His name was Henry McCarty. His favorite alias was William Bonney. We knew him as Billy the Kid. Beyond that, just about everything you knew, or thought you knew, about him is not true or are claims made without supporting facts. Here are a few things to consider about one of the West’s most famous outlaws.

His name was Arvo Ojala, pronounced O-Ja-La, with a J. He was known as the fast gun coach of the stars needing help handling sixguns to realistically portray themselves as authentic gunslingers. Believe me, they all needed help. Arvo was considered an excellent teacher, stating he could teach anyone how to fast-draw and handle guns professionally within a two-week span.

He had ridden southwest out of Marfa, down through Pinto Canyon. Once he hit the river, he headed upstream, through the little village of Candelaria, to a river crossing called Capote. His horse was hobbled back in the brush, and now he sat in the early morning darkness, Winchester across his lap, waiting to kill a man who had once been his best friend.

The area where this story took place is some of the most remote country in the American Southwest.  On a Texas map, find the border town of Presidio.  As you look upstream on the Rio Grande, from Presidio, you’ll notice that there’s just a whole of nothing for several hundred miles until you get almost to El Paso.

In the late 1800s, John M. Browning was on a roll. He designed the robust 1886 Winchester that was chambered for big-bore cartridges. Then, in 1892, he brought out a scaled down version that would handle various popular handgun cartridges. Later, we got the Model 1895 Winchester which was a whole new design for high-velocity ammo. But I think his crowning glory, where lever actions are concerned, was his Model 1894 rifle and carbine.

I love guns with stories. Tales of firearms that belonged to folks of note, guns used in interesting events, or those that came from fascinating places are intriguing to this writer. They bring a particular firearm to life, even though we all know quite well that they are just mechanical devices, right?

The story goes that author Ned Buntline (real name Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr.) wanted to express his thanks to some of the Kansas lawmen who had been the inspiration for some of the books that he wrote.

So much has been written in the wild west magazines about the Kitchens Gang I figured you might be interested to hear the real story from one who had a minor hand in the whole thing.  You see, I was just out of high school and my folks put me to managing my uncle’s livery stable; the only one in our little town.

This Colt 1851 Navy, serial number 1388131E, is one of a pair carried by James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1837-1876).  During his lifetime, Hickok was a Union Army scout, a deputy U.S. Marshal, the sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas, and the city marshal of Abilene, Kansas.

W.L. “Lee” Barler was born in Llano, Texas in 1874. The Terrell County history book says Barler’s father had worked as a lawman, fought outlaws and Indians and served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War.

As a life-long western historian...with amateur status...I’ve always loved to look at the old frontier photos. But one thing that will kind of ruin your appreciation of cowboy movies and TV shows is the lack of guns showing on regular citizens. Of course, with pictures of frontier lawmen you saw all kinds of sixguns...

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