THE WALKDOWN by Tom Rizzo

 

Today, 150 years ago, in the late afternoon of July 21, 1865, a man wearing a pair of 1851 Navy Colts strapped to his waist, ivory handles turned forward, walked along a street in Springfield, Missouri, heading for the town square—a walk that would launch a legend by nightfall.

The flat broad-brimmed hat he wore shaded his gray eyes and long, droopy mustache. Gambler and gunman James Butler Hickok, a former Union Army scout, approached the square from the south. 

He reached across his six-foot-three frame, pulled out one of the Colts, cocked it, and returned it the holster.

"So, this is what a professional gambler looks like," someone in the gathering crowd whispered. "Looks a bit of a dandy in my book."

Hickok, a physically imposing character, was a dandy, alright. Dandy with a Colt. The dark vest he wore accentuated his narrow waist and his riding britches were tucked inside a pair of custom-made top-boots.

Across the square stood gambler Davis Tutt, an ex-Confederate soldier. The night before, the two men—who were friends and often gambled together—engaged in a bitter argument during a poker game at the Lyon House. 

Some say the dispute may have been over a card game, or a woman. Others contend Tutt supposedly claimed Hickok owed him money from a previous wager.

Whatever the reason, Tutt snatched Hickok's prized gold-cased Waltham Repeater pocket watch off the table to keep as collateral. 

 

Adding verbal fuel to an already tense situation. He threatened to wear it in public to show the town Hickok didn't pay his debts. Tutt's action enraged Hickok, and the two men continued arguing. 

 

"I intend wearing it in the morning," Tutt vowed.

"If you do, I'll shoot you, and I warn you not to come across the square with it on," Hickok replied. 

('Putting upon him'- Dave Tutt takes Wild Bill's watch

from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Feb 1867)

 
"I intend wearing it in the morning," Tutt vowed.

"If you do, I'll shoot you, and I warn you not to come across the square with it on," Hickok replied.

With the sun low in the sky, shadows crisscrossing the market square, the two men stood sideways, separated by about seventy-five yards, classic dueling stances. Hickok repeated his warning.

”Dave, here I am. Don't you come across here with that watch.” 

(Wild Bill Hickok vs. Dave Tutt: painting by Andy Thomas)

The two men went for their guns. Witness says each fired a single bullet at about the same time. Tutt’s shot went wild and missed. Hickok coolly took aim and drilled a round into Tutt's ribs.

“Boys, I’m killed,” Tutt cried out, staggering around for a few seconds before he collapsed and died.

The February 1867 edition of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, featured an account of the gunfight written by Col. George Ward Nichols. The article, which came under heavy criticism for its numerous inaccuracies and exaggerations, carried a lengthy quote from Richard Bentley Owen, Hickok’s quartermaster during the Civil War.

“At that moment, you could have heard a pin drop in that squad. Both Tutt and Bill fired, but on discharge followed the other so quick that it’s hard to say which went off first. Tutt was a famous shot, but he missed this time; the ball from his pistol went over Bill’s head. The instant Bill fired, without waiting term see ef he had his Tutt, he wheeled on his heels and pointed his pistol at Tutt’s friends, who had already draw their weapons.”

According to Owen, Hickok said, “Aren’t yer satisfied, gentlemen? Put up your shooting-irons, or there’ll be more dead men here.”

The confrontation between Hickok and Tutt represented one of the few recorded instances on the American frontier involving a one-on-one duel to the death. 

Hickok was charged with murder the next day, but the it was subsequently changed to manslaughter and the case went to trial. 

On August 6th, the jury deliberated about "an hour or two," and acquitted him.

Hickok, better known as Wild Bill, made his way to the Plains of Kansas from Troy Grove, Illinois, where he was born in 1837. At age 20, he was elected constable of Monticello, Kansas, in 1855.

The so-called legend of Wild Bill Hickok got its start at Rock Creek Station, Nebraska, which served as a stop for overland stagecoaches and a Pony Express station. The place was owned by David McCanles, who sold it to Russell, Waddell, and Majors of the Pony Express.

The station had fallen on tough economic times— close to bankruptcy, in fact—and couldn't pay McCanles, who showed up at the station with his cousin James Wood and ranch hand James Gordon.

Wild Bill had just arrived in the middle of a heated argument between McCanles and Horace Wellman who operated the station.

Depending on which story is told, Wild Bill apparently stepped into the bitter exchange and ended up shooting and killing from inside the house. 

