Back in the Saddle

 

GENRE APPRECIATION: THE WESTERN

 

Tombstone SHOWDOWN by Mike Stotter

 

Those deadly Cooks

 History has not bestowed upon them the notoriety of The James Gang, nor are they as well known as The Daltons but in their day The Cook Gang were every bit as feared as any of the Old West's outlaws.

"They are a stench to the nostril of lawful men." Said one Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) newspaper in 1890. and during the height of their crimes they were pursued by a team of U. S. marshalls, the Army and even The Texas Rangers.

Their leader was William Tuttle Cook but their ranks changed so often that it is impossible to pin down all the names of the actual members.

The first recorded incident of Bill (William) Cook falling foul of the law was in 1892 when the half Cherokee, was charged with selling whisky in Indian Territory. Later Bill worked as a posseman for U.S. Marshall Will Smith. But when his kid brother Jim was charged with larceny and jumped bail in 1894 he moved over to the other side of the law and joined his brother on the lam. It was not too long before the two brothers met and joined up with Crawford Goldsby, an outlaw, better known to history as Cherokee Bill.

Together with other men, drifters mostly, including Jim French, Skeeter Baldwin and The Verdigris Kid (Sam Mcwilliams then only 17 years old), they started stealing horses whilst keeping one step ahead of the law.

In the Spring of 1894 the U.S. Government passed the law that became to be known as, 'Strip Money'. This was $7 million of compensation to be paid to the Cherokee Nation at Tahlequah. Now Cherokee Bill and the two Cook boys were entitled to payment under the scheme but being on the scout, as they called it, they didn't see how they could claim it. They eventually gave written persmission to one Effie Crittendon to collect their shares on their behalf.

When the law learned of this they sent a Cherokee posse out to Effie's home at Fourteen Mile Creek to capture the outlaws. The posse included Effie's husband, Dick Critterdon. There was a shoot out and Sequoyah Houston, a respected member of the Cherokee police, was killed. The two Cook brothers and Cherokee Bill managed to escape. Though Jim Cook was wounded by buckshot.

Following the incident the newspapers were calling the men 'The Cook Gang' and so began a trail of theft, murder and unspeakable violence that would turn The Cook Gang into household names across America.

Yet they are not remembered today in the way other Old West Badmen are -there was nothing romantic about the Cook gang, nothing to really mythologise though some did try - legend says that as Cherokee Bill was finally led to the hangman his last words were - "I came here to die and not make a speech. It is a good day to die." Though in fact documents record that he had no last words.

Bill Cook, leader of the gang, died in prison in 1901. His brother Jim had died the year earlier when he came second place in a gunfight over an argument about a steer.

If this brief article has prompted anyone to want to learn more about The Cook gang then I suggest getting hold of Black, Red and Deadly by Art Burton, or then again you can check out this video which was made by Samantha Ponce and tells the story using her children's toys. Or click HERE

The Genre too tough to die

 "One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule but true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.



The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand remains his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include:

The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few. And of course in recent years we've seen the Coen's re-make of True Grit, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Those though are just the tip of the hay bale - for instance check out the excellent Netflix westerns series, Godless.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western and there is a remake of Butch and Sundance in the works. American greats like Dusty Richards and  Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton,  Ian Parnham, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe, Jim Lawless and myself, Jack Martin. And this is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. And of course there is the story of John Locke who became the worlds' first self published writer to sell a million eBooks on Amazon, and several of his titles are westerns. Mind you Locke was recently discredited when it emerged that he had paid for many positive reviews which helped sell his books.

Westerns have also made the transition to eBooks and the excellent publishing house, Piccadilly Publishing is reissuing western classics in the new electronic format, and of course the popular Edge series is also available in eBook. The Edge books, for instance, are a particular favorite of mine and I am proud to say that I was instrumental in initially bring the series to eBooks, but the reissue program is now in the industrious hands of Malcolm Davy.

So if you've never tried  a western then maybe now is the time to do - they've never been so easily available and online giant Amazon has many titles at good prices.

Come on saddle up and let's ride.

Take a look at my Jack Martin page at Amazon - click HERE

The Genre that's too tough to die

"One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule but true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.



