April 4, 2025
—Leonardo da Vinci
If you've ever wondered what it's like to run a magazine or how crazy my personal life is, be sure to read the behind-the-scenes peek at the daily trials and tribulations of running True West. Culled straight from my Franklin Daytimer, it contains actual journal entries, laid out raw and uncensored. Some of it is enlightening. Much of it is embarrassing, but all of it is painfully true. Are you a True West Maniac? Get True West for LIFE...Click here!
April 4, 2025
—Leonardo da Vinci
April 3, 2025
I recently realized I am not the only person who totally digs the classic sugarloaf sombrero. When I was in Tucson for the Tucson Book Festival, Stuart and I picked up our custom hats at Arizona Hatters, I found out the guys who work there are just as thrilled as I am with those old style gargantuan Mexican lids. Some are trying to duplicate the style, but so far, it's a bit out of reach. Here's why.
(note the curled sweep and the pinch at the top)
It is not a Spanish style (as some have posited), but totally Indio, and you can see in old photos that the brims and the crowns just keep growing and growing from the 1880s until by about 1915 when they are off the charts humungo.
And, then, unfortunately because of the Mexican Revolution, the style is inseparable with the insurgents and when they are defeated it loses its appeal. And by the 1950s only a caricature style remains (the charro sombrero) but it's a pale substitute for the mighty sugarloaf.
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Daily Whip Out: "Sugarloaf Paisano" |
April 2, 2025
I met Val Kilmer on the set of Tombstone in June of 1993. He was a little stand-offish and reserved, but it must be said, he was in character and damn did that ever pay off!
Val passed yesterday. He was 65.
Here are two versions of him I recreated, depicting one of his most famous scenes:
Both are available as art prints.
"That's just my game."
—Doc Holliday
April 1, 2025
It's been a while, but we're headed for New Mexico next week to go visit this tiny berg.
Don't tell anyone, but here's a sneak peek at the next cover.
I tell you, that Dan the Man is a talented mahoo. Totally rocks.
Had an online staff meeting this morning, so I half-dressed up, which means I kept my morning togs on, below the screen. When Kathy came home from Jazzercize, I went out to the garage to meet her and she caught me dressed, well, like this.
Dressing for Semi-Success
(Yes, Uno finds it hilarious.)
"The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it."
—Walt Whitman
March 31, 2025
Been looking back at my original quest of doing 10,000 bad drawings. Hard to believe now, but I achieved that dubious goal way back in August of 2009.
Daily Whip Outs: "August 7, 2009
"Buck-toothed Studies, August 10, 2009
"Final Exam, August 30, 2009"
(What if Frederic Remington met R. Crumb at Woodstock?)
So, I am 15 years on and still reaching for the big brass Whip Out ring.
Meanwhile, this just in from my neighbor:
My email has been hacked again. This is the third time I've had to rename my dog.
"One wonders how some [artists] ever came to painting at all after exhibiting such surprising ability to dodge knowledge."
—Robert Henri
March 30, 2025
Drove out to Apache Junction yesterday morning for a big show at the Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum. I personally brought Marshall Trimble out of retirement so he could sign our co-written book, "The 66 Kids." Here we are at our table before we bought new hatbands.
And then, just like that, we had Navajo hatbands because our table neighbor, Alyce B. Tso, suggested we try on her handmade Navajo hatbands.
Alyce B. Tso (pronounced Alice B. So, as in Alice Be So Navajo) is from Cameron, Arizona up on the Navajo Res and we hit it off immediately. Nobody is funnier to me than the Navajo when it comes to Zane, with the possible exception of the Hualapais.
"I don't like snow because it's white and it's on my land."
—Old Hualapai Saying
March 28, 2025
Just got word that Buckeye Blake's long awaited Billy In Death shrine sculpture is at the foundry and Buckeye hisself drove 13 hours home after delivering it.
We—Buckeye, Kid Ross and myself—are going to have an art show at the Lamy Church, south of Santa Fe, and I am contributing a version of the Kid's last second on earth.
Meanwhile, in Old Fort Sumner on a hot July night. . .
I think his question was more furtive than menacing. But that's just an old man talking.
And, here are the seeds to a song I'd like to hear, with a growling guitar line:
From Dust to Dusting
"You come from dust and you will return to dust. That's why I don't dust. It could be someone I know."
—Old Housewife Saying
March 26, 2025
Got this going for me. Woke up thinking about a title of a painting.
And, really, was he ever really away? Not in my world.
"Smiling Billy at Midnite in Lincoln
On The Most Dangerous Street In America."
I also need to come up with some worthy Mexican mourners for Buckeye's Billy Wake Shrine. Got some good reference. Need to make some serious hay today.
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Daily Whip Out: "Old Fort Sumner Mourners" |
Had a history talk down at the Holland Center last night at six. We found two boxes of Hellraisers otherwise it's all sold out. Made me think of Jana, my co-author. We had some fun.
—Jana Bommersbach
March 24, 2025
As you may know, Marshall Trimble has retired, but I talked him into coming out of the lap of luxury for one more trip down memory lane, this Saturday at the Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum from 10 to 3 on Saturday. See you there, but be sure to wear hipboots. It's going to get deep, real fast.
Small Town BSers Unite for One More Run
https://superstitionmountainlostdutchmanmuseum.org/
Cousins Galore
When we were at Old Tucson for the Jay Dusard True Westerner Award presentation, my Kingman cousin, Robert Jerl Stockbridge showed up. Haven't seen him in some time and, just for the record he looks just like his old man.
(yes, we are both named for our grandfather, Robert Guess)
Meanwhile, today my cousin from my dad's side of the family came out to Cave Creek so we could catch up on the Bell side of the family.
A Recipe for Disaster
On January 1, 1856 Brigham Young appointed John D. Lee “Farmer to the Indians”. In this capacity Lee was a federal government agent and it was his job to protect the Southern Paiutes and emigrants from each other and to teach them to farm. Lee was paid a $600 annual salary, paid in gold, which was a fortune in that time and place. There were also rumors that the Mormons were arming their Paiute allies. Lt. Sylvester Mowry of the U.S. Army claimed they were “all armed with good rifles. Two years ago they were armed with nothing but bows and arrows of the poorest description.”
Author Will Bagley makes the claim “The Mormons came to regard the Indians as a weapon God had placed in their hands.” And that the Indians would help to fulfill Joseph Smith’s Laminate prophesies, and “avenge the blood of the prophets.” Patriarch Elisha H. Groves prophesied as he blessed Col. William Dame in 1854, “The angel of vengeance shall be with thee.” Many of the Southern Utah Saints believed the war at the end of time had already begun and the Saints believed the Indians were a weapon God had placed in their hands.
As the conflict between the U.S. government and Mormons increased, so did harassment of travelers. Into this cauldron of resentment the Fancher wagon train proceeded tragically. Add to that, the belief in blood atonement and you have a recipe for the slaughter that followed.
The Southern Utah Saints saw themselves as Old Testament people As one of them, Jedediah Grant, put it, “We would not kill a man, of course, unless we killed him to save him.”
Add to all of this, the Mormon apostle Parley Platt’s brutal assassination in Arkansas at the hands of a vengeful husband which did nothing to endear the Saints towards wagon trains from Arkansas traveling through their region.
"The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn."
—Bertrand Russell
March 23, 2025
Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl
Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden
I was in love but in vain, I could tell
One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina, the girl that I loved
So in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor
Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran
Out where the horses were tied
I caught a good one, it looked like it could run
Up on its back and away I did ride
Just as fast as I could
From the West Texas town of El Paso
Out to the badlands of New Mexico
Back in El Paso my life would be worthless
Everything's gone in life, nothing is left
It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden
My love is stronger than my fear of death
I saddled up and away I did go
Riding alone in the dark
Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me
Tonight nothing's worse than this pain in my heart
And at last, here I am on the hill, overlooking El Paso
I can see Rosa's cantina below
My love is strong and it pushes me onward
Down off the hill to Felina I go
Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me
I have to make it to Rosa's back door
Something is dreadfully wrong, for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
But my love for Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen
Though I am weary, I can't stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest
From out of nowhere Felina has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
March 22, 2024
The less you see the more you understand. This is just one of the insights I have gleaned from an extra 17 years on the planet. Yes, it was on this date, March 22nd, that I had my own personal "Wipeout" at a band reunion in Kingman. And, every extra year I get, I stop to give thanks for the overtime. And, also to take stock of what I might have learned.
"Ozona Cowboy 4:44"
For everything I gained, I lost something. And, for everything I lost, I gained something. And, yes, I am stuck with you here in this dopamine desert.
"Ozona Cowboy 5:55"
"Ahead of The Dust Storm Barely"
Too maudlin? Sorry, can't help you there. I measure my remaining time by the moments.
"It's getting dark, too dark to see. . ."
—Bob Dylan, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
March 21, 2025
Interesting that the capital punishment industry is considering a return to the bullet in the heart method as a "more humane" alternative to lethal injection and hanging. The more things change. . .
And speaking of firing squads, it's hard to top the absurd reality of John D. Lee's sendoff at the scene of his crime.
"John D. Lee Falls Into Eternal Rest"
(from an engraving published at the time)
U.S. Army sharpshooters stood in the enclosure of three wagons parked in a U-shaped semi-circle. Tarps were wrapped around the wagons and the exposed corners to help conceal the shooter's identities. Sitting on his coffin, Lee had a hood placed over his head and he raised his arms high and said, "Center my heart, boys." After the command of "Ready. Aim. Fire!" the shooters did just that and Lee fell backwards into his coffin.
Back to Mountain Meadows
After the second trial and several appeals on behalf of Mr. Lee, the U.S. government finally got a guilty verdict and it was decreed that the alleged ringleader of the Mountain Meadows disaster should be driven to that exact meadow and shot to death by a firing squad. It was supposed to be a secret, but one of the attorneys alerted the press and you know how that goes: everyone has one person they can trust, so the next day as the U.S. troops and their prisoner arrived at the execution site, so did 75, or so, gawkers.
Note the wagon tongue at right which is part of one of the wagons used to conceal the shooters.
One Final Irony
It's the old gypsy curse: may you be found among lawyers!
Coffin Lounger
Bitter to the end
"I was guided in all that I did which is called criminal, by the orders of the leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
—John D. Lee
March 20, 2025
We're wrapping up the tangled web of historic intrigue that still surrounds and haunts the Mountain Meadows affair. Even with the massive amounts of recent scholarship, it's still very difficult to close the circle, or to put it another way, to get closure on the circle. It's like all our efforts to capture and tame the truth are stored in a broken jar.
A Timeline of The John D. Lee Saga
• The tragic culmination of threats and religious hatred combined with a crazy plan, doomed an entire wagon train at Mountain Meadows, September 11, 1857
• Col. James Carleton's savage report unveils the true perpetrators at Mountain Meadows but war clouds delay any move towards justice.
• The Civil War intervenes 1861-1864
• New government efforts by the Justice Department reopen the case. In 1874 indictments are issued against eight alleged Mountain Meadows participants with a $500 reward on each. They include, John D. Lee, Issac Haight, William Dame, John Higbee, among others.
• John D. Lee is arrested in Panguitch, Utah, November 4, 1876
• John D. Lee's first trial
• John D. Lee's second trial
• John D. Lee is executed at Mountain Meadows
• Some of the remaining co-conspirators scatter to the wind while one came out of the troubles somewhat unscathed.
Dueling Confessions
One of the problems with understanding exactly what happened at Mountain Meadows is all the conflicting confessions. Klingonsmith gave a confession—and John D. Lee gave several at different times. In addition to those, one of Lee's wives, Emma Lee, claimed that three men came to Lonely Dell (Lee's Ferry) looking for Lee's 1857 diary. According to Emma the diary contained "the three orders from Dame and Haight to go and take part in the massacre." Emma also claimed the men destroyed the diary. Damning testimony against Dame and Haight, if it's true. Unfortunately, as Will Bagley put it, "All of Lee's confessions were a tangled mix of truth and fiction."
Guilty As Sin
A short list of what happened to the remaining Mountain Meadows co-conspirators who were known derisively as "The Mountain Meadows Dogs." This notorious pack included Lee, Haight, Higbee and Stewart, among others.
Issac Haight, fled Utah under the alias of "Horton" and wandered between the LDS settlements in Arizona, Colorado and Mexico and died as a member in good standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Thatcher, Arizona in 1904.
Philip Klingonsmith was kicked in the head by a horse and soon after lost his position as leader of the LDS church in Cedar City. After fleeing to Nevada he confessed his involvement at Mountain Meadows and named names. Afterwards he was forever fearful of being assassinated. Rumor says he died in either Nevada or Mexico.
The One Dude Who Basically Skated
Col. William H. Dame was the mayor of Parowan, Utah and he controlled the military in Iron County. He was also a stake president of the LDS church in Parowan. Although he was arrested and spent time in jail for his role, Dame was subsequently acquitted of his charges—the prosecutor dropped charges against Dame as part of a deal to convict Lee—and Dame went on to hold other offices. At the end of his life Dame refused to clear Brigham Young and died of paralysis, actually a second stroke, in 1884. He was 64.
Jacob Hamblin was in Salt Lake City meeting with Brigham Young at the time of the massacre, and Young allegedly instructed Hamblin about the Paiutes, that they "must learn to help us, or the United States will kill us both." Hamblin was away when the massacred happened but he met John D. Lee on the trail and Lee admitted his roles in the killings. After the massacre, the surviving children were initially taken to Hambin's ranch, and three of them resided there for the next two years. A year after the massacre Hamblin went on a mission to the Hopi in Arizona where he took a Hopi wife (he eventually had four wives and would father 24 children). Hamblin also advised John Wesley Powell's second expedition into the Grand Canyon. Following the Edmunds Act of 1882, an arrest warrant was issued for Hamblin for practicing polygamy. From then on he continually moved to avoid arrest, moving from Arizona to New Mexico and then Chihuahua, Mexico where he died on August 31, 1886.
The field commander at Mountain Meadows John Higbee saw his career blossom after the massacre and he was elected mayor of Cedar City from 1867 to 1871. Brigham Young appointed Higbee president of the town's United Order in 1874. After Lee's arrest in 1874, Higbee went into hiding. Using the alias "Bull Valley Snort," Higbee wrote a document for his family, giving his version of the massacre in February 1894. At the end of his self-serving excuses—his basic claim is "the Indians made us do it."—Higbee said the massacre had left him "damned, his family scattered, some dead, others grown up and strangers to him." He died in Cedar City in December of 1904.
"It seems Somebody has contracted a Great debt."
—Bull Valley Snort