He also wounded Woods and Gordon. Wellman, or his wife, beat the wounded Woods to death with a hoe. And a shotgun blast by Hickok, or Wellman, finished off Gordon.

During a subsequent trial, Hickok and Wellman pleaded self-defense. As employees of the Overland Stage Company, one of the most powerful companies west of the Mississippi, the two men had plenty of influential friends at their backs. 

Hickok and Wellman were exonerated and, from that point, the legend grew thanks to an ambitious writer who exaggerated the story to the level and accuracy of a dime novel.

In 1866, Hickok served as Deputy U.S Marshal at Fort Riley. Three years later, he took a job as marshal of Hays, Kansas. 

But his reputation as a frontier legend suffered a blow when he mistakenly shot and killed his own deputy. 

He stepped away from his role as a lawman and - from 1872 to 1873 - toured the East with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.

Wild Bill ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota where, on the afternoon of August 2, 1876, he was killed by Jack McCall while playing cards at the #10 Saloon.

______

If you enjoyed this Story of the West, more await you in my new three-volume package, Tall Tales from the High Plains & Beyond. Book One: The Unexpected and Other Stories and Book Two: The Law Keepers are now available in soft-cover or eBook instant download. For a FREE SAMPLER of all three volumes, visit my website and leave your name and email address and get instant access.

 

The Dead Line

 by Phil Truman

The Dead Line, as it came to be called, was a railroad, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, cutting across the middle of Indian Territory.

Missouri, Kansas, & Texas RR

It ran straight south from Caldwell, Kansas to Fort Reno, I.T., then on down through the Cheyenne and Comanche and Kiowa lands, crossing the Red River into Bowie, Texas. It was not only a line on a map, but a physical demarcation. West of it there was no law, only outlaws. On trails out there, notes would be put up on trees and posts, sort of reverse wanted posters, letting lawmen - usually those Federal marshals up from Texas or over from Arkansas - know they’d be killed if they continued their pursuits west of the Dead Line.

Throughout the 225 year history of the U.S. Marshals Service, over 200 deputies have been killed in the line of duty. Of those, more than 120 lost their lives in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories between 1850 and Oklahoma statehood in 1907.

Relic of the MKT

In the storied annals of the American West, no place comes close to matching the dangers and mortality these Federal officers faced doing their jobs. Their courage, resolve, and dedication to duty were beyond reproach...for the most part. Those who survived became titans in the legends of the West.

The stories in this collection I call West of the Dead Line are fiction, but the encounters these lawmen faced, and The Dead Line, were not.

This first volume - seven are written, about five more are sketched out - involves tales centering around Bass Reeves, an illiterate ex-slave, adopted Creek Indian, scout for the Federal marshals, and eventually a Deputy U.S. Marshal himself, perhaps the best there ever was. In his 32 years as a Federal peace officer in the Indian Territory and young state of Oklahoma Reeves brought in over 3,000 outlaws to the Federal Court in Fort Smith, Arkansas, both dead and alive, one of whom was his own son wanted for murder.

So here are story lines and excepts from the first two stories in Volume I:

#1 - Bringing in Pike Cudgo

After the cold-blooded murder of two lawmen, Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves, along with his colleagues, Deputy Heck Thomas and Posseman Jud Coldstone, pursue a ruthless Seminole “freedman” into the harsh country of the Wichita Mountains. Aided by a band of Cheyenne hunters, Reeves and his allies seek to bring the outlaw Pike Cudgo to justice. 

Deputy Marshal Bynum P. Nelson felt surprise right before he died. He had a fraction of a second to be pissed, but he was mostly surprised. It never occurred to him that Pike Cudgo would walk right up to him, and stick that eight inch blade into the left side of his neck. He knew the Seminole freedman was a mean and dangerous sumbitch, but he’d been caught off-guard by Cudgo’s cordiality. It was his last mistake.

“You Deputy Nelson?” the man asked. He came walking up to him out of the night shadows right there on the main street of Waurika, smiling like they were at a church social, and he was about to introduce himself. “Your man, Maha, said you’s lookin’ for me.”

He started to stick his hand out as if to offer a handshake, but instead slid a bone-handled Boulder knife out of his coat sleeve and stabbed it into Nelson’s neck, right between two vertebrae, severing the lawman’s spinal cord. The surprise came up in Nelson’s brain the second he caught a glint of the raised blade, but that split-second was all he had as the emotion died right along with the rest of him that fatal instant there on the night streets of Waurika, I.T. in 1889. 