The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand remains his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include:

The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few. And of course in recent years we've seen the Coen's re-make of True Grit, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Those though are just the tip of the hay bale - for instance check out the excellent Netflix westerns series, Godless.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western and there is a remake of Butch and Sundance in the works. American greats like Dusty Richards and  Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton,  Ian Parnham, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe, Jim Lawless and myself, Jack Martin. And this is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. And of course there is the story of John Locke who became the worlds' first self published writer to sell a million eBooks on Amazon, and several of his titles are westerns. Mind you Locke was recently discredited when it emerged that he had paid for many positive reviews which helped sell his books.

Westerns have also made the transition to eBooks and the excellent publishing house, Piccadilly Publishing is reissuing western classics in the new electronic format, and of course the popular Edge series is also available in eBook. The Edge books, for instance, are a particular favorite of mine and I am proud to say that I was instrumental in initially bring the series to eBooks, but the reissue program is now in the industrious hands of Malcolm Davy.

So if you've never tried  a western then maybe now is the time to do - they've never been so easily available and online giant Amazon has many titles at good prices.

Come on saddle up and let's ride.

Take a look at my Jack Martin page at Amazon - click HERE

 

Wild West Town For Sale

Well if I win the lottery this weekend I know what I'll be buying.

a historic ghost town in Lone Pine, California, is for sale for just under $1 million.

A 19th-century mining town, Cerro Gordo boasts more than 300 acres of land and 22 buildings, many of which are being restored — and maybe a ghost or two, considering the town's violent history dating back to the 19th century.

Established in 1865, Cerro Gordo was once the largest producer of silver and lead in California and helped spur economic growth in Los Angeles. The abandoned settlement is basically a history lover's dream.
"For those looking to acquire a piece of American West, Cerro Gordo is for you," reads the real estate listing, held by Jake Rasmuson of  Bishop Real Estate
.

Let's hope lady luck shines on me and those numbers come in, because I'd be moving in like shot.

Sounds of the Old West

It was actually my first book published - back in 2009 I took the step from amatuer to professional writer when Robert Hale published my novel,  Tarnished Star as part of their Black Horse Westerns series. The hardcover did really well, remaining their fastes selling title, selling out its first print run on pre-orders alone. Fast forward to the 2018 and the book, now retitled LawMaster has been optioned for a film (although it seems stuck in development hell) and is now available as an audiobook read by the talented Marcus Litch. The reader does a great job in bringing the title to life.

All Sheriff Cole Masters wants is to raise a family with the woman he loves. But upholding the law in an era when gunfire speaks louder than words can be a risky business. Cole makes an arrest for the brutal murder of a saloon girl but the killer is the son of a wealthy rancher and it’s clear the old man will do anything to see his son set free. Soon the peace of the small town is shattered with deadly force and Cole finds himself a lawman on the run for murder. The rancher wants Masters dead and the two deadly gunmen on his tail are sure they can do it. Soon blood will run as Cole Masters attempts to reclaim his tarnished star.

About the author: Gary Dobbs is the man behind the Jack Martin pen-name and had a string of popular westerns to his name. He also writes on criminal and military history. His debut western, The Tarnished Star (now known as LawMaster) remains the fastest selling Black Horse Western ever. Adventure fiction, and particularly westerns, holds a special place in the author's heart, and he intends to be produce western fiction for as long as there are readers who want it.

The book can be found at Audible  - 
In fact if you sign up for a trial with Audible you can get the audiobook of LawMaster for free.

 iTunes also carry the book. -

• Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
• Category: Western
• Published: Jul 15, 2016
• Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
• Seller: Smashwords
• Print Length: 157 Pages
• Language: English
• LawMaster by Jack Martin
• Requirements: To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.
   
   
  And of course that powerhouse Amazon carry the title in both audiobook and eBook - you can even find the Tarnished Star hardcover on Amazon.
  
  
  I am of course immensely fond of this book - it started me on the writer's life of late nights at the keyboard, huge coffee consumption and perpetual poverty.
  
  
  Listen to a Sample of the audiobook below:
   
   
   
   
  
  
   
   

 

Sex in the West or Fifty Shades of Frontier Grey

In 1939 the western saw something of a revival - with war brewing in Europe, Hollywood's thoughts turned to America's own heroic past and the nature of Americanism itself. Europe was dominated by dictators and Americans began to distrust the continent which it felt would eventually drag them into a war. Far better to celebrate America itself with its unique brand of self reliance, democracy and heaving bosoms.

