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Showing posts with the label western history

The Bisbee Massacre - Western Justice

If you missed this historical potboiler, read on. This is the Bisbee Massacre, revisited. The wild West is alive and well where we live. Tombstone is an easy drive for an afternoon of strolling the boardwalks, getting some BBQ, and chatting with cowboys, gunslingers, and "soiled doves." Every self-respecting American knows about the gunfight at the OK Corral. We've romanticized it in film for decades. Personally I enjoy the 1993 version with Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell. There are quite few tales of violence and western justice in our area that are not as well known as the OK Corral incident. Bisbee, which snatched the designation of county seat in Cochise County after the Tombstone silver ran out has some tales of its own. Since winter is upon us and a story is always good by the fire, sit a spell while I tell you the about the Bisbee Massacre. Main Street, Bisbee, AZ On a cold December night in 1883, five outlaws rode into Bisbee and commenced robbing ...

The Bombing of Naco

Some stories are worth a second time around, so for your reading enjoyment here's a true tale of the West. For those of you who like a good story, especially if it involves the West, I sure have a humdinger this week.  It all happened about 30 minutes from from Casa Wallace in the little border town of Naco, Arizona along with its counterpart, Naco, Sonora on the other side of the line.  The year was 1929. It was before the big crash in October, but things weren't so great in Mexico in the spring of that year. The people were fed up with heavy taxation, corruption, and the government in general. Hmmm...has a familiar ring to it already. Well, some rebel forces organized and began giving the Mexican army a hard time. Naco, Sonora was a pretty rough place with lots of saloons and gambling establishments, so more government intervention in their way of life wasn't welcome. The rebels and the army dug in around Naco, Sonora and began to have daily skirmishes. Since there...