Cudgo embraced the slumping body of Nelson while he jerked the knife out of the lawman’s neck, then let the dead weight of him drop to the dirt street. Cudgo wiped the blade on a faded red bandana that hung from his belt, standing there looking around. His cruel black eyes searched for anyone watching; anyone he thought might care about what he’d just done, anyone else he might have to take care of. The expression on his mean black face was a mask of cold-blooded dispassion. Human life had no value to Pike Cudgo, except his own.

#2 - Freed Men

The young slave Bass Reeves is captured by a Yankee spy during the Civil War campaign in Arkansas which ended at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Set free by his captor, Bass wanders into the encampment of the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles of the Southern Army whose leader presses the lost slave to stand and fight with them. Battling shoulder-to-shoulder with the Cherokee warriors during the fierce combat, Bass’s life is forever changed in a way he never before imagined. 

“Where you from, Yank?” Bass asked. 

His captor stared at Reeves squarely before looking into the fire. “Kansas, mostly,” he said. “Rode with General Lane’s Jayhawkers. He didn’t much cotton to secessionists… or slave owners. Called himself an ‘abolitionist.’”

“That why you rode with him? You uh…ab-bol-lishnest?”

The Yankee threw back his head and laughed. He stood and walked out to the edge of the firelight to take his own piss, chuckling to himself as he did so.

When he came back to the fire, he sat again opposite Reeves, stirred the coals with a stick, threw on another piece of wood. “You even know what that means, boy? Abolitionist?"

“Sho’ I does,” Bass answered, a little indignant. “It mean freein’ slaves.”

“Seems to me the only freed men is the dead ones,” his captor said. He paused to stir the fire some more, looked at Bass. “I’ve personally freed a few myself,” he said with a grin and a wink.

“Naw, I rode with Lane because he offered me the job,” he continued. “Pay wasn’t much, but it kept me out of jail. I needed that more than money at the time.

Battle of Pea Ridge

“Still, sayin’ it’s legal to own a man don’t seem right to me. Sure as hell don’t believe I’d put up with anyone claimin’ they owned me.”

Silence fell between the pair again. The haunting sound of a harmonica drifted in with the cold night air. Men’s voices echoed through the black forest; voices in calm conversation and some laughter, distant but clear like coming across a still river at night.

”Whas yo name, then?” Bass asked. Another long pause followed before the Yankee answered.

“I got several names. Go by Haycock in this here army, William Haycock. Back in Kansas some folks called me ‘Wild Bill.’ Called me that because of the shape of my nose, made fun of how it swoops out sorta like a duck’s bill. I didn’t much like it at first, made a few callin’ me that pay. But now I believe I like it…yes sir, believe I do. You can call me Wild Bill.”

Bass nodded, and grinned back at the man. “Wild Bill,” he repeated.

“You realize I’m only telling you this ’cause you’ll be dead before sundown tomorrow.”

Bass looked cold-eyed at Haycock. “You gone kill me, Wild Bill?” he asked.

Haycock laughed again. “Naw, I ain’t gonna kill you, Bass. I’m gonna let you go. But boys see a nigger runnin’ free through these here woods, I figure one side or t’other’s bound to shoot your ass. Ain’t that what we’re fightin’ for? To set your likes free?” He cocked an eyebrow and grinned at his captive.

Bass stared back at Haycock. After a bit, he said to him, “You lets me go, Wild Bill, how you know I ain’t finds myself a gun an’ frees yo’ ass?” 

The Yankee continued to grin back at Bass. After a few seconds Haycock began to sputter through his teeth, then his chest bucked. His eyes squinted as snorts of laughter welled up from his gut and burst out his mouth.

You can get your copy of the West of the Dead Line stories  by clicking on the titles above. Phil has also authored three other novels: the award-winning historical western novel,  Red Lands Outlaw, the Ballad of Henry Starr;  a sports inspirational about small town schoolboy football entitled GAME, an American Novel; and Treasure Kills (formerly Legends of Tsalagee), a mystery/adventure in a small town. 
 

 

 

Hollywood Hi-Jinks with Western History

Hollywood sure has done some major hi-jinks over the years with western history. After all, isn't movie-making all about raking in the dough? They're not making dry as dust documentaries. Who would go see a film without rough and tumble saloon fights, Indians on the warpath, circled wagons, high noon street shoot-outs?

The heck with true history! Right? Ahem.

