They Called Him Buckskin Frank
They Called Him Buckskin Frank

Author: Jack DeMattos

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2018-06-15

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1574417207

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Nashville Franklyn “Buckskin Frank” Leslie was a man of mystery during his lifetime. His reputation has rested on two gunfights—both in storied Tombstone, Arizona—but he was much more than a deadly gunfighter. Jack DeMattos and Chuck Parsons have combined their research efforts to help solve the questions of where Leslie came from and how he died. Leslie developed a reputation as a man to be left alone. Such notables as the Earps, Doc Holliday, and John Ringo wisely avoided confrontations with him. Leslie was a “lady killer” both figuratively and—in one celebrated incident—literally. Beyond his gunfighting legacy, DeMattos and Parsons also explore Leslie’s scouting with General Crook on the Great Plains and his alleged service as a deputy for Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene, Kansas. “In almost every work that in any way relates to southern Arizona in the 1880s, Leslie is present. This book will be the new standard for anyone interested in the life of Buckskin Frank. Both in form and content this book finally gives Frank Leslie a place in the Tombstone story.”—Gary Roberts, author of Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend

They Called Them the Fightin' Earps
They Called Them the Fightin' Earps

Author: Jiri Cernik

Publisher: PTP Book Division

Published: 2022-10-21

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 1545755736

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Wyatt Earp and his brothers came to Tombstone to invest in recently opened silver mines and real estate, to get a share of newly discovered wealth and prosperity and not to continue their law enforcement career. However, they soon realized that on one hand they cannot for long ignore the lawlessness of the town and the surrounding county, and on the other, the presence of the former lawmen did not escape the attention of the local administration and security people of the Wells Fargo Company. Once these people managed to convince Wyatt and his brother Virgil to return to law-maintaining activity, the conflict with the so-called “cowboy gang” was just a matter of time. It not only culminated in the shoot-out at O.K. Corral but once Virgil got shot in ambush a seriously wounded and the second brother Morgan killed while playing pool, it eventually led to the destruction of the afore mention gang and killing its leaders, namely William Brocious, known as “Curly” Bill and John Peters Ringgold known as Ringo.

The Diary of a Gunfighter
The Diary of a Gunfighter

Author: Eddie L. Barnes

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2011-11-04

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1450294774

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In a country ravaged by the horrors of a brutal civil war, there were countless families torn apart by conflict and violence. This is the story of one ordinary man driven by loss to extraordinary acts and circumstances. Simon James Sublette lost his entire family during the Civil War. He dreams of coming home and settling into a quiet, peaceful life on his family farmuntil those dreams are shattered by a stray bullet. Forever scarred, inside and out, he abandons all he knows and loves. He sets out on a lonely journey, wandering the West in a desperate quest for peace and order. But with each passing day, serenity still eludes him and his heart grows ever heavier. Torn by grief and fighting off hopelessness, he finds beauty in a more poetic way of life. He develops the unusual trait of speaking in rhyme, especially when provoked. This trait earns him the name The Rhymer, and he becomes a fearless gunfighter who has no equal when it comes to killing. The Rhymer is a hero for women and children everywhereand a nightmare straight from hell for those evil men in need of killing.

The Earps Invade Southern California
The Earps Invade Southern California

Author: Don Chaput

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2020-07-15

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1574418181

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Most readers of the Wild West know Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp for the famous shootout on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona. But few know the later years of the close-knit Earp family, which revolved around patriarch Nicholas Earp, and their last push at a major monetary coup in Los Angeles. By 1900 a newly established Old Soldiers’ Home was in place at Sawtelle (between Santa Monica and Los Angeles), with thousands of veterans earning monthly pensions, but in an environment where alcohol was prohibited. Enter the Earps and their “blind pig” (illicit alcohol sales) scheme. Two of the Earps, Nicholas and son Newton, were enrolled in the Soldiers’ Home, and Newton’s far more famous half-brothers Wyatt and Virgil showed up from time to time, but the star of the operation was older brother James. Booze would flow, the pension money would be “dispersed about,” and jails were sometimes filled, as the Earps and several other men on the make competed for the veterans’ money. We are also reintroduced to Old West figures such as “Gunfighter Surgeon” Dr. George Goodfellow, “Silver Tongued Orator” Thomas Fitch, millionaire George Hearst, detective J.V. Brighton, Lucky Baldwin, and many other well-known westerners who touched the lives of the Earps.

