Clik here to view.
Tall Paul
One of the tallest men in Arizona territory in the 1880s was Pima County Sheriff Bob Paul. The former stagecoach shotgun messenger had been on the ill-fated Benson stage attacked in November 1880,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canton Redeemed?
Frank Canton In 1897, Frank Canton—former Texas outlaw and lawman in various locales—was appointed a deputy US marshal in Alaska. He later wrote that he had to resign the job because of a bad case of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shot on the Fourth of July
These miners survived the dangers that had killed others on their paths to the gold fields. They stand next to a flume at a gold mining camp in El Dorado, California, circa 1848-53.– El Dorado Courtesy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the 1985 film Silverado, British-born John Cleese plays the sheriff. Did...
Paul Piper Dorset, England Legendary gunfighter Ben Thompson comes to mind. At the age of seven, he immigrated to America from his birthplace of Knottingley, West Yorkshire, in England. After numerous...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Butch Cassidy and the Last Standing Bank
Butch Cassidy, was given the name Robert Leroy Parker at birth, born to a poor Mormon family in Beaver, Utah. As a teen Parker set off to find a new and better life for himself than that of his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Puffing, Chewing and Dippin’
American’s love for smoking began early in our history. Among the various types of tobacco were rope cable twist, Bull Durham in a sack, and plug cut. Chewing tobacco was popular too and there were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Great Western and the Biggest Leg in Mexico
Illustration by Bob Boze Bell At six feet two and 200 pounds, red-headed camp follower Sarah Bowman was nicknamed the “Great Western,” after the largest steamship afloat in the 1830s. During the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jesse James Tastes Blood
Jesse James had just turned 17 when the opportunity for violence first arose—up close and personal. He and his older brother, Frank, were riding through Missouri with Confederate guerrilla leader...
View ArticleClik here to view.
August, the Dirty Low-Down Month
Wild Bill Hickok That’s how Wild Bill Hickok would have described it in 1876, if he’d lived to tell the tale. The month actually started out very profitably for the former Union spy, scout, lawman and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Burt Alvord’s Train Robbing Posse
Burt Alvord was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, his IQ numbers would pretty much match his waist size. The hobbies included practical jokes, beer, poker, horses and guns. He worked for a time as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hot Times in Hillside Boom Towns
Bisbee Fire 1908 Fires were always a serious threat to frontier towns, hillside communities were the most vulnerable. The boomtowns of Bisbee and Jerome all burned to the ground several times during...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old West Jails
The Wickenburg Jail Tree is a popular tourist stop today. Hollywood movie sets built their jails pretty similar. They always had a window in back because the script called for a crony to slip them a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Tombstone Mystique
What’s it mean to market authenticity? That’s the question Kara McCormack, a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the Thinking Matters Program at Stanford University, asks in relation to the town where the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jailhouse Rock
The Wickenburg Jail Tree In the rough and tumble towns of early Arizona, churches, schools and jails were most conspicuous by their absence. Holbrook became the county seat of Navajo County in 1895...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Entertainment and the Arts
Pirates of Penzance Back in the days before radio, movies and television, lectures were a popular form of entertainment in Arizona communities. They ranged from temperance to free love. Highbrows, or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It Happened in Globe
Globe, AZ Globe was one of the Old West’s richest mining camps. It also produced some famous Arizona people including its first governor, George W. P. Smith and its first woman governor, Rose Perica...
View ArticleClik here to view.
October was Black Bart’s Favorite
OCTOBER WAS BLACK BART’S FAVORITE: Over his eight-year-28-robbery spree, Black Bart most loved robbing stagecoaches in October. Maybe it was the balmy, California weather, maybe he was just more hungry...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Adah Issacs Menken: The Great Menken
Not all the women who migrated to California during the Gold Rush were prostitutes and gamblers. The women who played the frontier theaters—singers, dancers and actresses—had a head start on the road...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Day in the Life of a Chuckwagon Cook on the Long Trail
In my “Ask the Marshall” column for True West magazine I get many questions about the most important man on a trail drive, the cook. The chuckwagon cook’s normal day started hours before the cowhands...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When Did the Practice of Branding Livestock Begin in the U.S.?
When did the practice of branding livestock begin in the U.S.? Jim Martin Waco, Texas Branding of livestock dates to the Egyptians to around 2,700 BCE. The practice spread to Europe during the Middle...
View Article