Here are a few examples of Hollywood movies that played fast and loose with the Old West. I'm not putting down these movies. Take it all with a grain of salt - but Doris Day as Calamity Jane?  Even if Martha Jane was supposedly considered "attractive" in her youth, by the time she met Wild Bill, that semblance was long gone. Leathery skin from the wind and sun, muscular with rarely washed hair - I mean, Doris Day? REALLY? Here's a side-by-side view of the two. See for yourself. I'll even throw out photos of Howard Keel and the real Wild Bill Hickok too.

Howard could have slapped on a mustache and wig, for heaven's sake. Even though some of the scenes show Doris sans makeup - well, she was no plain Jane no matter what! Oh well. Here's a trailer for the movie - and it plays fast and loose with the romance between Wild Bill and Martha Jane too. No clear historical record existed of a marriage (or child born to them), but Calamity was clearly obsessedwith Wild Bill. Even though he'd married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a successful circus owner.

Let's examine an older movie - They Died With Their Boots On from 1941. (Let's not even go to that shadowy place where Anthony Quinn plays Chief Sitting Bull! But for the era, at least there was some sympathy shown the Native Americans.)

The dashing (and Australian, although he was actually born in Tasmania) Errol Flynn portrays Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Uh-hum. And the lovely Olivia deHavilland plays his wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer - not much of a stretch there. But Errol Flynn? REALLY? Here's the photos. Along with the trailer, too. Can we say cliche'? Custer in real life had zero sympathy for the Indians, never touched liquor after the Civil War and was quite the arrogant bastard. Considered to be "highly fictionalized", movie goers of the day made They Died With Their Boots On one of the top-grossing films of the year. 

Hmm. There might be a touch of similarity in those craggy features, but Flynn couldn't grow a mustache to save his soul. Plus he couldn't erase the hint of a British accent (he attended school in England.) No matter, since Olivia deHavilland was born in Tokyo to British parents. Olivia's mother divorced her husband and moved to California, but taught both her daughters elocution. (Joan Fontaine was Olivia's sister.) Olivia and Errol seemed well-matched and were very popular, having made eight films together. They certainly share on-screen chemistry (Olivia swears she never had an affair with him, despite Errol's desire - plus he was married at the time). Whatever the historical inaccuracy of George and Libby Custers' official first meeting, we'll forgive them.

We could name several more Hollywood hi-jinks at the movies, but I'll leave readers to add their favorite mash-ups in the comments section. And let's face it, westerns aren't the only movies Hollywood goofed up. Consider the six-foot Peter O'Toole playing Lawrence of Arabia, who was actually shorter than Napoleon at five-foot-one! Nicholas Meyers has a great article about movie inaccuracies - click here to read it. 

As Hollywood often says, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT. No questions answered.

