More Killer Kids And The Captivo With The Shining Eye

 September 15, 2024

   My process vs. your patience. It's a give and take thing. At some point I have to let go and at some point you are already gone. It's a trade off, for sure. But I enjoy the process and at the end of the day. . .

Work Is Only Work If You'd Rather Be Someplace Else

   Here is my work laid out this morning.

Let's zoom in for a closer look.

Daily Whip Outs In Progress

   Note the two foot soldiers at bottom, left. Here's a couple views of that work in progress.

The Killer Kids #5 for

"The Illustrated Life & Times of Jesse James"

Killer Kids #6

   I felt like the heads on the first one look a tad too pasted on, so I went a little darker (and lost the rifle butts at the bottom, but the faces are better).

   Meanwhile, got these going as well.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Captivo With The Shining Eye"

I originally had more face showing, but it killed the shine on the eye. You can see the earlier version above, in the Daily Whip Outs In Progress shot.

Meanwhile,

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"Under The Tonto Brim II"

Oh, boy, I don't know. I kind of agree with Will about my "frail equipment."

"This is a hustling business and the squeaky wheels get the grease, but I'm just trying to write the best song I can each day with whatever frail equipment I have."

—Will Jennings, who won two Oscars for his songwriting lyrics

How to Walk Where Rude Walked And Stand Your Ground

 September 14, 2024

   Get ready to experience history on a whole new level. Yes, to better understand what actually happened to Willie B. Rude on July 14 of 1861, we are going to give you the the specific directions so you can walk where they walked.

I Believe This Is The Mesquite Thicket

Where Rude Made His Stand

   In March of 2024, Stuart Rosebrook and I met historian Greg Scott at the Green Valley post office and we trekked out to the area where Rude made his brave stand 163 years before. Although this is just an educated guess, this thicket, above, fits the description by Pumpelly and others about the defensive position Rude took. There are literally hundreds of these in the area so it's impossible to say if this is the exact one, but it certainly speaks to the flimsiest of defensive positions anyone could make. And, believe me, when you are hunkered down in there, you certainly can sense the desperation he must have felt having to defend such an inferior position.

   I certainly felt his presence as I stood on the immediate ground he chose to fight to the death on.

Directions to The Rude Gunfight Site

   Here's how to get there. Starting from Tucson, go south on I-19 through Green Valley. From Canoa Ranch exit go South on the east frontage road about 3 miles to Elephant Head Road. Turn left, which is East. Go about a quarter mile to the Elephant Head/Anza Trailhead on the left.

Google Map Overview of the Anza Trailhead

 There’s parking, a shaded picnic table but no rest room or water.  There’s information signs and the Anza Trail wends its way northward eventually all the way to the San Francisco Bay! For our purposes the True West reader should walk eastward across the usually dry Santa Cruz River bed. 

Just north of the bridge and on the east side of the river (where the words Head and Trailhead appear, above) is the location of the mesquite thicket where I believe Rude held off a band of Apaches in 1861.

   When you go there, send us pictures of you and the thicket so we can experience how happy you are. And, trust me, it will make us happy to know you stood your ground.

"To study the past is to unlock the prison of the present."

—Jill Lepore, "These Truths: A History of The United States"

The History of Old Vaquero Sayings

 September  14, 2024

   We are currently living in the era of Choose Your Own News. And, it must be noted, it is almost instantaneous.

   On the other side of the universe, way back when I was doing my first Illustrated Life & Times book—1992—I wanted to track down the source of a quote I intended to use and the quote, "History is a cruel trick played on the dead by the living," was perfect, but I couldn't remember who said it, so in those ancient times, I had to find a phone book and look up the telephone number for the Phoenix Public Library and when I called the main desk I had to ask for the Reference Desk. Minutes later, I was transferred to a nice woman who asked me how she could help me. I told her the quote and asked her if she could look up who said it and she said she would try and would call me back "in a couple days." When she finally did call back, she told me she went through all their "card catalogues" and couldn't find out who said that quote, and since I was going to press in about 17 minutes, I punted and labeled the quote as an Old Vaquero Saying. It was a total pull it out of my rectum kind of deal.

   Oh, and if you Google, "Who said 'History is a cruel trick played on the dead by the living'?" you will get a cheap laugh, as I did.

     Meanwhile, 32 years later, here is a sneak peek at the cover of our hand-printed, special-limited-edition of "Old Vaquero Sayings." 

   This groovy little collector's item is being printed down at Cattletrack Arts Compound by these two cats:

Brent Bond with OVS cover hot off the press

Mark McDowell artist extraordinaire

   The guts of the OVS book will be printed in the next two weeks and then we are going to have a hand-stitching and collating party at Cattletrack and if you want to join us, you can. Oh, and did I mention? If you buy a book you will get a free set of Old Vaquero Cerveza Coasters.

