A shotgun messenger in Old Montana left a great legacy of service and courage.
John X. Beidler
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Unsung
The Black Father of Fort Worth
A black kid with a shining smile suddenly appeared in Colorado City, Texas, in 1886, hoping to make two bits a pop as a bootblack for blacking a...
Robber’s Roost Defender
Outside the mining camps of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, particularly on the road leading to Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, violent men held dominion...
From Slavery to Cattle King
Born a slave near Inez, Texas, on September 15, 1860, the year before the war began that would free him, Daniel Webster “80 John” Wallace had a...
The Youngest Prisoner
On July 19, 1904, Claude Hankins snuck up behind George Mosse while he was milking a cow at the Bolles Ranch. Claude put a pistol near George’s...
A Daring Sense of Humor
Yuma Bill’s broad smile suggests he engaged his cavalry comrades in more than one game of “grinning through a horse collar.” Colonel George Forsyth...
Cold-Blooded Conman
Perhaps the most cold-blooded conman early Arizona ever knew, Louis Eytinge suffered from tuberculosis and had two months to live. He should’ve died...
Custer’s Conspirator
A new officer joined the 7th Cavalry in the summer of 1869, bringing with him a background that even today seems the stuff of fiction,” Charles K....
Texas’s Loyal Unionist
John Dix was born to fight battles, taking his first breath on February 2, 1796. His minuteman father had fought in the first battle, at the North...
Jerked to Jesus
Hollywood couldn’t write an Old West character better than Milton J. Yarberry, the first town marshal for Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory....
Californios’ Legal Hero
Benjamin Hayes was neither an Argonaut nor an adventurer. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, of Irish ancestry, the lean, bookish 35 year old moved to...
The Lawful Breed
Few are aware of notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin’s first cousins, the Clements brothers. Of those four, the best known was Emanuel (Mannen),...