"He is great who is not ashamed to admit he does not know."

Clay Allison
1840 - 1877

as told by A.M. King

It was seldom that a successful cattleman of the Washita, and at times an elegant southern gentleman, could also have the glittering reputation of being a top gunfighter. But Clay Allison did. He was a hater of a stranger chained with bullets and swinging guns and bragging. he'd hunt him down and have a street shoot-out to unbelt the wretched bloodletter. Yet this Texan himself, six feet tow, was a vain and ballooned personality. Originally,… Continue

Calamity Jane
1848 – 1903

As told by A.M. King

We have been taught to believe that women aren’t supposed to either smoke or drink, much less use vile language and chew tobacco, and the Lord didn’t make them to skin mule or work hard at pick and shovel labor. He did not make women to go abut carrying .45 Colt either, not to shoot fancy chandeliers out of ceilings and mirrors out of saloons as one bellied up the bar. All the same, Marth Jane Canarray did just such things, be… Continue

Old Man Clanton

1820 – 1882

As told by A.M. King

Old Man Clanton, or N.H. Clanton (Newman), came out of the French and Indian War country about 1810 during the flintlock period to arrive in Laredo, Texas. From there traveled westward mavericking as he came, selling off the stock in Fort Bowie. He went on to California and the Gold Rush, where he spent some time before being run out by the Vigilantes.

Some fool of a woman married him and gave him four sons who had already… Continue

GUNFIGHTERS OF THE OLD WEST
by Norman B. Wiltsey
From the 1967 Gun Digest

Gunfighter! The word alone has magic. It seems to leap from the printed page to produce a complete image in the reader’s mind. A deserted sun-baked street in a Western town. Horses dozing at hitching rails in front of suddenly quietened saloons. Faces pressed against windows in horrified anticipation, an air of unbearable tension over all. Slowly, from opposite ends of the street, two ha… Continue

Bill Longley
1851 – 1878

As told by; A.M King

Gunfighter Bill Longley was a heller for sure. He had the anti-Negro complex and took it out savagely with twin Colts and no-church conscience. They say he shot a Negro dead for just sassing his pa.

He was born in 1851 in Austin Country, Texas. His father had been a proud member of Sam Houston’s army, so he understood guns and passed this heritage on to his son, who learned to use them so effectively.

Bill hated the free Negro. One… Continue

King Fisher

1854 – 1884

As told by A.M. King


Life in Old Mexico leaves its stamp on many men. It did on King Fisher, the good-looking, swaggering gunslinger who wore a big black mustache and good natured smile. He had the elegance of a Mexican gentleman, much the same as young Billy the Kid attained by living with the Latins, and his fine pearl-handled pistols and silver spurs with bells made im quite a figure as his boots sang along the walks and his silken tie fluttered over… Continue

Author; A.M. King
stories told in 1959 when this gent was in his 90's

A.M. King, Wyatt Earp Deputy in Arizona and California.

"I've often heard tell that the gunfighter had his beginning when pistol types were changed from those old flintlocks to the cap-and-ball. He could draw and shoot these faster and more accurately. All the formalities of the duel were forgotten. Draw, Shoot. that was it.

I've often heard Wyatt Earp say Jesse James was among our first gunslingers to carry a… Continue

Joaquin Murrietta
1830-1853
As remembered/told by Mr. A.M. King, Wyatt Earp Deputy in the 1900's.

Joaquin Murrietta, California bandit, was perhaps our first fast-draw artist, although he used the old model French cap-and-ball large bore pistol which he wore for quick use in his sash.

This swarthy Mexican came to California when he was not yet twenty years of age, and with him he brought along a pretty wife, Antonia Molinera, who was raped by the miners of the Mother Lode country… Continue

Pigs in America

Ever ask yourself where pigs come from? I mean…historically? And why are they so popular in the South? It all goes back to Spanish explorer and so-called “Father of the American Pork Industry”, Hernando de Soto. Pigs, you see, aren’t from this neck of the woods, geographically speaking. They’re native to Asia, where they were domesticated by the Chinese some 7,000 years ago. Hogs had to be brought to America, and were, to Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539. Hernando de Soto landed there… Continue

Bloody Bill Anderson; His Impact on the Civil War in Johnson County, Missouri.

Guerilla Warfare in Johnson County
During the Civil War, Johnson County was a very bloody place. Confederate men who got mad when somebody disagreed with them would quickly join a gang of bushwackers to intimidate people into agreeing with them. These bushwackers would rob, burn and trash whole neighborhoods and towns. They would then proceed to rob, kill, mutilate and even scalp innocent men andwomen. Some bushwacke… Continue