A Free Set of Old Vaquero Cerveza Coasters

   And, if you want double ironic, we just offered a dozen "Hellraisers & Trailblazers: The Real Women of The Wild West" signed both by me and the late Jana Bommersbach for $100 each with all the proceeds going to The Friends of The Phoenix Public Library, Jana's favorite charity. They sold out in a matter of minutes. So, what comes around, goes around.

"My greatest skill has been to want little."

—Henry David Thoreau

Failing to Succeed: My Best Lifetime Achievements So Far

 September 13, 2024

   There is a rumor going round that I will soon receive a lifetime achievement award. And, if you are wondering, what the hell did I ever achieve that is worth a lifetime achievement award, you would not be alone. Here for your reading amusement are the "achievements" I am proud of and can actually admit to on this forum.

• I once twisted on the same stage with Chubby Checker.

Teens twisting with Chubby Checker on stage

at the Sands Hotel in Vegas, August 1962

• I saw the Beatles on their first American tour in 1964 for $7.50.

• In 1982 I faked my way backstage at the Phoenix Memorial Coliseum to meet Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

• I received the Arizona Press Club award for best editorial cartoon in 1983. Because of this I was allowed to go after my own boss. In fact I was encouraged by said boss.

It's an ironic postscript that the subject of this cartoon is currently doing five years in Florence even as you read this.

• I stood in the Rose Garden and filmed myself standing in the White House Rose Garden, much to the irritation of the Secret Service. And, by the way, it's tiny. Not the secret service, but the rose garden.

• I once stood in the lube room of Al Bell's Flying A when Cornel Wilde commented to me that I was up kind of early, and I said, "Yes." 

• I helped raise two children who are not in prison, yet.

• I am still married to the same woman who gave me those children 40-some years ago.

• I got a movie deal with Columbia Pictures and Larry McMurtry wrote three scripts about a character—Honkytonk Sue—I created in my garage. Six scripts were written in all, and the movie, so far, has not been made. You might say, I failed to succeed.

"Remember girls, if a man has to brag, he'll be the first to sag."

• I spent some 600 hours developing a comic strip called Lippo & Paguna. I sent it out to every syndication company in the country and they all turned it down, because, as one of them finally told me, "Farm strips don’t sell." Once again, I failed to succeed, but I also learned that I should have called them first and asked them if they were interested in a "farm strip."

• Me and two crazy friends bought a dying magazine and spent $900,000 trying to turn it around. So far, so good.

• On October 19, 2013,  I won an Emmy for a Channel 8 PBS show, "Outrageous Arizona" which celebrated the centennial of the state I love. I picked up the statuette, but a lot of people helped me, including my co-authors Marshall Trimble and Jana Bommersbach, art director Dan Harshberger, Scott Allen and Kelly McCullough at PBS and Buck Montgomery (who corralled a whole bunch of re-enactors who worked for free) and, of course, Ken Amorosano.

• Beyond that, I have never won any major award. No wait! I will receive the Will Rogers Golden Lariat Award next month in Fort Worth, Texas.

   What is the moral to this story? I wish I had failed more. It really comes down to this: get knocked down five times, get up six. On some level failing leads to success.

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

—Winston Churchill 

More Family Secrets For the Historically Minded

 September 12, 2024

   The past is a treasure if you know how to mine it.

Just ask Iggy Pop

   This just in.

"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale."

—Old Vaquero Saying

   And speaking of the past informing the present.

"If we could learn what the human race really is at bottom, we need only observe it in election times."

—Mark Twain

Into The Beast And Back Again

 September 11, 2024

   A long day driving into the Beast. Landed at Cattletrack Arts Compound at 10:30 and took a gander at this:

Brent Bond holds the very first

"Old Vaquero Sayings"

book cover hot off the press

   From there I drove into Phoenix and had many adventures. Survived them all. Came home through two fires. Details tomorrow.

"Nothing is better than friend maintenance."

—Marilu Henner

Family Secrets for The Historical Minded

 September 10, 2024

   If you are seeking the truth about the Wild West then we have something in common. If you love the Wild West then we are from the same tribe. If, however, you are married to someone who loves the Wild West and they dragged you to one of my talks, then we are in-laws. Either way, I have some valuable secrets to tell you, and only you, because, as you should know—you are family.

Daily Whip Out:

"Twenties Cowgirl In White"

   There are actually a dozen family secrets you need to know, but let's start with the most obvious one.

Family Secrets

   I've said this before and I'll say it again: the truth is not facts lined up. And this is the problem with most history classes in school.

Daily Whip Outs: "Desert Dwellers"

   Had time today to do a new painting to illustrate how the Apaches who fought against Willie B. Rude were armed.

Weapons of The Apache Attackers

   Although this illustration is based on an 1873 photograph of Apache warriors, this is likely how they were armed against Rude in the 1861 era: the trusty Apache lance, bows and arrows and breech loading long guns. It's still amazing he even had a chance.

Our Readers Always Write

"Several people told me they had just seen the new Netflix series, 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' and they asked me what I  thought. So, I fired up Netflix and after ten minutes of episode one I couldn't take any more. Totally Hollywood.  It will take True West another 50 years to set the record straight."

—Allen Fossenkemper

Fountain Hills, Arizona

"Hey, Bob... I was having my first cup of coffee when I opened the new True West this morning. When I read that Jana Bommersbach had died, I just bawled. While I do look forward to the next issue as a celebration of her, I know I'll cry then, too. She was a total treasure and I'm grateful to TW for having kept her a part of so many of our lives.... Sincerely..."

—Leslie Baker

 Show Low, Arizona

Family Secrets for the Historical Minded

   One of the family secrets is this little gem: go where they ain't. Or, put another way. . .

"Wherever the crowd goes, run in the other direction."

—Charles Bukowski

A Miracle On Top of Other Miracles

 September 9, 2024

   On September 9, 1999, Bob McCubbin and I flew to Guthrie, Oklahoma, rented a car, and drove to Stillwater to pay way too much for a dying magazine we loved. That this magazine is still being published today is a miracle on top of several other miracles!

The Amado Miracle

In March, Stuart Rosebrook and I drove from the Tucson Festival of Books down to Green Valley to meet historian Greg Scott so we could drive out to the actual site where Willie B. Rude defended himself in a mesquite thicket against a force of 100 Apaches. Not far from that site is the above site in Amado and I must say, that is a miracle right there.

And, then there are the four-legged miracles.

Uno Saves The Show

And, beyond that we have certain ghosts to thank.

Daily Reworked Whip Out: "Red Ghost 3"

  Meanwhile, farther south. . .

Daily Whip Out: "The Leg Warmer"

Anyone know why he has cloth wrapped around his lower legs? Perhaps the lower white is the inside of his pants? Not sure, but there must be a practical reason. It might be a miracle if we ever find out?

And, speaking of miracles. Jana Bommersbach was certainly one of them for me and for the magazine.

"I’ve been cataloguing a list of Jana’s True West articles from 2003 through 2024 for ASU, where her papers will reside, and I am blown away by both the amount and depth of her stories. They really make up an encyclopedia of the characters—particularly the women—who were a colorful part of 'How the West Was Won.' Sometimes she wrote more than one article an issue. I knew she was passionate about the history of the west but really had no idea she wrote so much! Amazing."

—Athia Hardt

 

Spelunking In The Historical Wreckage

 September 8, 2024

   Sometimes it's very hard to find the truth when it's buried under so much rubble. We think of historical nuggets as being carefully stored in a vault or a chester drawers (or, if you want to get all technical: chest of drawers). We don't think of historical gems as buried in a collapsing building, out on the desert, like this.

Daily Whip Out:

"Spelunking In The Historical Wreckage"

   Rooster Rob took this great photo of the leaning wreck of a store in Gleeson, a ghost town northeast of Tombstone, and I thought it represented so perfectly the state of Old West history and so I added a spelunker with a flashlight looking into the doorway, searching for clues or for any stray tidbit of truthful history. Now the fact is, there is probably a ton of history under this collapsing roof, but the rats and the critters are going to make quick work of everything (if they haven't already). The rains, the winds and the defilers will do the rest. Somehow, some way, historical items still manage to survive and show up, like this letter signed by a certain concubine of a certain part time lawman.

   I offered to go in half with the Top Secret Writer, but evidently it wasn't in his budget ($3,000 and change). Some are not sure if that's even a good deal.

Wyatt Earp, age 74, in Los Angeles,

telling me with his eyes what he thinks

of that price.

   Meanwhile, this guy has to be happy about the price he paid for this small oil of someone he admires.

Steve Randolph admires an expensive painting

his son, Preston, acquired for him.

"Lance isn't a common name these days. But in medieval times, people were named Lance a lot."

—Old Numb-nuts Saying

A Poston Postscript, A Rude Demise And A Toast to Being Alive!

 September 7, 2024

   There is an old art chestnut about first sketch-best sketch: meaning a rough first sketch often contains a more accurate take on what you thought you wanted to do, BEFORE you ruined everything with your damn pretensions of craft!

   Guilty as charged, your honor. Exhibit A for the prosecution:

Daily Whip Out: "Rough Sketch of Poston"

Then, I got this text message:

"Dude, Not only does Charles D. Poston have a 14’ burial pyramid outside of Florence up on Poston Butte but he has two, yes two! places named for him in La Paz County (Poston and Poston 2) which housed Japanese internment camps (actually there were three camps.) Charlie’s name was on two of them. His family must be so proud.  On a semi- related note there was an Italian POW camp built in Somerton south of Yuma. Quite appropriately it was later recycled as housing for braceros during that program. Not to be outdone, there’s a wide spot on the road outside of Show Low named Bell!"

—Greg Scott

A Rude Demise

   Not long after the Apache-mesquite fight near the Canoa Ranch, Rude and the other American rancheros had to abandon the Santa Cruz Valley for safer climes, and Rude ended up along the Colorado River, about 40 miles north of Yuma where he established his Rancho de los Yumas and began farming and raising cattle. He allegedly did quite well for some time, but on April 29, 1870 he and his ranch foreman, Alex Poindexter, crossed the river to pay Indian woodchoppers and on the way back, their raft hit a snag and Rude drowned. The foreman claimed he clung to the raft and made it to safety. After Rude's death, rumors of hidden gold brought out the treasure hunters who picked at his walls and dug up the floors until only a shell of the house remained.

Rude's Ranch Walls Picked Clean

Another view of Rude's Ranch ruins

from across the river.

Daily Whip Out: "Raphael Pumpelly"

   The account of the fight was first published in a book, "Across America and Asia," in 1869 by Raphael Pumpelly, a mining engineer who was in the small, five man posse led by Poston who encountered Rude at Retention after the fight.

Is This The Mesquite Thicket

Where Rude Made His Stand?

   In March of 2024, Stuart Rosebrook and I met historian Greg Scott at the Green Valley post office and we trekked out to the area where Rude made his brave stand 163 years before. Although this is just an educated guess, this thicket, above, fits the description by Pumpelly and others about the defensive position Rude took. There are literally hundreds of these in the area so it's impossible to say if this is the exact one, but it certainly speaks to the flimsiest of defensive positions anyone could make. And, believe me, when you are hunkered down in there, you certainly can sense the desperation he must have felt having to defend such an inferior position.

   Whether it is or not, the actual mesquite thicket I certainly felt his presence as I stood on the immediate ground he chose to fight to the death on.

We are still alive. Let us celebrate that fact!

   And, so we did, with a shot of Sonoran Bacanora, courtesy of Greg Scott. 

Salute!

"It certainly pays to walk where they walked."

—BBB

The Father of Arizona Deserves A Better Hat

 September 6, 2024

   I am finally covering the Willie B. Rude vs. raiding Apaches and their fight just south of the Canoa Ranch in the Santa Cruz Valley in 1861. It's a crazy affair involving a mesquite thicket and an estimated 30 to 100 attacking Apaches. The leader of the posse who came to rescue Rude was led by the one and only Charles Poston. All my life I have known about "The Father of Arizona" even playing against Poston (the school south of Parker along the Colorado River named in his honor) but I never knew all that much about him. The history books always run the same banker shot of him looking sour and semi-distinguished.

Charles Debrille Poston

(1825-1902)

   Then—fast forward—we get this weird shot of him in Phoenix looking almost like a homeless character, which apparently he had all but become.

Colonel Poston & Outfit at 2nd St. and Washington in Phoenix, Arizona in the 1890s

   So, what happened between those two photos? Well, hang on, Poston led one amazing life. In addition to being the leader of the Sonoran Mining Expedition near Tubac which was capitalized with a $2 million secured investment and proceeded to produce an alleged $3,000 per day. Poston was known as "the Colonel" and he printed his own money and officiated marriages and divorces and baptisms of children and he was the acting promoter and mayor of the place (see quote below) until Bishop Lamy in Santa Fe came to investigate. Allegedly, a payoff, I mean—a donation!—of $700 sanctified the unions. Poston also surveyed the townsite of Colorado City (later Yuma) and sold it for $20,000 before returning to San Francisco. He then bounced from coast to coast, raising capital and meeting President Lincoln, who Poston lobbied hard to make Arizona a territory. In turn Lincoln signed the Arizona Organic Act and in 1863 Poston was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs. Following that he was elected as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1864 and Poston submitted bills to establish Indian reservations along the Colorado River. After that stint ended, Poston gallivanted all over Europe spending quality time in London and Paris and then he wrote a travel book, Europe In The Summertime, not long after Poston was sent by the U.S. Secretary of State to deliver the Burlingame Treaty to the Emperor of China and ended up studying irrigation and immigration in Asia. From there he landed in Egypt in 1869 then back to Paris and London where he worked as an editor of a London newspaper and acted as a foreign correspondent to the New York Tribune. He wrote a couple more books including "Building a State In Apache Land" which was subsequently serialized by Overland Monthly in 1893.

   Before all that he was a campaign worker for Samuel J. Tilden who ran for president in 1876. He thought he would get a consul position in London, but instead he was made Registar of the United States land office at Florence, Arizona where he became interested in building a temple on a hill but he ran out of money and tried to get the Shah of Iran to invest and when that failed Poston was treated by the locals as a crank and an eccentric. So he moved to Tucson and tried to survive as a lecturer, mining promoter and writer. Then he got a gig as consular agent in Nogales, followed by a civilian military agent in El Paso and finally as an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1899. From there he fell into obscurity and we see him on the streets of Phoenix (see, above) but then the Arizona Territorial legislature awarded Poston a pension of $25 a month, increasing it to $35 a month in 1901. He died of a heart attack on June 24, 1902.

   He didn't live long enough to see Arizona gain statehood ten years later in 1912, but Arizona didn't forget him and ultimately deemed him "The Father of Arizona." And, so that photo of him all dolled up in the suit will not do and I decided I needed to give him a worthy hat to wear from now on.

Daily Whip Out:

"Charles D. Poston, The Founder of the Feast and The Father of Arizona"

“We had no law but love, and no occupation but labor. No government, no taxes, no public debt, no politics. It was a community in a perfect state of nature.”

—Charles Poston, the King of the Santa Cruz Valley

Mad Coyote's Green Chile Rocks!

 September 6, 2024

   One of the perks of knowing a famous chef is getting to call him up with questions. Kathy came home from Book Club two days ago with a batch of Hatch Green Chiles and I had no choice but to fire up the electric stove and go all green chile on the house.

Over the stove POV: Yes, Uno has that

Can-You-Throw-Me-A Bone? look

   You'll notice my green chile is a tad red, but that is because I went off recipe and threw in a can of stewed tomatoes which fortunately did not ruin the outcome. Here is my view at the end of the day.

Mad Coyote Joe's Green Chile Recipe Rocks!

   And my phone call to Mad Coyote Joe was to have him give me some advice on thickening up the concoction and he recommended corn starch, and it worked like a charm! Thanks Mad!

"The Gringo line has been drawn in the sand, can you step across it?"

—Mad Coyote Joe

Walking Where The Great Western And Olive Oatman Strode

 September 4, 2024

   As you probably know, I am a firm believer in walking where they walked. When I see what they saw and feel the earth like they did, I get so much more insight into their lives. Last Friday we stopped in Yuma and it certainly wasn't the first time I was there (I played basketball against Kofa High School in 1964) but I am still haunted by two women I met there this time. Of course I have met them before, but somehow standing where they stood and seeing what they saw (minus the I-08 overpass) really stuck with me.

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"The Great Western And

Her Second Artillery Cap"

   Yes, the original was done in 2017 but I saw it in my archives when we got home from the land of Bashan, and I thought it could use another pass. Same for another rendering of Sarah Bowman, when she was younger, but still full of sass.

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"Young Sarah Bowman"

   And, of course, the other young woman I encountered, also needs no introduction.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Return of Olive Oatman"

   When she was returned to Fort Yuma, after almost five years in captivity, the commander didn't believe she was a white woman. Finally, someone showed him her fair skin behind her ear and he relented.

"We could not erase the wild from her heart."
—Susan Thompson, who took in Olive after her ordeal

The Great Western at Yuma Crossing Revisited Plus Custer Wore Arrow Shirts Expanded

 September 3, 20924

   Yuma Crossing revisited. Here's an aerial map I drew showing the same area Uno and I visited last Friday.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Yuma Crossing Ferry And Sarah Bowman's Joint

On The Arizona Bank of The Colorado River"

Uno and me at Yuma Crossing

Yes, we are standing, well, at least I am, on the Arizona side of the Colorado and perhaps a few yards south of the ferry crossing in the top aerial illustration. And, the dwelling on the Arizona side of the river belongs to this giant gal.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Great Western In The Same General Vicinity"

   Meanwhile, here's a Dan The Man poster of the illustration I did last week, aping a real Arrow Shirts ad from the 1920s.

   And, here's an actual 1920s Arrow Shirt advertisement for comparison.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of copyright infringement."

—Old Legalese Saying