Warner Brothers, the home of the swashbuckler placed Errol Flynn into a series of lavish and expensive westerns following the success of 1939's Dodge City. Warners also placed two of its biggest stars James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart (miscasting if ever there was any) in the oater, The Oklahoma Kid. During the early war years the western did well at the box office and when Howard Hughes cast Jane Russel in the dire but successful, The Outlaw (1943) it heralded the arrival of sex in the western. And this was continued in 1946 with Duel in the Sun, a film so infused with sweaty eroticism that one critic dubbed it, "Lust in the dust."

However to be fair on The Outlaw,  I've always enjoyed it and still watch it from time to time. The storyline concerning Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett and  Doc Holliday may be  barking mad and the film itself  ponderous , but it is so corny that it's highly watchable. And the advertising posters (as above) greatly exaggerated the amount of cleavage Jane Russel displayed in the picture. In fact the finished film is tamer than a standard Carry On movie. But what The Outlaw did was allow the western to tackle more adult themes than the simple good guys V bad guys motif of earlier oaters.

However the sex content was soon seen as a gimmick as the western in general became much more mature in theme. Without the westerns of the Forties paving the way we would never have seen the introspective classics of the Fifties. Perhaps one of the earliest westerns with any real significance was The Ox Bow Incident (1943) which was a sombre look at the effects of mob law.  It became apparent that audiences were now demanding more depth from their westerns. No longer was it all black and white, as shades of grey colored the celluloid holding our western dreams.

Westerns now displayed an interest in psychology and psychoanalysis - this was demonstrated in 1947's, Pursued,  in which Robert Mitchum played a troubled loner who is dogged by a childhood trauma which is revealed to the viewer in a series of flashbacks. And by the end of the decade westerns heroes could no longer be the perfect square jawed men in white hats. In 1948 Howard Hawks gave us Red River which benefited from John Wayne's best performance to date and Wayne's character, Ted Dunson was something of a blueprint for the western anti-heroes of the next decade.

John Ford, arguably the finest ever American director of westerns, returned from his wartime service to enter one of his richest periods - his cavalry trilogy which ended the decade are amongst the finest westerns ever made. In 1946 he took the OK Corral  legend and gave us a fine and complex movie in, My Darling Clementine. What the film lacked in historical accuracy it made up for with it sheer brilliance in storytelling and acting. The film introduced many of Ford's trademarks - the townsfolk gathering together to hold a square dance in their half built church is just one example of the importance of community that Ford was at pains to point out in all of his films and not just his westerns.  It is an irony with Ford that although his westerns celebrated the freedom of the frontier they preached the importance of civilization. Later Ford would give us his three Calvary movies, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande in 1948, 1949 and 1950 respectively . It is a sense of community and service to one's country that link the three movies and hold them together like glue.

As the Fifties dawned the western was changed forever and the coming years would see some of the best movies ever made -  oaters that could hold themselves alongside the best of any other genre and it was during the Forties that this transition truly started. It may have all started out with a preoccupation with large breasts but it ended up looking much deeper.

Much deeper indeed.

Time to Ride West

This is one of those posts where I push my own books - Hey, I've been delivering a lot of original content on this blog for many years so from time to time you have to indulge me with a little self promotion. I specifically want to point readers towards my western novels that have been made available in eBook by the publishers -

First up is LawMaster (original title Tarnished Star) which was my first published novel and remains to this day Robert Hale's fastest selling western hardcover. I'm immensely proud of this book and the eBook edition from Piccadilly press is available now. Just do a search for LawMaster by Jack Martin and you'll find it saddled up and ready to go over at Amazon.

Picadilly Publishing also have the eBook version of Wild Bill Williams - and there is also an audiobook version available of this title from Audible -

Official records show that some 80,000 Welshmen made their home in the place now known as the Wild West, though the true figure is likely to have been much higher. This is the story of one of those men.