Click here to check out Meg's Amazon Author page for her award-winning western mysteries!

~~~~~

Meg also writes under the pseudonym D.E. Ireland with a friend - Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins are getting mixed up with murderers in London's post-Edwardian era.

Check out their page and their cozy mystery series. Here's the cover of

Book 1, debuting September 23rd from St. Martin's Minotaur books.

Horseracing, Cushing's Circus, and Blue Lightning @JacquieRogers #western

July in the Old West

by Jacquie Rogers

In the Old West, Independence Day had the honor of being the most celebrated holiday of the year.  Not Christmas, you ask?  First, remember that Christmas wasn’t commercialized to the extent it is today, and second, December 25 is often not good traveling weather.  But July 4th was an ideal time for celebration — good weather, and people needed a break from all their hard work in the fields, mines, or on the range.

All the articles here are taken from The Owyhee Avalanche, which is still publishing newspapers today in Homedale, Idaho.  Most of the articles pertain to Silver City, a boomtown in Owyhee County, that never burned down and is a great place to visit.  So what happened in the Old West this month?  Let’s take a look.

From July 6, 1872, we learn a little about a typical Independence Day celebration:

THE FOURTH OF JULY IN TOWN, BOILED DOWN.

- National salute from a 12-pounder, at sunrise, for which we may thank Charley Bowen’s patriotic gizzard.

- Music by the Band from the balcony of the Court House, at 9 o’clock, a.m., and from the balcony of the Owyhee Exchange, a 7½ p.m.  The boys toot their horns infinitely better than we had reason to expect.

- Firecrackers, the delight of youth, but the bane of old age—plenty all day long.

- Lots of folks went to Wagontown; our reporter hasn’t come to time.

- Of those who stopped at home, comparatively few got beastly drunk, and few had heads put on them.

- Banners flying, and ladies flitting around all day getting ready for the Ball.

- Ball at night, huge success, both financially and otherwise.

- Fireworks, no good.

- Ball supper, at the Idaho Hotel, magnify.; good grub and well cooked, fault of Gus, chef de cuisine; served up in a style that can’t be beat, owing to the exquisite taste of Charley Umber, dining room captain.

- Fine day; beautiful night.  Finis.

Every year, Owyhee County sported several horse races on Independence Day, and the citizens took it seriously; thus, the reporting was quite detailed.  Here’s the only short article I could find (probably because the race was held in Wagontown instead of Silver).

THE WAGONTOWN RACES.   Our Wagontown reporter furnishes us with the following account of the races, which took place there on the 4th and 5th.

    On the 4th, the saddle purse and 2d class racehorse purse were run for.  Entries for the saddle purse: Muller, Lucy Cook and Springer’s “Molly.”  Molly beat Mullet by 5 feet, and owing to a bad start Lucy Cook whipped both the others all the way through.  Second class  racehorse purse contended for by Gray Jack, Milty or Malheur and Nannie Hunt.  Nannie won by 30 feet, chased by Malheur and Gray Jack bringing up the rear.  A number of scrub races ended the sport on the 4th.

    On the 5th a match race came off between Louis Walker’s horse and Weasel, from Boise City, for $600 — Weasel winning by 22 feet.  First class racehorse purse was then contended for by Billy Cheatham of Boise Valley, and Tom Walls’ Old Ben, of Wagontown.  Betting two to one on Cheatham, but Ben won the race by 18 feet.  Scrub races, to numerous to mention, ended the season’s races, which passed off in a highly satisfactory manner.

    Owing to a painful though not too serious accident to the rider of Charley-Come-Up, he did not run as was expected.

Military forts and camps were built all over the West and most were abandoned within a few years.  Such is the case of Camp Three Forks Owyhee, which I’ve never heard of until I read this article in the July 29, 1871 issue.

GOVERNMENT SALE.  The subsistence and miscellaneous stores and articles on hand at Camp Three Forks Owyhee are to be sold at public auction to-day.  Quite a number of our citizens have gone out to attend the sale.

It’s always interesting to see a contemporary account of an event that we’ve all read in the history books.  People of the time don’t necessarily see things the way historians do, and this next item, in light of Troy Smith’s series How to Write an Indian When You’re Not One, Part 1 and Part 2, is quite telling.  This is also from the July 29, 1871 issue.

RED CLOUD DEPOSED.  Lieutenant Quinton writes from Fort Shaw, Montana, that Red Cloud has been superseded by Sitting Bull.  It appears that Red Cloud returned to his people with wonderful stories of what he had seen and heard while visiting the Great Father at Washington.  Red Cloud saw too much.  The Indians say that these things cannot be, and that the white people must have put bad medicine over Red Cloud’s eyes to make him see everything and anything that pleased them, and so Red Cloud lost his influence.  Sitting Bull is at war with all Indians who trade or deal with whites, and all those Indians appear to be afraid of him.  He says he never will make peace with the whites.

Accidents happened frequently in the Old West.  This next article reports a minor accident, considering several mine deaths occurred the same week, but it sure made me wince.  This is from the July 18, 1885 issue:

A MAN NAMED JANSEN, in the employ of B. F. Hawes of Bruneau, met with a painful accident on Wednesday at Pole Creek, while hobbling a horse, by which he had the first joint of his thumb pulled off.  He came to town at once in company with Joseph Byers, and on Thursday Dr. peters amputated the thumb immediately above the first joint.

