Belle Starr - the Outlaw Queen By western author Nick Brumby "I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw." — ‘Outlaw Queen’ Belle Starr She was known as the ‘Bandit Queen’ and the ‘Petticoat Terror of the Plains’. She married three different outlaws, spent time in jail for horse rustling, was friends with legendary outlaws Cole

Chief Touch the Clouds By western author Nick Brumby "An honorable and peaceable Indian, a man of good character, a very fine man, deprecated hostilities and was a peacemaker." — Interpreter Louis Bordeaux He was 6’9”, weighed 280 pounds, and was first cousin to Native American warrior legend Crazy Horse. Yet Minneconjou Teton Lakota Chief Touch the Clouds was

Scalping in the Old West By western author Nick Brumby “While no pain was perceptible, the removing of [my] scalp sounded like the ominous roar and peal of distant thunder.” — Josiah Wilbarger, scalped by Comanches It was the stuff of nightmares – having your scalp torn from your skull for it to be displayed as a trophy

Annie ‘Little Sure Shot’ Oakley By western author Nick Brumby “I ain’t afraid to love a man. I ain’t afraid to shoot him either.” — Annie ‘Little Sure Shot’ Oakley She was America's first female superstar and a global legend, shining bright in a male-dominated sport. A once in a lifetime crack shot who thought nothing of amazing millions

John Wesley Hardin By western author Nick Brumby “They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain’t true. I only killed one man for snoring.” —John Wesley Hardin, Texas’ most deadly gunman He gunned down lawmen, former slaves, Federal troops, cowboys, Mexican herders and drunken gamblers. Yet for all his killings, enemies and showdowns,

Charley Parkhurst By western author Nick Brumby “She out-swore, out-drank, and out-chewed even the Monterey whalers.” –Unknown companion of Charley Parker The West was a land of big stories and bigger personalities. However Charley Parkhurst possibly had the biggest story of them all. Charley was a tough tobacco-chewing, whiskey drinking, cursing, gambling, California stage driving gun killer. Oh,

Old West lariats By western author Nick Brumby  “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” —Cowboy wisdom The lariat is like a cowboy’s Swiss army knife – a seemingly simple tool with a million different uses. No self-respecting cowboy would be caught out on the range without a strong

Native American feathers By western author Nick Brumby “That is why the Indian is always feathered up, he is a relative to the wings of the air.” —Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux For a Native American warrior his or her story was written in their feathers. Respect, honor, loyalty, freedom, truth, wisdom, fertility, trust, power and achievements were

Snake oil salesmen By western author Nick Brumby “Good for man and beast. The most remarkable curative discovery ever made in any age or country. A liniment that penetrates muscle, membrane, and tissue to the very bone itself, and banishing pain with a power that has astonished and convinced two generations of intelligent people.” — Label on a

Stagecoach robber Charles 'Black Bart' Boles By western author Nick Brumby “I've labored long and hard for bread, For honor, and for riches, But on my corns too long you've tread, You fine-haired sons of bitches.” — Stagecoach robber Black Bart, 1877 For a man who wrote poetry, was deathly afraid of horses, and maintained an air of

Cowboy boots - a history By western author Nick Brumby “Cowboy boot (noun): a boot made with a high arch, a high Cuban heel, and usually fancy stitching” -- Miriam Webster Dictionary The cowboy boot story is as long and winding as the Goodnight Loving Trail. They often have more personality than the cowpoke wearing them. Cowboy boots

Al Swearengen and his Gem Theater By western author Nick Brumby “Harrowing tales of iniquity, shame, and wretchedness; of lives wrecked and fortunes sacrificed; of vice unhindered and esteem forfeited, have been related of the place, and it is known of a verity that they have not all been groundless.” –Black Hills Daily Pioneer article about Al Swearingen’s

American Quarter Horse By western author Nick Brumby “No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.” — Winston Churchill Heavily muscled, hardy, and acutely intelligent, the America Quarter Horse was the horse that won the West. Reputed to be the oldest all-American breed, the Quarter Horse was essential to frontier life for a very

Tumbleweed wagons By western author Nick Brumby “When the tumbleweed wagons come callin’, all the killers ‘n’ thieves ‘n’ other scum turned pale and went a runnin’ with their tail ‘tween their legs.” — Quote from upcoming Sheriff Sol Redding western IT WAS ONE of the most dangerous jobs on offer in the Old West – collecting the roughest,

Cowboy superstitions By western author Nick Brumby “One white foot buy him, Two white feet try him, Three white feet leave him alone, Four white feet go on home.” — Cowboy superstition Strong, silent, lantern jawed, steely eyed – cowboys were (and are) known for rawhide toughness and being absolutely fearless when the chips are down. However, don’t

‘Hanging’ Judge Isaac Parker By western author Nick Brumby ‘Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.” — U.S District ‘Hanging’ Judge Isaac Parker He brought the law to a lawless land, sentenced eight men to death by hanging, and commissioned Bass Reeves as a US Deputy Marshal. And that was just ‘Hanging’

Train-robber Tom 'Blackjack' Ketchum By western author Nick Brumby "Good-bye. Please dig my grave very deep. All right; hurry up.” — The last words of train-robber Tom ‘Blackjack’ Ketchum, just before he was unintentionally decapitated when the hangman bungled his execution. Blackjack Ketchum started life as a Texas cowhand and ended up as one of the most notorious outlaws

The Transcontinental Railroad By western author Nick Brumby “D-O-N-E.” — W.N. Shilling, a telegraph operator for Western Union, tapped out this word in Morse Code on the telegraph, as soon as the final rail spike had been driven into the ground, to let the world know that the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. Seven years, 1,911-miles of track, and countless

Native American Plains Tipi By western author Nick Brumby “The white man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his tipi and talks with Jesus.” — Comanche leader Quanah Parker For more than 400 years, the Native American Plains Tipi has been regarded by many as amongst the finest of all movable shelters.

'Hanging Judge' Roy Bean By western author Nick Brumby "I find this corpse guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and I fine it $40." --'Judge’ Roy Bean He called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos", had a reputation as a ‘hanging judge’ but knew nothing about the law, and held trials in the main bar of

Western saddles By western author Nick Brumby Pictures: Time/Life: The Old West vol 1 “So indispensable is a saddle to a cowboy’s life and livelihood that the phrase ‘he’s sold his saddle’ came to mean of a cowboy he was finished in the profession.” --Old West wisdom The western saddle and the cowboy who rides in