William Williams, otherwise known as Wild Bill Williams, was no stranger to trouble. It seemed to follow him like a shadow. But even as a survivor of the Little Big Horn, as he claimed, he'd never before had to face the kind of trouble he found in the town of Stanton. When the bullets start to fly and the blood begins to run, ....Wild Bill is never far behind.

If you do pick up any of these titles then please please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads which helps get the books noticed.


The western genre is my first love and you can read all about the origin of my pen name, Jack Martin by clicking.HERE

Arkansas Smith: the name was legend. Once he had been a Texas Ranger, but now he was something else entirely. Some said he was an outlaw, a killer of men and fast draw. Others claimed he was a kind of special lawman, dispensing frontier justice across the West and bringing law to the lawless.
Arkansas Smith arrives in Red Rock looking for those who shot and left his friend for dead. He vows to leave no stone unturned in his quest to bring the gunmen to justice and, soon, those who go against him must face the legendary fast draw that helped tame the West.

Crowood Publishing which are these days the holders of the Black Horse imprint have two of my past Jack Martin titles available in the ebook format and these are Riding the Vengeance Trail and Arkansas Smith. Again both of these titles are priced quite low and will provide some great western adventure for your eReader - even if I do say so myself.

There was a time when Thomas Fury was happy. A young wife, a child on the way and a farm to tend had kept him busy, but he’d enjoyed the toil for he knew that he was building a future for himself and his family. That future, though, was shattered one afternoon when five riders, led by Luke Marlow, rode in. Soon gunshots rang out and Thomas Fury’s world fall apart. Now Fury rides the vengeance trail, driven on by a desire to deal out justice to those who have destroyed everything that mattered to him. Fury will not stop until every one of those five men lies dead in the ground, for then – and only then – will he reach the end of the Vengeance Trail.


 If you search any of these titles on Amazon you can request a sample so you can start reading the book before even parting with the small amount of cash required to buy the actual book. eBooks can be read on computers, tablets, eReaders and even smart phones via the free Kindle APP.

Come on - there's nothing to lose and you may get a few hours of solid reading pleasure

The Ladies who won the West

Whores, or soiled doves, were an important part of the Old West. Because of the shortage of women, respectable or otherwise,  on the early frontier prostitution was a lucrative business.

 There were many euphemisms for the saloon and dance hall whores -night workers, frail sisters, the horizontally employed - and although whores back East were employed in luxurious brothels, the whores in the cowtowns had  a much more frugal existence and often lived in small back rooms of the saloon or dance hall that employed them. This enabled the saloon and dance hall owners to exploit the girls even further, for not only would they get a slice of their earnings but they also took a little more for room and board.

Girls came from all over the Union and travelled West to become horizontally employed in the shanty towns that were springing up all over. It was a dangerous time and the girls often found themselves fighting the men who visited and even, on times, one another. The idea was for the girls to make as much money as quickly as they could and then move on to safer employment where they could bury their past and try to find a gentleman to marry, or failing that a lonely miner who had struck rich. Prospects for a long and healthy life as a whore were poor.

Some of the whores in the Old West became local celebrities with their exploits . It is a fact that prostitutes were often the first female settlers in newly created towns. They helped to develop the areas in which they worked their trade and would risk disease, injury and in many cases death for their effort.

Prices for the services of these women varied from town to town but an average cost was 25c for a Mexican woman to $1 for an American lady. Higher prices were charged if a woman was of unusual youth and often a woman with red hair would fetch the highest price of all. It was a popular belief around the mining camps that women with auburn hair were the most amorous women in the world.

Why though would women become involved in this profession?

The answer to that question was no different in the Old West than it is today. Many of them had been abandoned by their families or left alone when a husband died or ran off, others were mentally illiterate and others still were immigrants with no other way to make a living. And although their profession was frowned upon they were often a vital part of early cowtown life.

Below I have posted a 1915 poem by Dana Burnet:

THE SISTERS of the Cross of Shame,
They smile along the night;
Their houses stand with shuttered souls
And painted eyes of light.
Their houses look with scarlet eyes
Upon a world of sin;
And every man cries, “Woe, alas!”
And every man goes in.
The sober Senate meets at noon,
To pass the Woman’s Law,
The portly Churchmen vote to stem
The torrent with a straw.
The Sister of the Cross of Shame,
She smiles beneath her cloud—
(She does not laugh till ten o’clock,
And then she laughs too loud.)
And still she hears the throb of feet
Upon the scarlet stair,
And still she dons the cloak of shame
That is not hers to wear.
The sons of saintly women come
To kiss the Cross of Shame;
Before them, in another time,
Their worthy fathers came.…
And no man tells his son the truth,
Lest he should speak of sin;
And every man cries, “Woe, alas!”
And every man goes in.

