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Worst Ways To Die In The West
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Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers was created to fight the Comanche Indians because they were terrorizing the South. -
Joaquin Murrieta
Murrieta was also called the Mexican Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado. He was a famous figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. He was born in 1830. -
The Cholera Epidemic
Cholera took thousands of lives, and nearly half the residents of New York City fled to the countryside. -
Ft. Parker Massacre
A group of families had built a fort just outside of Comanche territory. When the Comanche heard about this, they sent 100 warriors to the Fort. They waved a white flag to trick the people into opening the gates. From there, the whole fort was massacred. -
Wild Bill Hickock
"Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his work across the frontier as a drover, wagon master, soldier, spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. He was born in 1837. -
Comanche Captive
The Comanche released a white prisoner named Matilda Lockhart. They had tortured her for years. She was horribly burned all over her body, and they had cut off her nose. -
Procopio
His nickname was reportedly given due either to his red hair, or his violent nature and bloodthirstiness. He was twice convicted of cattle theft and twice served time in San Quentin prison, but was never convicted of any of the murders he was alleged to have committed. Newspaper accounts compared him to Robin Hood and he was reportedly aided in escaping from lawmen by Mexicans residing in California. He was born in 1841. -
The Donner Party
The Donner Party was trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They ended up eating each other in an attempt to stay alive. -
Jesse James
Jesse James was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla, and leader of the James Younger Gang. He was a strong supporter of the Southern way of life, so he committed many atrocities against abolitionists and Union soldiers. He was born in 1847. -
Seth Bullock
Bullock was intrumental in founding the town of Belle Fourche, making it a mainstay for livestock. He was born in 1849 -
Wyatt Earp
Earp lived a restless life. He was at different times a constable, city policeman, county sheriff, deputy U.S. marshal, teamster, buffalo hunter, bouncer, saloon-keeper, gambler, brothel keeper, miner, and boxing referee. Earp spent his early life in Iowa. He is most famous for taking part in the gunfight at the OK Corral. He was born in 1849, and died in 1919. -
Virginia McDonald
Virginia McDonald became ill and died one day. Her mother insisted that the body be exhumed. They discovered the body lying on the side, the hands badly bitten, and every indication of a premature burial. -
Doc Holiday
Doc Holiday was an American gambler, and gunfighter. He is best known for his role as a temporary deputy marshal in the events leading up to and following the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Interestingly enough he had a degree in dentistry. He was born in 1851. -
Bat Masterson
Masterson distinguished himself as a buffalo hunter, Indian fighter during the celebrated Second Battle of Adobe Walls, civilian scout for the U.S. Army, and gunfighter and lawman in Dodge City, Kansas and elsewhere. He was born in 1853. -
1862 Raids
In the summer of 1862 the Santee Sioux Indians attacked trading posts and killed a bunch of white traders because the government was not giving them the things that were promised to them. -
Kid Curry
Kid Curry was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known as the "wildest" of the bunch because of all of the people he killed. He was born in 1867. -
Elzy Lay
He was a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Wyoming. Lay was Cassidy's best friend and was Butch Cassidy's vice president of the club. He was born in 1869. -
Red River War of 1874
Up until this war, Texas lost up to 200 settlers a year due to Indian raids. -
The Mill River Flood
Early one morning in May, in the hills above the towns of Williamsburg and Northampton, a reservoir dam (used for waterpower) suddenly bursts, sending an avalanche of water down a narrow valley lined with factories and farms. -
Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill had many jobs during his time. He was a buffalo hunter, lawmen, gambler, and he rode shotgun for stagecoaches. He killed a lot of people, and most of his kills were controversial. He was lynched while awaiting trail in 1874. -
Sam Bass
Bass was able to elude the Texas Rangers until a member of his gang, Jim Murphy, turned informant. Bass was found lying in a pasture west of Round Rock by Williamson County Deputy James Milton Tucker. He was taken into custody and died the next day on July 21, 1878, his 27th birthday. -
Pancho Villa
Francisco Villa was born in 1878. Pancho Villa was known for being one of the most prominent generals during the Mexican Revolution. -
Guy Runs Over a Cow in the Road
James C. Johnson, while returning from camp-meeting last night, ran his buggy over a cow in the road, upsetting the buggy, throwing him violently to the ground and killing him. -
Hoodoo Brown
He was the leader of the Dodge City Gang that terrorized Las Vegas, New Mexico from 1879 to early 1880. He used his high ranking political position to cover up most of the gang’s crimes, but the citizens of Las Vegas had enough of his corruption and they organized vigilantes to overthrow him in the summer of 1880. -
Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid is probably the most famous outlaw there is. He died when he was 21, and killed one man for each year of his life. He died in 1881. -
Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo is most famous for murdering Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earps brother. Ringo was found dead in 1882 with a bullet wound to the temple. His death is credited to Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp. -
Clay Allison
Clay Allison was known for his violent temper, and is remembered as one of the deranged outlaws. He was one of the best gunfighters of this era. Ironically he died from falling out of a wagon, which broke his neck in 1887. -
Butch Cassidy
Cassidy was the leader of The Wild Bunch. In 1889 he robbed 21,000 dollars from the San Miguel Valley Bank. He "retired" on that robbery -
The Johnstown FLood
The city of Johnstown, a thriving community of working people in western Pennsylvania, was virtually destroyed when a massive wall of water came rushing down a valley on a Sunday afternoon. Thousands were killed in the flood. -
Train Hits Wagon
A freight train dashed out of a cut just west of the road-crossing and struck the horses, which threw the vehicle nearly across the track. The full force of the locomotive came against the rear of the wagon and the guy was thrown a distance of fully twenty feet, and later died. -
Wagon Overturns in Stream
A party of seven persons was swept away when crossing a swollen stream near here today, four of them being drowned. The rest were carried downstream, and their bodies were never recovered. -
Tulsa Jack
He had been a cowboy in Kansas through the 1880s, before drifting into Oklahoma Territory, where in 1892 he met outlaw Bill Doolin, and joined Doolin's Wild Bunch gang, sometimes called the Oklahombres, or the Doolin-Dalton Gang. He died in 1895. -
The Sundance Kid
He made his name by stealing horses in Sundance, Wyoming. After he was realeased from prison in 1896, he and Butch Cassidy formed a gang called the Wild Bunch. They were responsible for the longest string of train robberies in American History. -
Killed by Runaway Team
A team of horses which had been left standing by the roadside, became frightened at the bicycles and wheeling, and ran over the buggy passing it. Two people were killed. -
Black Jack
Thomas Ketchum also known as Black Jack was a member of the notorious hole in the wall gang. He was hung in 1901 after being caught robbing a train. -
Laura Bullion
She was a member of the notorious Wild Bunch Gang. She was called The Rose of the Wild Bunch. Bullion was arrested in 1901. -
Tom Horn Jr.
He was a detective turned into a hired gunman. It is said that he killed 50 people in his 43 years of life. He died in 1903 when he was sentenced to death for killing a 14 year old boy. -
Runaway Team
In Redfield South Dakota a stagecoach team became uncontrollable. A woman was thrown from the stagecoach and was killed. -
Farmer Killed Under Wagon
He was driving a wheat wagon and is supposed to have fallen beneath the wheels. The driverless team appeared at a neighbor's resulted in finding him with his chest crushed in and his neck broken. -
The Tall Texan
Ben Kilpatrick aka The Tall Texan was known for being a part of the Wild Bunch Gang. He was killed in 1912 by a hostage during a train robbery.
