family had been running roughshod in east Texas for several years when Texas Rangers went after them. In late March 1887, the two groups...
A Bloody Ranger Battle
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true west blog
The Escape of Augustine Chacon
Augustine Chacon was one of the last of the hard-riding desperadoes who rode the outlaw trail in the closing days of the 19th century. He was a...
Friends in Film
John Wayne had a number of actors that he liked working with (and made sure that they had plenty of film opportunities). Hank Worden was toward the...
Joe Felmer’s Mule
Old timers used to say, “Anybody who’s ever tried to put a braid in a mule’s tale knows a thing or two more about the subject than someone who...
A Different Blazing Saddles?
John Wayne almost made an appearance in the comedy Western, Blazing Saddles. Director Mel Brooks was eating lunch in the Warner Bros. commissary one...
The Trapper’s Rendezvous
Like gold dust on the mining frontier, beaver fur was the medium of exchange in the mountains. Unique to the American industry was the rendezvous...
Hugh O’Brian: Brave, Courageous And More Than A Little Bold
Actor, movie star, humanitarian and world-class cut-up, Hugh O'Brian died this morning at age 91. O'Brian, who had several health issues, died with...
Not Bad for a Chronic Yawner
In the Apache custom, his parents named him Goyathlay for a particular trait: “he who yawns.” Born near the headwaters of the Gila River, he grew up...
Gene Wilder
The late Gene Wilder wasn’t the original Waco Kid in the comedy “Blazing Saddles.” Veteran actor Gig Young got the role of the drunken gunfighter....
The Apache Scouts
One of the smartest strategic moves by the Frontier Army during the Indian Wars was to enlist Natives as scouts. On the Plains, tribes like the...
Virgil’s Arm Flapping in the Breeze
On the night of December 28, 1881, City Marshal Virgil Earp was ambushed and hit with buckshot crossing the intersection of Fifth and Allen Streets...
Rowdy Joe vs. William Red Beard
Old West gunfights occasionally inflicted collateral damage. That was the case in October 1873 when rival saloon owners “Rowdy Joe” Lowe (pictured)...