Johnny Ringo - old west badman

Nature of nurture - that's a question asked these days by those trying to understand the motivation of criminals. Can a person be born bad? Or is the seed of their destruction sown in their formative years? Johnny Ringo, famed after his confrontations with the Earps certainly had a rough time of it as a youngster.
John was born on May 3rd 1850 in Wayne County, Indiana. In 1864 the young boy was excited at the first real adventure of his life when his parents Martin and Mary Ringo decided that the family's future lay in California. They packed up their five children John, Martin, Fanny,Mary and Mattie and set off on the trip West.

They set out on the Fort Leavenworth Military Road with 68 other wagons and headed for Fort Kearny.
The trip was to be full of hardships. On June 7th the fourteen year old John was involved in an accident when a wagon rolled over his foot, severely injuring it. And then that same day he witnessed another young boy fall under a wagon which killed him. They say troubles come in threes and they certainly did that day, for later a wagon master accidentally shot one of his teamsters through the head, killing him outright.John witnessed both accidents .

The following day John, still hobbling due to his broken foot, went along with several men on a buffalo hunt and participated in killing several of the creatures.

One of the many movie Ringos

On June 13th, the Ringos picked up the Great Platte River Road. The next day his mother, Mary wrote in her journal that John had a chill and was severely ill throughout the night and for the next few days. But he recovered by the time they reached The Cottonwood Springs military post. Here soldiers stopped the wagon train and searched for horses containing the US brand but none were found and so the wagons continued on their journey.
June 25th saw the wagons halt on The South Platte Crossing where they were forced to stay for two weeks while hard rains and strong winds struck them. Mary wrote that during the stay several Indians came into camp and that one carried a sabre that he said he'd taken from a soldier he'd killed. Independence Day passed without celebration and it was July 9th before it was deemed safe to cross the river which led them onwards to the North Platte.

On July 16th several of the cattle in the wagon train became sick from the alkali in the water they had been drinking and died. And later two of the oxen also died from the sickness. By now there was a very real threat of hostile Indians and soon the wagon train came across the scalped corpse of a white man who had been half eaten by vultures.

On July 30th John's father, Martin was standing on one of the wagons, looking for Indians when he accidentally set off his shotgun, sending the load into his own head. John and fellow traveler William Davenport witnessed the grisly event.

"At the report of the gun, I saw his hat blown up 20 feet in the air and his brains were scattered every which way." Davenport wrote.

John helped dig a grave and his father was buried and left at the wayside. Mary's journal contain details of this fateful day and she recorded that her own heart was bleeding as the wagon train rolled on, leaving the grave behind them.

On August 1st the wagon train arrived in Platte Bridge Station but further misfortune was to strike the Ringo clan when the eldest girl Fanny suffered an attack of what Mary called, "cholremorbus." The term cholera morbus was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to describe both non-epidemic cholera and other gastrointestinal diseases.

On October 7th the Ringo clan were in Austin, Nevada and Mary gave birth to a stillborn son with a deformed face. It was said that the shock of her husband's death had traumatized her and caused both the deformity and the still birth. John looked onto the dead baby's hideous face and turned away in disgust.
On the last day of October the family reached the Sacramento Valley just ahead of the first snows and stayed with relatives for some time. A year later Mary moved her family into a house on Second Street in San Jose. The youngest Ringo - Martin died in 1873 of tuberculosis, he was only 19. Fanny and Mattie grew up and were married. Mary the younger became a schoolteacher and mother Mary died in 1876.
It was been said that John Ringo was forever affected by seeing his father blow his own brains out and that the sight of his deformed stillborn brother pushed him over the edge. He began drinking heavily when he was 15 and ran off to Texas and eventually ended up in Arizona Territory where he fell in with the Clanton faction and became the infamous Johnny Ringo.
He was murdered, as we all know, in July 1882.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2773934 by Gary Dobbs

The western in fiction - the state of play

Western fans have a lot to look forward to over the festive period - not only will the new True Grit be lighting up cinema screens but Jan 1st 2011 will see the debut of the Black Horse Western eBooks. Four books in one bundle, that usually retail for around £12 each in hardcover, all for a measly £10. The Black Horse books are popular the world over but given that the hardcovers are largely aimed at British libraries, it is often difficult for readers outside the UK to get their hands on the books. And those that do often find the cost prohibitive.