The Notorious Luke Short
The Notorious Luke Short

Author: Jack DeMattos

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2015-06-15

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1574415948

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Often times the smaller the man, the harder the punch--this adage was true in the case of diminutive Luke Short, whose brief span of years played out in the Wild West. His adventures began as a teenage cowboy who followed the trail from Texas to the Kansas railheads. He then served as a scout for the U.S. Army during the Indian wars and, finally, he perfected his skills as a gambler in locations that included Leadville, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Fort Worth. In 1883, in what became known as the "Dodge City War," he banded together with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and others to protect his ownership interests in the Long Branch Saloon--an event commemorated by the famous "Dodge City Peace Commission" photograph. The irony is that Luke Short is best remembered for being the winning gunfighter in two of the most celebrated showdowns in Old West history: the shootout with Charlie Storms in Tombstone, Arizona, and the showdown against Jim Courtright in Fort Worth, Texas. He would have hated that. During his lifetime, Luke Short became one of the best known sporting men in the United States, and one of the wealthiest. He had been a partner in the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, as well as the White Elephant in Fort Worth. He became friends with other wealthy sporting men, such as William H. Harris, Jake Johnson, and Bat Masterson, who helped broaden his gaming interests to include thoroughbred horse racing and boxing. Before he died he would become a familiar figure in Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and Saratoga Springs, where he raced his string of horses. He traveled with other wealthy sporting men in private railroad cars to attend heavyweight championship fights. Luke Short was always a little man dealing in big games. He married the beautiful Hattie Buck, who could turns heads at all the top resorts they visited as man and wife. Jack DeMattos and Chuck Parsons have researched deeply into all records to produce the first serious biography of Luke Short, revealing in full the epitome of a sporting man of the Wild West.

A Wyatt Earp Anthology
A Wyatt Earp Anthology

Author: Roy B. Young

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2019-08-15

Total Pages: 937

ISBN-13: 1574417835

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Wyatt Earp is one of the most legendary figures of the nineteenth-century American West, notable for his role in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Some see him as a hero lawman of the Wild West, whereas others see him as yet another outlaw, a pimp, and failed lawman. Roy B. Young, Gary L. Roberts, and Casey Tefertiller, all notable experts on Earp and the Wild West, present in A Wyatt Earp Anthology an authoritative account of his life, successes, and failures. The editors have curated an anthology of the very best work on Earp—more than sixty articles and excerpts from books—from a wide array of authors, selecting only the best written and factually documented pieces and omitting those full of suppositions or false material. Earp’s life is presented in chronological fashion, from his early years to Dodge City, Kansas; triumph and tragedy in Tombstone; and his later years throughout the West. Important figures in Earp’s life, such as Bat Masterson, the Clantons, the McLaurys, Doc Holliday, and John Ringo, are also covered. Wyatt Earp’s image in film and the myths surrounding his life, as well as controversies over interpretations and presentations of his life by various writers, also receive their due. Finally, an extensive epilogue by Gary L. Roberts explores Earp and frontier violence.

Tracking the Texas Ranger Historians
Tracking the Texas Ranger Historians

Author: Bruce A. Glasrud

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2024-10-15

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1574419390

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The first systematic inquiry into the Texas Rangers did not begin until 1935 with Walter Prescott Webb’s publication The Texas Rangers. Since then numerous works have appeared on the Rangers, but no volume has been published before that covers the various historians of the Rangers and their approaches to the topic. Editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss Jr. gather essays that profile individual historians of the Texas Rangers, explore themes and issues in Ranger history, and comprise archival research, biographies, and autobiographies. Several approaches in Texas historiography have influenced the writings on the Texas Rangers and serve to organize the chapters in the volume. Traditionalists (Chuck Parsons, Stephen L. Moore, and Bob Alexander) stress the revered happenings in the nineteenth century that brought about the Lone Star state and its empire-building Ranger force. To these historical writers the Texas Rangers were part of a golden age. Revisionists (Robert M. Utley, Louis R. Sadler, and Charles H. Harris) pull back from this adulation, emphasize the importance of overlooked ethnic and racial groups, and point out misbehavior on the part of Rangers. They also want to separate fact from fiction. Some Ranger historians (Frederick Wilkins and Mike Cox) straddle both traditional and revisionist approaches in their works. The final group, Cultural Constructionalists (Gary Clayton Anderson, Américo Paredes, and Monica Muñoz Martinez), continue the work of Revisionists and focus on an interconnected past that includes theoretical approaches and the study of memory and regional identities. Several themes emerge throughout the book. One is how the Rangers changed from unorganized mounted militia, dragoons in the modern sense, to organized cavalry forces with six-shooter firepower who served as a military arm of the state and nation. A second is how the dichotomous views of the Rangers—as either patriot warriors or bloody avengers—left their imprint on Anglo and Hispanic society. This divergent examination especially derived from incidents in the US-Mexican War, the period from 1910 to 1920, and the lower Rio Grande valley in the 1960s. And yet another theme is how the Rangers first resisted and fought against, yet ultimately absorbed, all creeds and colors into their ranks over two hundred years as they evolved into police officers: Anglo, Black, Hispanic, Indian, and women Rangers.

Ride the Devil's Herd
Ride the Devil's Herd

Author: John Boessenecker

Publisher: Harlequin

Published: 2020-03-17

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 1488057214

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The story of how a young Wyatt Earp and his brothers defeated the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang, by the New York Times–bestselling author of Texas Ranger. Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full. The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers. Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone. Praise for Ride the Devil’s Herd A Pim County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2021 A True West Reader’s Choice for Best 2020 Western Nonfiction Winner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association “A marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened “Manifest Destiny” and the successful taming of the Wild West.” —Robert K. DeArment, author and historian “A ripsnortin’ ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company. . . . Boessenecker displays a fine eye for period detail. . . . A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic.” —Kirkus Reviews