With rare exception (Bill Tilghman, Nellie Cashman, Sam Sixkiller), writing about outlaws is much more interesting to me than writing about the good guys. Perhaps it’s because finding a truly good guy to write about is a bit more difficult. At the beginning of his career in law enforcement, Sheriff Henry Plummer struck people as read more…

There have been many frauds perpetrated on face book. Not too long ago, a friend of mine in Texas had a video posted to her site and a message under the video that read, “Chris, what are you doing in this video?” If you clicked on the video, you were quickly led to a site read more…

The “coming soon” section of this website contains the new cover for the Elizabeth Custer book along with a description of the soon-to-be released tome. The launch party for the book will be held on May 20 & 21 in Dodge City, Kansas. I am very much looking forward to returning to the area. Dodge read more…

For several months, I’ve been working on a sequel to the book Outlaw Tales of California. The research I have done has led me to realize that one of the strongest human emotions is vengeance – a feeling I can all too well identify. In many instances, wanting to get back at the bad guys read more…

Latin author Valerius Maximus once said, “The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment” I’ve been waiting a long time…for not so much vengeance, but for my brother to be avenged. I suppose the two go hand in hand. He’s been sick read more…

One hundred and thirty years ago today, citizens in Charleston, Arizona were up in arms over the shooting death of W.P. Schneider. Schneider was the chief engineer of the Corbin Mill. He was well-liked and considered an honorable man, but not great at poker. A miner and card-shark named Michael O’Rourke ended Schneider’s life prematurely. read more…

Juan Soto and outlaw known as “The Human Wildcat” hated the Americans who were slowly establishing law and order in California. He terrified settlers in the southern portion of the state during the 1870s. He got away with his crimes because few witnesses were every left alive and those that were allowed to live were read more…

We may not like to admit it, but America has always been a violent country. I spend my days writing about the violent actions of people in the Old West. Brutal men and women like Juan Soto, Tom Bell, Kate Bender and Belle Starr. The frontier was definitely a violent place – but nowadays we’ve read more…

The research I’m doing on a book about women outlaws of the Midwest led me to a lady named Laura Ellen Reno. Laura’s brothers were members of the notorious Reno Gang. She was quite a character. According to historical records, Ellen was famous throughout the West for her beauty. She loved danger and adventure, was read more…

The spectacular poster for the new True Grit movie features a tagline that reads, “Punishment comes one way or another.” It’s a great movie by the way, and I couldn’t appreciate the sentiment behind the tagline more. It’s a sentiment that only has meaning in a specific time period, however. If this were the Old read more…