For many years Robert Hale's Black Horse imprint has led the way in western fiction - indeed the British publishing house produces more westerns than anyone else, including the bigger American publishers. The Archive will be looking at the eBooks in more detail leading up to the publication and I do hope readers will support the books and buy one of the eBook bundles for by doing so they will not only be getting superb value for money but help to ensure that further Black Horse titles make it into the digital world.

"Anyone wanting to find out more about the Black Horse range and westerns in general I direct over to the archives of the excellent online magazine Black Horse Extra."

Just a few of the many titles in the Black Horse Library

Hale have said that they are moving fast here and that this bundle is the first of many, but they are open to feedback from the readers. What is the best way to sell western eBooks? Would readers prefer these bundled packages or individual titles? Would themed bundles be enticing? Would single author collections persuade readers to give the eBooks a go? Tell Hale who you're favourite Black Horse writers are by looking up their books on Amazon and clicking the box that states, I would like to read this book on the Kindle. And please leave a comment on this post and make your voice heard, shout out for the genre that is too tough to die.


"The fact that few bookshops stock westerns these days no longer really matters when there is such a wealth of material available electronically." The Western Reader Online.


The Archive is hosting another Wild West Monday on the first Monday in January with the emphasis on buying a western eBook and showing publishers what we want, proving how popular the western genre is in these troubled times. And it's not only the Black Horse eBooks we are pushing but westerns from all publishers which is something the Archive has always been proactive in - don't forget the classic Edge by George G Gilman is out there and available now (now that's a title that any western fan will love) and all of the online retailers have  extensive western eBook collections on offer - this last month I myself have bought over a dozen western eBooks and the memory of my Sony eReader is bursting with western titles.

Yep, there's never been a better time to be a western fan.

ROBERT HALE LTD

PUBLISHERS SINCE 1936

The respected British publisher is entering new territory and I believe all western fans will want to go with them. Indeed should go with them for only by showing our interest will we ensure that eWesterns don't suffer the same lack of availability as conventional western books.

Now before the more cynical of you ignore this post as just another self serving advert, I do after all write Black Horse Westerns as Jack Martin, then please consider that it is not only my own titles that I strive to promote but the genre as a whole, the genre that I love and grew up reading. And I have always promoted the entire genre as well as those spiffing little books by that Jack Martin chappie.

Let's ride together into this brave new digital world.

The Wild West Country of Cider, Wurzels and the Sioux

The Wild West came to Somerset last weekend for the Bank Holiday and it was all cider and six guns - This report from the Burnham Weekly News -

GUN toting cowboys and Native Americans rolled up in Brent Knoll for the bank holiday weekend to help raise money for two worthy causes.
Sanders Garden World hosted a Wild West re-enactment by the Boots and Saddles Western Re-enactment and Living History Club in aid of Help for Heroes and the Bridgwater-based Special Needs Activity Project.
Peter Burks, Sanders manager, said: “Our re-enactment event was a great success. The Wild West is a greatly romanticised period of American history that captivates the imagination of adults and children alike.
“Families that visited the event were able to get involved and experience a little of what life was like in Western America during the 19th century.”
Dave Rouse from the re-enactment club said: “We set up an encampment, including tents and teepees, for visitors to have an insight into how people would have lived during the 1800s.
“Visitors were able to enter these homes to look around and ask the inhabitants questions.
“Everyone involved in the re-enactment was dressed in the style of the era. There was a narrated dress parade, which consisted of club members dressed as Native Americans, mountain men, townsfolk, pioneers, Civil War military and of course cowboys.”
The event also included mock gunfights and a traditional Native American dance with participants dressed in full regalia.