Also:

We learn that Frank Hoyt of this place was thrown from the upper deck of a mule at Trout creek, on Thursday, and severely injured, though it is hoped not seriously.  His head was bruised and it is thought that a rib or so were cracked.

Those who immigrated west, especially the miners, were looking for the pot of gold.  Gambling was ubiquitous and not considered vice.  Lotteries were common, and in fact some of our nation’s most prestigious buildings were funded by lotteries.  So it’s not surprise that a little girl winning big would be reported in every paper west of the Mississippi.  From the July 25, 1885 issue:

LITTLE SIX-YEAR-OLD BESSIE’S FORTUNE. Little 6-year-old Bessie Lilienthal, who, orphaned by the death of her father, became a pet of her grandfather,  Abraham Leffler, is the holder of one-tenth of the $150,000 ticket in the Louisiana State Lottery.  Last week her uncle Adolph bought three on-tenth tickets of the Louisiana State Lottery.  Across of No. 51,106 he wrote Bessie’s name...

That was quite a sum in 1885!  I wonder what little Bessie did with her $15,000.

There was little effort put out for what today we call political correctness.  Racial and religious intolerance were the norm rather than the exception.  Such is the case with the article just below little Bessie’s.

IDAHO REPORTER.  We have received the Idaho Reporter, just started at Blackfoot, in this territory, by a publishing company, ex-U. S. District-Attorney White, editor.  The paper presents a net appearance, and will, we judge, be anti-polygamous.  We wish it success.

Men, women, and children all worked hard in the mining camps, but they played hard, too.  I’m sure there was plenty of excitement when the circus came to town!  This must be a hardy circus because the road to Silver City was and still is a mountain dirt road—in places, only one lane.

CUSHING’S CIRCUS visited Silver City on Sunday and remained until Tuesday morning, when it moved on towards Boise City.  It took in a good many dollars here as well as a great number of people.  When we say took in a great number of people, we do not intend to say that it was a humbug, for the trapeze performance by the little boy and girl and the aerialist performances were worth one dollar, to say nothing of the extra twenty-five cents for a reserved seat.  So far as the circus is concerned, it must be seen to be judged.  We make no comments for the reason that we have never seen a circus before, and from the performance we think that the manager of the show imagined that no one else in Idaho ever did.

And a dance:

WE ARE REQUESTED by Judge P. A. Tutt, to state that a dance will be given by him at the Boonville house, on Monday night, July the 27th.  The best of music has been engaged for the occasion, and everything that the market affords in the say of edibles will be placed on the supper table.  This will be a rare chance for young gentlemen with downy mustaches and smooth tongues to whisper words of consolation in the ears of the gentle sex as they ride undisturbed, beneath the starry heaven from town to Tutts’ dancing hall at Boonville.  The admission to dance and supper will be only three dollars.

Lots of building was going on in 1871.  Here are a couple items from the July 15th issue:

A COMPANY of Chinese are building quite extensively on Jordan Street, near where Marshall’s blacksmith shop was burned a couple years ago.

and

SHERIFF Stevens’ residence presents quite an attractive and tidy appearance, with its new green-colored window shutter.

Silver City always had strong women.  They had to be to put up with the conditions and the men on the mountain.  I found this item in the July 15, 1871 issue:

Mrs. Clare Lewis and Miss Emma Cox have made arrangements to lease the Miners’ Hotel and will take charge of it the first of August.

In that same issue, we see their humor when it comes to imbibing in certain beverages.

POST AND GRAHAM.  The Avalanche office acknowledges the receipt of a bottle labeled “Strychnine,” from Jno. A. Post. And one labeled “Blue Lightning,” from Ed. Graham, with appropriate directions.  Ferd took an overdose of the strychnine — which came near knocking him off his pins — so much for not following directions — but we happened to be present at the time and prescribed a dose of Blue Lightning and his equilibrium was immediately restored.  The above gentlemen have each a large assortment of the very best quality of liquors.

Short items from various March issues of The Owyhee Avalanche from 1866 to 1885:

• A number of tender-hearted chaps have organized a “Female Protection Society” in Silver City.  In order to make a stand-off, the women talk of getting up an institution for the benefit of their male friends, calling it “A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Owyhee.”
• Two artificial teeth and a fragment of a broken jaw were found in the parlor of the Miners’ Hotel the next morning after they Hyde-Borman wedding.  The owner can get them by calling at the Avalanche office.
• Charley Weeks & Co. intend to have a regular coach on between here and Boise City with in a day or two at farthest in opposition to the old line — which, we understand ahs already put the fare down to $5.
• One Dr. A. Turlock was to have lectured in this city on Wednesday night last on “Human Nature and the Science of Medicine.”  He failed to get an audience; also , to pay his printing bill.
• Matt Holms is running a branch of his Fairview saloon at the Mahogany mine and doing a lively business.
• Jerry Philips and Frank Hunt went out to the head of Sucker Creek last Thursday and brought in 25 sage-hens and chickens.
• There are five faro games running in town, besides monte, poker, &c., on the side.  Quite a number of Boise sports are here and occasionally make it quite lively for the Owyhee boys.

