Dr. History's Tales of the Old West

Latest Episodes:

The Story Teller Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

Henry McDonald wanted his own freighting business, George Myers wanted to sell. McDonald ended up with Myers outfit, but how did he get it? Myers ended up dead, a jury found McDonald guilty of murder despite his many stories. His life ended on the gallows.

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Serial Wife Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

Ed Meyer was deathly sick in the hospital. He was recovering until he kept eating his wife’s daily picnic basket. Lyda Lewis's routine was to take out life insurance policies on her husbands, who soon died after marriage. Finally caught, she went to prison.

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Counterfeit Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

The Eddys and the Splawns used wooden molds of five, ten and twenty-dollar gold pieces to make their own money. With careful research they used plaster coins, coated with an alloy, then coated with a gold mixture and using an electric battery produced the counterfeit coins. Charley Reavis, an amateur detective solved the case, the family went to jail.

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Sawtooth Jack Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

The 900 pound grizzly was caught in a huge cage by Dutch Schwartz. After being shown around Ketchum, Idaho, he was taken to New Orleans to the World’s Fair, then sold and exhibited as “Idaho Jack.” Grizzly Johnson supposedly choked a bear to death, and the Swede who attacked a bear and another bear who ended up in a bunkhouse. Some of these sound more fiction than fact.

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The Wild West Show Business Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

It took incredible teamwork to prepare for the shows. Carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, harness makers, tent makers, horse trainers and cooks. On the road, organizing the train cars, wagons and performers. The Cossacks, trained elephants, bronc riders, sharp shooters, trick riding, Indian battles all took precise timing.

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Mules Led the Charge Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

Chief Gray Beard held two white girls captive. Lt. Frank Baldwin’s orders were to attack. Vastly outnumbered, he organized his men and 23 six-mule teams with wagons to charge the Indian Village. The Indians scattered and the girls were rescued.

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Dromedary Express Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

Using camels for a pack train sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately, the camels smelled terrible and frightened horses and mules causing them to go crazy with fear, sometimes plunging to their death. The plan was a total failure.

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Bible in a Bearskin Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

When Sumner Bacon found religion, he wanted to spread the word. With no formal training he began preaching, the first Protestant in Texas. He delivered hundreds of Bibles and helped General Sam Houston as a messenger.

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And The Band Played On Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

As Indians attacked a wagon train, the captain ordered the band to play. The Indians thought this might be a new powerful medicine, so they stopped and listened. The immigrants offered food and gifts, the Indians provided buffalo meat, disaster was averted.

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Quicksand Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

Movies and TV show people dying a slow death or getting rescued just before going under. Experts today say you cannot drown in quicksand and there are techniques to get yourself out with help or even by yourself.

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