And while we're in a West Country mood here are the West Country's supergroup covering a song originally sung by some band called Oo-ar-Sis        

          

The Indian Wars - watch out redskins, bang, shoot, kill.

It's a complex subject that could, indeed does, fill many volumes - miles and miles of celluloid have been shot, both fact and fiction, on the subject and these days it's not really a subject that is in vogue with film or book. Maybe it's still a part of history that we have yet to come to terms with, especially in the western genre where whilst it is true there have been many intelligent, sympathetic novels centered around the subject ,there have been a hell of a lot more, cowboy and Indian stories; the noble white man with God on his side socks it to the mindless savage - brute force is all these heathens understand.

The Indian wars were not simply a case of white Americans against the red natives, but at differing points in history, the Spanish, English and French were notably at war with the native Americans. I myself, am not qualified or knowledgeable enough to make any final assessment on the Indian wars. They represent a part of history, with blame and shame on both sides. But it is history all the same, a part of a different world to the one we have today - though there are still wrongs being committed on nations by nations around the world...perhaps there always will be. Maybe it's an intrinsic part of the human experience - I want that gold, oil, land, woman, death star (delete where applicable for conflict of choice.)

Now for the purpose of fiction, film or print, it is usually the American Indian Wars that we turn to - the period used by so many cowboy and Indian tales. The publisher of my own westerns, the wonderful Robert Hale LTD don't want novels centered around The Indian Wars, maybe of the opinion that the oppression of the minority by powerful aggressors are not the stuff of entertainment in the modern world. And maybe they are correct in this assumption - and of course could one do this complex subject justice in a 45,000 word adventure? I think not and you write for your market. But all the same you won't find the Indians portrayed as mindless dumb savages in modern fiction. There are a great many books that deal brilliantly with the Indian wars - Terry C Johnston's Sioux Dawn is, I think, remarkable and Larry Mcmurtry's Lonesome Dove series has a lot to say on the subject. Hell, they don't give the Pulitzer for nothing, you know.


But maybe the time is now right for the definitive Indian wars novel , the book to end all books on the subject, the one book to rule them all- I can feel it in the air. And someday soon someone out there is going to write it....the lucky bastard!

western snippets

I was an actor and I knew the West. The opportunity that I had been waiting for years was knocking on my door. Rise or fall, sink or swim I had to make western pictures - William S. Hart

I ride into a place owing my own horse, saddle and bridle - Tom Mix

High Noon - is the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my life. The last thing in the picture is old Coop putting the Marshall's badge under his foot and stepping on it. I'll never regret having helped run Carl Foreman out of the country - John Wayne

God created men but Colonel Colt made them equal - Unknown

Cowboys are romantics, extreme romantics, and ninety nine out of a hundred of them are sentimental to the core. They are orientated to the past and face the present only under duress and even then with extreme reluctance - Larry McMurtry

SHERLOCK HOLMES GOES WEST

Neatly dovetailing Wild West Monday with our forthcoming Sherlock Holmes Weekend is this

It's from 1954 and sees Holmes right up to his neck in Wild West adventure.

The complete public domain movie is here for you to view.

THE MAN WITH A GREAT NAME - THOSE EASTWOOD WESTERNS

Excluding the three groundbreaking Dollar films, which I've talked about enough in earlier articles, Eastwood has been responsible for many of the western genre's greatest films. From the genre defining Josey Wales and The Unforgiven to the Italian-alike Joe Kid and Two Mules for Sister Sara and the classically styled Pale Rider and Hang Em High and that's not to mention the unique noir western, The Beguiled. To my mind the only weak Eastwood western is Joe Kidd and all the others are essential films for any fan of the genre.

Hang Em High (reviewed HERE) was Eastwood's first American western movie and that same year he teamed up with Don Siegel for the East meets West Coogan's Bluff which was the inspiration for the TV series, McCloud. The two men worked so well together that actor and director were back together for Two Mules for Sister Sara which Eastwood described, at the time, as "African Queen meets the man with no name." The films is a quirky comedy western with Shirley McClain stealing the show. Interestingly she was only cast after Eastwood's first choice, Elizabeth Taylor dropped out.

