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FEATURES
Cover Story
Mather to Nixon: ‘You Have Lived Long Enough’
By Ron Soodalter
A Dodge City election and saloon war created bad blood between “Mysterious Dave” Mather and rival Tom Nixon, and the violence that followed was no mystery
Disorder in the Court: ‘The Lamentable Occurrence’
By Dorothy Daniels Anderson
A judge said those words in Prescott, Arizona Territory, after a water rights dispute between neighbors erupted into a bloody courtroom drama
Pat Garrett’s Writing Pal Emerson Hough
By Jeffrey R. Richardson
In 1902 the Western writer went to New Mexico Territory, visited Lincoln County historic sites and befriended the man who had shot Billy the Kid and now wanted that story told…again
Badman of the Oilfields
By William B. Secrest
Hot-tempered Joe Dye didn’t find gold in California, but he did find oil and a pack of trouble before paying the ultimate price for his recklessness
Reports of His Lynching Were Greatly Exaggerated
By Joe Johnston
Careless reporting has prompted false news stories, such as the 1883 howler about a necktie party and a mob that threw Mack Marsden for a loop
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| Editor’s Letter
Letters
Weider Reader
Excerpts from recent articles in other World History Group titles
Roundup
Writer William B. Secrest lists 10 reasons why he believes frontier California personifies the Wild West, outlaw Cole Younger tells why he told his own story, plus auction results, a purported photograph of Luke Short and Eric Weider in action at Helldorado
Interview
By Johnny D. Boggs
Author Malcolm J. Rohrbough shares surprising revelations about the French connection to the California Gold Rush
Westerners
Texas range historian J. Evetts Haley leads his mule to water while a cow takes a drink
Gunfighters and Lawmen
By Phyllis de la Garza
Johnny Boyett gunned down Warren Earp—not a nice way to treat an old acquaintance
Pioneers and Settlers
By John Koster
Multitalented geologist Clarence King tried to solve some of Earth’s mysteries, but he left a few of his own
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Art of the West
By Johnny D. Boggs
When you see the hungry cowboys and chuck wagon in Charlie Dye’s painting Come and Get It! that’s exactly what you want to do
Indian Life
By David McCormick
In the high-risk calling of a medicine man, success was nothing to sneeze at, but failure might incur the vengeful wrath of relatives
Western Enterprise
By Kellen Cutsforth
After two shooting matches against Buffalo Bill Cody, Englishman Evelyn Booth partnered with the great showman for a time
Ghost Towns
By Jim Pettengill
Rich Hill, a mountain in Arizona Territory’s Weaver District No. 2, promised gold nuggets “the size of potatoes”
Collections
By Linda Wommack
Deadwood’s Days of ’76 Museum has opened a new building to further showcase the history of the rip-roaring Black Hills
Guns of the West
By Lee A. Silva
Among the oddest of 19th-century handguns used in the West was James Reid’s “My Friend” knuckleduster pepperbox
Reviews
Author and former law officer R. Michael Wilson considers interesting books and movies about lynchings in the Old West. Plus reviews of recent books, including one about Colorado’s bloody Espinosas, arguably the Wild West’s most notorious serial killers
Go West!
The Chilkoot Trail was no easy path to riches |
On the Cover: The bold writing on his hatband suggests “Mysterious Dave” Mather was mighty proud to be an assistant marshal in Dodge City in 1883. (Cover photo: Kansas Historical Society, Topeka; colorization by Slingshot Studio, North Hampton, N.H.)
ONLINE EXTRAS
Discussion: Badge wearers in the Wild West sometimes spent time on the wrong side of the law. Whom do you consider the quintessential two-faced lawman—“Mysterious Dave” Mather, Henry Newton Brown, Henry Plummer, Wyatt Earp, Burton Alvord, William Robinson (alias Ben Wheeler), Ben Thompson or another gunfighter?
Digital Subscriptions
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Facebook and Twitter
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The Calamities of Calamity Jane
California outlaw and lawman specialist William B. Secrest branches out to explore the last years of one of the most famous wild women of the West |
