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Billy the Kid Photo

Years ago I commented on the Billy the Kid PBS special and how the famous Billy the Kid photo kept appearing on the screen over and over. That’s because there are only two authentic photographs of Billy the Kid presently in existence. The most famous one is a two-by-three-inch ferrotype or tintype, taken by an unknown itinerant photographer outside Beaver Smith’s Saloon in Old Fort Sumner, around 1880…Because it portrays Billy as a very unattractive person, many have called it his visa picture.

Originally people didn’t realize that since it was a tintype, the image was actually reversed. So, everyone though Billy the Kid was left handed. This misconception even inspired the 1958 movie “The Left Handed Gun,” starring Paul Newman as Billy.

Finally firearms experts looked at the Kid’s Winchester and noticed its spring plate, where the cartridges are loaded, was on the left side. But Winchester produced firearms with spring plates only on the right side. So, later books and publications have the reversed image reversed, so it’s correct.

Recently the Billy the Kid photo went on the auction block and a retired Wichita industrialist who collects everything from Wild West memorabilia to Picassos bought it for $2 million…Incidentally, it was thought it would go for about $300,000.

August 10, 2022 | Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Billy the Kid Photo

Heard Around the Bunkhouse #9 – Old West Speak

In our feature Heard Around the Bunkhouse we bring you Western and Old West Speak that they used back in the Wild West. Even we are amazed by the humor and originality they used. Hope you enjoy them, and send us your favorite terms from those past times.

COLD AS A WAGON WHEEL: A person who has been dead for several days.

DEAD MEAL: A corpse.

NOT ONE’S FUNERAL: None of one’s business.

SHOTGUN CHAPS: Leather leggings that encased the whole leg. The looks are similar to a double barreled shotgun.

SHOTGUN HOUSE: A house built with all the rooms in a row.

July 29, 2022 | Categories: Old West Slang | Comments Off on Heard Around the Bunkhouse #9 – Old West Speak

Chuckwagon: Fricasseed Racoon Recipe

Fricasseed Racoon Recipe

1 Raccoon
1 onion, sliced into rings
1/2 C vinegar
1 1/2 C water
2-3 T lard or other fat
1 bay leaf
For the Fricasseed Racoon Recipe skin the raccoon, remove the musk glands and dress out the carcass. Soak in salt water overnight to draw out the blood. Baking soda can be added to the water to remove any gamey smell. Cut raccoon into serving pieces and dredge in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown in hot fat. Add remaining ingredients. cover and simmer 2 hours or until tender. Thicken the juice with flour and water mixture for gravy. Serve hot with cornbread.

June 13, 2022 | Categories: Old West Recipes | Comments Off on Chuckwagon: Fricasseed Racoon Recipe

Outer Range: Sci Fi Western Television Series

Outer Range is an American science fiction Sci Fi Western television series created by Brian Watkins and starring Josh Brolin. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 15, 2022.

Royal Abbott is a Wyoming rancher, fighting for his land and family, who discovers a mysterious black void in the pasture, following the arrival of Autumn, a drifter with a connection to Abbott’s ranch. While the Abbott family copes with the disappearance of their daughter-in-law Rebecca, they are pushed further to the brink when a rival family, the Tillersons, try to take over their land.

In February 2020, it was announced that Josh Brolin had signed on to star in Outer Range. The Western television series is executive produced by Brolin, Brian Watkins, Zev Borow, Heather Rae, Robin Sweet, Lawrence Trilling, Amy Seimetz, Tony Krantz, and Brad Pitt through his Plan B Entertainment. In December 2020, it was announced that Lewis Pullman, Noah Reid, Shaun Sipos, and Isabel Arraiza had joined the cast, alongside Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Tamara Podemski, and Tom Pelphrey.

The series marks Brolin’s first television series role in nearly 20 years. The Western Sci Fi series was filmed over the course of eight months in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Creator Brian Watkins says: “That part of Wyoming is like God’s country. The soil is so rich. The topography is so beautiful. It’s one of the most miraculous, wondrous places on earth. And I think the reason it was important to keep them as a traditional ranching family that was really humble was to really explore characters that stand on values, that stand on principles that really embody what it means to not care about money, but to rather care about people and land and animals and things like that. I think over the course of the season, we also see how those principles are thrown into question and they’re challenged and they’re faced with the unknown in a certain way that it really helps each character look at the very ground that they’re standing on and what it means to them in the midst of an inexplicable world.”

May 26, 2022 | Categories: Film & TV | Comments Off on Outer Range: Sci Fi Western Television Series

Tombstone Stage Held Up

On March 15, 1881 the Tombstone stage was held up. Although not intended as such, it ended up being one of the causes for the O. K. Corral shootout. On the other hand, the two objectives of the hold-up were not accomplished.

The main objective was the assassination of Wells Fargo shotgun guard, Bob Paul. As a Wells Fargo guard, Bob Paul had hampered the activities of the cowboys. And, the word around town was that he was to become the Pima County Sheriff. So the cowboys wanted to get rid of him. The assassination failed because when the stage departed Tombstone, stage driver Budd Philpot had gotten stomach pains and Budd exchanged positions with Paul. Orders were to kill the guard…which they did, but it was Philpot instead of Paul.

Paul was also responsible for the robbers not accomplishing their second objective…the theft of $26,000 in silver. When Philpot was shot, Bob grabbed his shotgun and fired off both barrels. One robber was killed and the noise of the shotgun spooked the horses. As the stagecoach was careening out of control, Paul climbed down; secured the reigns of the runaway steeds; and brought the stage safely into Benson.

Later, when he did became the Pima County Sheriff this 6’ 6”, 240-pound mountain of a man, typically using a shotgun, brought in bad guys, stopped lynchings, and hanged many a man legally. It always seemed that he was able to dodge that fatal bullet…That is until 1893 when he couldn’t dodge the one called cancer, and he died on March 26, 1901.

March 1, 2022 | Categories: Old West History | Leave A Comment »