Director and star reunited in 1970 for one of Eastwood's strangest, but compelling, westerns - the psycho-noir melodrama The Beguiled. Eastwood is an injured Union soldier totally at the mercy of a group of women. The Siegal/Eastwood partnerships is comparable in terms of success to that of Wayne/Ford. Siegal of course was the director of the seminal Dirty Harry.

Eastwood's first western in the directorial chair was the excellent, supernaturally tinged, High Plains Drifter. It's a blood thirsty uber-violent western that owes much to the Leone Dollar Films but Eastwood is smart enough to give the film a twist with its other worldly atmosphere. Truly excellent.

The Outlaw Josey Wales with Eastwood once again in the director chair is equal to the majestic The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's brilliant sprawling western that improves each time it is watched.

Eastwood's next western, Pale Rider (1985) was a cross between Shane and High Plains Drifter. The introduction shot of Eastwood inverted the opening shot of High Plains Drifter. Where in Drifter Eastwood's character seems to appear from nowhere on the fiery plains this time it is reversed and Eastwood appears from out of the heavenly clouds. Indeed the character in Pale Rider is Ying to Drifters, Yang. Again an excellent western.

The Unforgiven (1992) is Eastwood's masterpiece - one of the seminal films of the genre by anyone. It is interesting that in actor identification for the western Eastwood is second only to John Wayne and yet out of Eastwood's vast filmography only eleven of them are strictly westerns. I'm not counting the likes of Coogan's Bluff, Honkeytonk Man and Bronco Billy here although it could be argued they are contemporary westerns.But what a contribution the great man has made to the genre.

Wild West Hurricane

The western is blowing up a storm these days - there's more Wild West stuff HERE

Old West Legends: The Cook Gang

History has not bestowed upon them the notoriety of The James Gang, nor are they as well known as The Daltons but in their day The Cook Gang were every bit as feared as any of the Old West's outlaws.

"They are a stench to the nostril of lawful men." Said one Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) newspaper in 1890. and during the height of their crimes they were pursued by a team of U. S. marshalls, the Army and even The Texas Rangers.

Their leader was William Tuttle Cook but their ranks changed so often that it is impossible to pin down all the names of the actual members.

The first recorded incident of Bill (William) Cook falling foul of the law was in 1892 when the half Cherokee, was charged with selling whisky in Indian Territory. Later Bill worked as a posseman for U.S. Marshall Will Smith. But when his kid brother Jim was charged with larceny and jumped bail in 1894 he moved over to the other side of the law and joined his brother on the lam. It was not too long before the two brothers met and joined up with Crawford Goldsby, an outlaw, better known to history as Cherokee Bill.

Together with other men, drifters mostly, including Jim French, Skeeter Baldwin and The Verdigris Kid (Sam Mcwilliams then only 17 years old), they started stealing horses whilst keeping one step ahead of the law.

In the Spring of 1894 the U.S. Government passed the law that became to be known as, 'Strip Money'. This was $7 million of compensation to be paid to the Cherokee Nation at Tahlequah. Now Cherokee Bill and the two Cook boys were entitled to payment under the scheme but being on the scout, as they called it, they didn't see how they could claim it. They eventually gave written persmission to one Effie Crittendon to collect their shares on their behalf.

When the law learned of this they sent a Cherokee posse out to Effie's home at Fourteen Mile Creek to capture the outlaws. The posse included Effie's husband, Dick Critterdon. There was a shoot out and Sequoyah Houston, a respected member of the Cherokee police, was killed. The two Cook brothers and Cherokee Bill managed to escape. Though Jim Cook was wounded by buckshot.

Following the incident the newspapers were calling the men 'The Cook Gang' and so began a trail of theft, murder and unspeakable violence that would turn The Cook Gang into household names across America.

Yet they are not remembered today in the way other Old West Badmen are -there was nothing romantic about the Cook gang, nothing to really mythologise though some did try - legend says that as Cherokee Bill was finally led to the hangman his last words were - "I came here to die and not make a speech. It is a good day to die." Though in fact documents record that he had no last words.

Bill Cook, leader of the gang, died in prison in 1901. His brother Jim had died the year earlier when he came second place in a gunfight over an argument about a steer.

If this brief article has prompted anyone to want to learn more about The Cook gang then I suggest getting hold of Black, Red and Deadly by Art Burton.