January 2012 Blog Posts (80)

January 31, 2012

Very busy day. Started with a blood test at 7:45, then a biz breakfast at C4 in Cave Creek and then a long day scrambling to finish our 10th Annual Travel issue. Lots of Texas Rangers work, including this shot of Bass Outlaw as he looks today. Ha.

"I've…

The following became to be terribly important for what would become my county, Comanche County. Of course, the county was not established until 1856; however, being a part of the Texas frontier for so many years assured that it would remain a very dangerous place for years.

Combined with the fact that the railroad did not come to Comanche  for almost 40 years after the first settlers…

January 30, 2012

Went home for lunch and whipped out a pic of Jack Swilling, one of the founders of Phoenix who died poor (all the founders did):

All of which leads to the old conclusion that pioneers get the arrows and settlers get the land. I originally…

William Quesenbury--Sketches: Artist's 1851 works are a treasure

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120130/LIVING/701309961

Excerpts from news story, and more on website (link above):　

But William Quesenbury's big strike — sketching the North Platte River wilderness on his way down the Overland Trail to his home back east — remained hidden for nearly 150 years.

Quesenbury's greatest work was his role…

The New York public Library has put more than 5,000 stereographs (from it's collection of 40,000+) online, in a semi-animated format, here, http://stereo.nypl.org/

Dan

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MEMO: Establish a division to authenticate tattoos.

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In the Wild West a fool was born everyday. Nothing has changed.

This fool thought he was getting a tattoo of Doc Holliday. The tattoo he got is of John Escapule.…

First off,  I need  to tell you that  I have the extreme  good fortune to live right  in the heart of what was once a part of the Comanche  hunting grounds...of course,  a trememdous part of those who live in Texas can say the same thing! I also was blessed to be born into a family that does not find it strange for people to reach the century mark with sane mind; this helped tremendously in being able to get information from the proverbial horse's mouth.

The following is a…

For what it's worth:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/a088eb35599e46dd5552/Civil-war-veteran-soldier-footage-captured-between-1913-and-1938

January 27, 2012

When it rains it pours department:Lew Jones dropped by today and left me a standard marriage form in case Kathy and I want to tie the knot again. Since I have two kids who are tying the knot in the next six months, this would be funny, or the final straw. Not sure which.

Meanwhile, it was Lew who gifted me the board plaque with a piece of original wood off of William Antrim's outhouse. Here is a photo of the…

The True West Extra arrived in mail in S. Florida today, and I took some lunch time to get part of the way through it.  Mainly it's taking me so much time since I keep my Amazon.com page open and add movies, books & music to my "cart" as I go through the magazine.

My personal thanks for a really great edition, chocked full of all the things that really get me interested!  This was a great idea, and I hope you keep this type of special edition coming.  Yea I'm a traditionalist, and…

                                                         The Night full of Stars

We’ve all laid out on a clear night and looked at the moon and stars. And I’m sure the pioneers did also. But what did their limited resource books allow them to know? Has anyone got access to school books of the mid-1800s…

I signed up at an old friend's web site. Now, to be honest, Mr. Lynde and I are not really old friends, but Rick O"Shay, Hipshot, and I certainly are.

http://stanlynde.net/special-promotion_288.html

I even got me one of those signed posters,,,

I recall reading those cartoon strips way back in the days I threw my leg over a saddle to go to work. Read those strips every chance I got. Rick…

January 27, 2012

Ever heard of a story slam? I hadn't either, until my old friend Mark Goldman (from my radio days) contacted me and asked me to come down and participate in The Great Arizona Story Slam. Basically each story teller gets five minutes to tell a story (tonight's theme is "Like Butch and Sundance: Partners In Crime—Friends to the End."  Coming off at the Doubletree Inn at 44th Street and Van Buren…

For some reason, my message was deleted from the Blog Post series titled", "Confederate Soldiers Served…

January 26, 2012

This site has been buzzing with comments about Bert Lindley, the first actor to allegedly portray Wyatt Earp in a movie.

This led to the following posting:

Here's a puzzle concerning the supposed stills of Bert Lindley portraying Wyatt…

L.D. Cox has been a personal friend of mine for some years now. I have listened to his story, recorded his story, seen his story re-enacted, and even performed his story…and I never tire of hearing it.

In fact, I surprised myself by tearing up during the filming of this interview. Why? I guess for just a…

January 25, 2012

Still finding little gems in my studio (while cleaning and organizing). In 1991 I traveled to Ruidoso, New Mexico for a Billy the Kid symposium. All the big time authors and Billy the Kid experts were there: Fred Nolan, Robert Utley, Paul Andrew Hutton, among others. This was before I published my book on the Kid, so I was there to learn. One of the field trips scheduled was a bus ride to Blazer's Mill to see the site where Buckshot Roberts shot it…

Old Cora, Comanche, Texas

Known as the oldest existing log courthouse in Texas, the tiny courthouse that has come to be known as Old Cora, housed the Comanche County records from 1856 until the county seat was moved to the soon to…

In 1854 Comanche County, Texas was still two years away from being organized as a county, and just the name COMANCHE was enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest…