Hoosier outlaws pull a fast one on their jailers. On this date in 1868, those words are written above a hole in the wall of the Council Bluffs, Iowa jail. Outlaw leader Frank Reno and two of his cohorts have escaped. They were arrested a few days before by detective William Pinkerton after robbing three county treasuries (netting nearly $50,000). But the jail isn’t strong enough to hold them. They make their way back to the home base of Indiana. The post April Fools! appeared first on True West Magazine by Mark Boardman. Only the True West ..read more

The Reno Gang empty Missouri county treasuries. March 29, 1868. Pinkerton agents arrest four members of Indiana’s Reno Gang, far from home in Iowa. Over the past six weeks, the outlaws have burglarized four county treasuries for a total of more than $50,000. In fact, the work of Frank Reno, Miles Ogle, Albert Perkins and Mike Rogers has basically bankrupted two of the counties, including Harrison (photo of courthouse/treasury). Lawmen have been trying to nail the Reno outfit for more than three years, so this is quite the get. But the tables will turn in a few days. The post Breaking the Bank ..read more

Education was an adventure. The Fourth Territorial Legislative Assembly passed a bill in 1867 creating school districts in Arizona. But it took four years for the first public school to open—many districts lacked the money for schools. The lifestyle for young people residing in the territory was not conducive to learning. One teacher took a pistol away from a youthful cherub and angrily tossed it into the pot-bellied stove. However, she forgot to remove the cartridges and the resounding gunfire inside the stove loudly punctuated her oversight. The post School Days in Arizona appeared first on ..read more

Wild Bill versus Davis Tutt. It’s reputed to be the first (and one of the only) Hollywood-style gunfight in the Old West. On July 21st, 1865, Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt faced off in the Springfield, Missouri town square. The disagreement was over gambling. The two men firee at a distance of 75 yards. Tutt missed. Hickok’s shot hit Tutt in the heart. Tutt staggered back towards the courthouse and cried out, “Boys I am killed!” And he was. Wild Bill’s legend was cemented with that gunfight. The post The Classic Gunfight appeared first on True West Magazine by Marshall Trimble. Only the Tru ..read more

The truth behind the Red Ghost The legend of Red Ghost began in 1883 at a lonely ranch at Eagle Creek in Arizona. A woman was stomped to death by a strange-looking beast with a devilish-looking creature strapped on his back. Additional reports followed. A rancher awoke one morning and saw the ghost–a camel– grazing in his garden. He shot the beast. The animal’s back was scarred from rawhide strands that had been used to hold a body of a man. But how the human body came to be attached to the back of a camel remains a mystery. The post The Arizona Ghost Story appeared first on True West Magazin ..read more

Texas militia are given a strange opportunity to live or die. March 25, 1843. The Black Bean Incident. A group of Texians are part of the Meier Expedition, a private militia effort to invade Mexico. They are defeated by the forces of Santa Ana, who orders all the captives shot. But international pressure pushes him to lower the number to 1 in 10. Seventeen black and 159 white beans are placed in a jar. The Texians are blindfolded and select a bean–those who get the black ones died. Among those who escaped: future Texas Ranger legends Bigfoot Wallace and Samuel Walker.   The post A Deadly ..read more

Cowboys vs. small ranchers in Tascosa. March 21, 1886. An ongoing dispute between cowboys at the LS Ranch–many former associates of Pat Garrett–and small ranchers goes violent in Tascosa, TX (photo). The two sides, who have come to town for liquid refreshments, go for their guns. When the smoke clears, four men are dead and two others seriously wounded. Nobody is ever convicted for what becomes known as “The Big Fight.” By the 1930s, Tascosa is a ghost town. The post The Big Fight appeared first on True West Magazine by Mark Boardman. Only the True West ..read more

Several Texas State Police die in a fight with the Horrells. March 19, 1873. Seven members of the Texas State Police arrest Bill Bowen for illegally carrying a firearm in the town of Lampasas. They take him into Jerry Scott’s Saloon (big building in the picture). Inside are several members of the Horrell clan. They are in-laws to Bowen. And they quickly go for their guns. Four of the lawmen are killed and the rest run. Police eventually arrest Mart Horrell and three other men in the case. They are moved to the jail in Georgetown. But on May 2, the Horrells and their friends break them out of ..read more

Did Jim Young deck the champ in a Tombstone bout? Tombstone legend has it that in 1882, heavyweight boxing champ John L. Sullivan came to Tombstone to put on an exhibition. The champ offered $500 to anyone in the crowd to last two rounds. Jim Young, a Black cowboy who worked for John Slaughter, took the challenge. He climbed in the ring at Schieffelin Hall. Supposedly, Young decked the champ in the first round. There is some controversy as to whether or not that match ever took place, but according to the Tombstone Republican, on September 15th, 1883, Big Jim did defeat pugilis ..read more

Buffalo Bill and the tale of Buck Taylor. The legend began with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th, 1883. Cody decided to make cowboys into heroes. Cody picked an incorrigible Texas cowboy named Levi “Buck” Taylor, who could ride and shoot. It was no easy job, but Cody created a biography where Buck was a “brave orphan boy from Texas” who grew up with great hardships. He was incorruptible and was always fighting on the side of good. A dime novel about Buck Taylor was written and a national hero was created. Nobody was more surprised at what happened than Cody himself ..read more