July Events

• July 25, 1850: Gold was discovered in Rogue River, Oregon Territory.
• July 5, 1858: William Green Russell, his brothers, and ten other men discover gold in Cherry Creek in what is now Denver, Colorado.
• July 11, 1861: On the Missouri River near Fort Benton, Montana, the steamboat Chippewa, loaded with gunpowder and whiskey, exploded.
• July 12, 1861: Rock Creek, Nebraska – James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok killed Dave McCanles, who didn’t care for Hickok romancing his mistress, Sarah Shull.
• July 1, 1862: The Pacific Railroad Act authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads to build the transcontinental railroad.  
• July 1, 1863: Confederate General Stand Watie, in a failed attempt to capture a Union wagon train, fought against the First Kansas Colored, Third Indian Home Guard, Second Colorado Infantry, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, Sixth and Ninth Kansas Cavalry.
• July 10, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Act of Congress to create the Territory of Idaho. 
• July 3, 1865:  Col. Patrick E. Connor, Fort Laramie, receives orders to protect the Overland Mail Company's stagecoaches from Arapaho Indians.
• July 10, 1866: The 13th Infantry Regiment established Camp Cooke, Montana Territory’s first permanent army post.
• July 8, 1867: Captain Eugene M. Baker and the 1st Cavalry kill two Indians and capture fourteen women and children, and two horses, near the Malheur River.
• July 4, 1869: Emilne Gardenshire won the title “champion bronco buster of the plains” in what some claim as the first rodeo in Deer Trail, Colorado Territory.
• July 26, 1870: Hickman, Kentucky - Charles Goodnight and Molly Dyer were married, then left for Rock Canon, Texas.
• July 3, 1871: Colorado - The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company introduced Montezuma, the first narrow-gauge locomotive.
• July 5, 1881: Tombstone – Sheriff John Behan jailed Doc Holliday for the murder of But Philpot and an attempted stage robbery. Wyatt Earp paid the $5,000 bail.
• July 13, 1882: Strawberry, California - Black Bart (Charles E. Boles) attempted to rob a Wells Fargo stage but instead the driver, George W. Hackett, shot him.  Black Bart got away but was wounded in the scalp, which left a permanent scar on his forehead.
• July 3, 1884: Montana Territory - Granville Stuart and his outfit hanged a rustler near Fort Maginnis, according to Teddy Blue (E.C. Abbot).
• July 3, 1887: Pecos, Texas - Rancher Clay Allison, renowned gunman, fell off his buckboard.  The wheel rolled over his head and he was killed.
• July 1, 1892: The Dalton Gang robbed $11,000 from a train near Red Rock in the Cherokee Strip.
• July 20, 1889: Sand Creek Gulch, Wyoming – Ella Watson, known as Cattle Kate, and James Avrill were lynched for rustling.
• July 8, 1897: Skagway, Alaska Territory - Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith and Frank Reid were shot.  Soapy died immediately and Reid died twelve days later. 

May your saddle never slip.

Jacquie Rogers 
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Romancing The West
Hearts of Owyhee series
#1: Much Ado About Marshals
#2: Much Ado About Madams
#3: Much Ado About Mavericks

Review Roundup: Wide Open

Wide Open
By Larry Bjornson
Berkley Books, June 2012
$28.00 hardcover, ISBN 1410460584
$15.00 paperback, ISBN 0425247481
$15.00 Kindle, ASIN B0074VTH6G
384 pages

In 1871, Abilene, Kansas, is a raucous cow town on the cusp of a historic shift that will define the future of an entire region. Residents are well aware that without the massive cattle drives from Texas, Abilene wouldn’t exist, yet they grow increasingly alarmed by the violence and sin thousands of wild Texas cowboys bring with them. Some Abilene citizens are convinced the farmers flooding in to homestead free federal land represent the town’s salvation, if the dirt-poor sodbusters can overcome Kansas’ relentless summer heat and drought.

Young Will Merritt firmly supports the pro-cowboy faction, publicly shaming the stubble-jumpers at every opportunity. Abilene is the first real home fifteen-year-old Will and his family have known after following his vagabond father’s reckless dreams. Gregarious J.T. Merritt finally has found success as a land speculator. He’s an important man in town … until he gambles on a solution that will save the farmers and point Abilene in a new, more respectable, direction. Overnight, Will’s life — and his perspective — undergo a monumental change. Growing up can be bittersweet.

Nominated in two Peacemaker categories, Larry Bjornson’s Wide Open won the 2013 Best Western First Novel award against stiff competition. Though all of the nominees were worthy, Wide Open pulled away from the pack on the very first page. The nearly flawless writing is breathtaking, presenting cinematic panoramas, riveting action, and heartfelt emotion without ever compromising the first-person point of view, slowing the pace, or dipping into maudlin.

Bjornson’s voice is fresh and evocative; his effortless prose breathes astounding beauty, chuckle-worthy cleverness, and heart-rending pathos in equal measure. This is literature in the Steinbeck tradition.

Although wild and woolly certainly describes Bjornson’s Abilene and the surrounding Kansas prairie, Wide Open runs far deeper than a young man’s first-person adventure. Will’s journey is universal and profoundly moving. Regardless readers’ personal histories, they’ll recognize themselves in Will.

I cannot recommend Wide Open highly enough, as both an excellent story and an education in elevating fiction, regardless of genre, to art.


Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and a novelist in training. She received a review copy of Wide Open from the author. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization.

Meet Western Fictioneer Matthew Pizzolato

1. What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? 
My first published work was a short story titled "The Old Outlaw" and it was accepted by a small press magazine called The Storyteller.

2. What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?
I grew up reading Louis L'Amour novels and quickly accumulated everything he had written. I not only enjoyed his writing for the entertainment value but I gleaned a lot of life lessons from his stories that shaped me into the man that I am today. His stories always started fast and contained a lot of action, and I suppose that subconsciously, I've tried to begin my stories the same way.

I also enjoy reading Don Coldsmith, Loren D. Estleman and Elmore Leonard.

3. Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?
I'd have to pick a movie for that one. The most powerful scene I've ever watched was the ending of the Clint Eastwood film, Unforgiven. Seeing it for the first time gave me chills and goose bumps. Eastwood's character in that movie was part of the inspiration for Wesley Quaid, the antihero protagonist of my latest release, OUTLAW.

4. What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?
I'd be hard pressed pick out one in particular because I've been reading Westerns for as long as I can remember. Most likely, it was something by Louis L'Amour.

5. Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?
Wild Bill Hickok. I've always been fascinated with his life and the tragic events of his death.

6. How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?
I've accumulated several shelves of historical books and I turn to them as I need to look up something. I do a lot of research online as well and on occasion, I'll visit the library.

7. How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?
I think that setting can be critical in a Western, as vital sometimes as a character, but a lot of it depends on the story. Louis L'Amour always used setting well in his stories.

8. How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?
It depends on the story. I've used them before, but most of the time I don't. Usually, I start with an idea see where it takes me.

9. Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?
I research as I'm writing. If I come across something I'm not sure about I'll look it up online or in one of the historical books I have. Then I'll do a fact check again as part of the editing process.

10. Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why? Was there a role model for this particular character?
My Texas Ranger character, Jud Nelson, would probably be the one that I identify most with, but I have put part of myself in all of the characters that I write, whether they are heroes or villains.

11. Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads?
Sometimes I write a general plot summary to serve as a sort of road map, but I never outline an entire story. For me, doing so would take the fun and enjoyment out of writing. Like Louis L'Amour said, I write because I want to see what happens next.

12. Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?
I like to go against the norm and to create characters that don't fit the mold. Whenever I read fiction, I like to find characters that I can identify with, or in other words, characters that are flawed but are inherently good like antiheroes.

13. Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?
I prefer it to be quiet, but I can write with noise going on around me.

14. Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?
I don't believe in writer's block. Like Robert B. Parker said, I think that writer's block is another word for lazy. Whenever I get stuck on a story, I put it aside and work on something else. I've found that letting something simmer in my subconscious for a short period allows me to return to it with a clear mind.

15. Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?
The protagonist of OUTLAW, Wesley Quaid, is my favorite character because for me, writing an antihero is a lot of fun. Instead of being limited by the moral absolutes that the traditional hero an villain stories require, I find that writing an antihero allows me to explore the gray areas of morality.

16. Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?
William Tell Sackett by Louis L'Amour. There was a lot of the loner aspect of Tell Sackett that I found myself identifying with as a young man.

17. Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?
I have addressed racism and bullying in a couple of my most recently published stories, "Day of Reckoning," and "Sixguns and Pitchforks," that were published in online magazines.

18. Have you found that being able to self publish through Kindle and Nook, that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants?
Apart from my short stories published in print journals and online magazines, I have always self published, so I've never had to deal with having anyone else tell me what to write.

19. Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?
I don't yet make my living from writing, but that is a goal that I am striving toward. In the meantime, I work as a meat cutter in a grocery store.

20. What are you writing right now?
I'm working on a series of short stories that is a sequel of sorts to my latest release, OUTLAW. I will be publishing them as a collection the first part of next year.

21. What do you plan to write in the future?
I'll always be writing Westerns because I think the potential of the genre is endless.

22. What made you decide to write Western fiction?
I decided to write Western fiction because I've always loved reading Westerns. I always said that I was born in the wrong century and writing allows me to go back in time and live vicariously through my characters.