Outlaws Across America

Outlaws – Produced by Dave Alexander, music by Scott Buckley

Start your journey here through the tales of Old West Outlaws, Scoundrels, Lawmen turned bad, and wannabes.  This is where we learn about the Bad Boys (and a few women).  Not all of their tales started off bad but most led the hard life of westward expansion in sometimes lawless conditions.  Frank James said it best – “Have you any idea of what a man must endure who leads such a life? No, you cannot. No one can unless he lives it for himself.”

Old West Outlaw List

Outlaw Gangs

Outlaw & Scoundrel Photo Galleries

Gangsters, Mobsters & Outlaws of the 20th Century

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Featured Articles:

Burton Alvord – Lawman Turned Outlaw

The Apache Kid – Outlaw Legend of the Southwest

James Averell – Unjustly Hanged

Bad Men of Texas

Rattlesnake Dick Barter’s Stolen Loot

James Berry – A Little Known Outlaw From Missouri

Big Nose George Becomes a Pair of Shoes

Big Springs, Nebraska Train Robbery

Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid.

Billy The Kid – Teenage Outlaw of the Southwest

Billy the Kid – Fatal Shot in the Dark by Pat Garrett

The Real Billy

The Bloody Benders of Labette County, Kansas

The Bloody Espinosas – Terrorizing Colorado

Jules Beni – Corruption and Violence in Old Julesburg, Colorado

Isaac Black – Oklahoma Outlaw

Bill Booth – A Notorious Slayer in Wyoming

Dutch Henry Born – Biggest Horse Thief in the American West

Black Bart, Outlaw

Black Bart, Outlaw

Charles “Black Bart” Bowles – The Poet Outlaw

Henry Newton Brown – Robbing the American West

Hoodoo Brown – Dodge City Gang Leader

Butch Cassidy, aka Robert Leroy Parker

Cattle Kate – Mystery of a Lynching

Cherokee Bill – Terror of Indian Territory

Will “Black Jack” Christian – Leading the High Fives Gang

Outlaw William Coe and His Missing Loot

Joel Collins – Cowboy Outlaw of the Black Hills

Bill Cook – Leading the Cook Gang in Oklahoma

Bob Dalton, leader of the outlaw Dalton Gang

Bob Dalton, leader of the outlaw Dalton Gang

Dalton Gang – Deadly Boys of Kansas

Big Jack Davis – Nevada Outlaw

Pony Deal – Outlaw & Gunfighter of the Southwest

Desert Outlaws

The Desperado of the Plains

The Notorious Dodge City Gang of Las Vegas, New Mexico

First Train Robbery On The Pacific Coast

Robert Ford – Jesse James’ Killer

Gangsters, Mobsters & Outlaws of the 20th Century

Charles A. “Jack” Harris – Saloon Keeper & Highway Man

Alexander Harvey – Desperado of the Fur Trade

Boone Helm – Murderer, Cannibal & Thief

H.H. Holmes

H.H. Holmes

H. H. Holmes and the Murder Castle of Chicago

The Imitation Desperado

The Vicious Harpes – First American Serial Killers

Harry Head – Arizona Outlaw

John Heath and the Bisbee Massacre

Marion Hedgepeth – A Dapper Outlaw

Highwaymen of the Railroad

Robert Woodson Hite – Member of the James Gang

John Henry “Doc” Holliday – Deadly Doctor of the West

H.H. Holmes and the Murder Castle of Chicago

Jimmy Hope – King of the Bank Robbers

The Lawless Horrell Boys of Lampasas, Texas

Jesse James – Folklore Hero or Cold-Blooded Killer?

Frank – The Other James Boy

James-Younger Gang

The James-Younger Gang – Left to right: Cole” Younger,
Jesse Woodson James, Bob Younger, and Frank James.

The James-Younger Gang – Terrorism in the Heartland

Kit Joy – The Evolution of a Train Robber

Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum – Unjustly Hanged

The Land of the Desperado

“Clubfoot” George Lane – Outlaw Shoemaker?

John M. Larn – Vigilante, Outlaw, Lawman

The Lee Gang – Murder and Thievery on the Texas Border

Buckskin Frank Leslie – Another Tombstone Rowdy

Harvey Logan, aka “Kid Curry” – Wildest of the Wild Bunch

Wild Bill Longley – A Dangerous Man in Dangerous Times

Lynchings & Hangings of America

The Lynching of “Big Steve” Long

Samuel “Wolfman” Mason Takes On the Natchez Trace

Mysterious Dave Mather

Mysterious Dave Mather

Mysterious Dave Mather – Lawman or Outlaw?

Gunplay Maxwell – Utah Gunfighter & Outlaw

Sherman McMasters – Outlaw or Lawman?

“Doc” Middleton – The King of Horse Thieves

Modern Bad Men

Joaquin Murrieta – Patriot or Desperado?

Jim Murphy – Betrayer of the Bass Gang

Old Convict’s Gravesite Near Safford, Arizona

Outlaws of the Mountains

Alfred Packer

Alfred Packer

Alfred G. Packer – Colorado Cannibal

The Passing Of Peg-Leg

Henry Plummer – Sheriff Meets a Noose

Henry Plummer by Emerson Hough

Queho – Renegade Indian Outlaw

The Reno Gang & the First Big Train Robbery

Dirty Dave Rudabaugh – Feared by Billy the Kid

John Selman – Wicked Lawman and Vicious Outlaw

Shootout at the Pembina Post Office

Cyrus Skinner – Gold Field Outlaw

Sally Skull – The Scariest Siren in Texas

Joseph Slade – Hanged By Vigilantes

Pete Spence – Escaping the Wrath of the Earps

Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen

Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen

Belle Starr – The Bandit Queen

Henry Starr – Cherokee Bad Boy

Wham Paymaster Robbery Near Pima, Arizona

William “Russian Bill” Tattenbaum, the Noble Outlaw

John Turnow – The Wild Man of the Wynoochee

Big Dave Updyke – Crooked Sheriff of Ada County, Idaho

The Valenzuela Gang of Arizona

Tiburcio Vasquez – California Desperado

Hank Vaughan – The Unhappy Horse Thief

Vigilantes

Vigilantes

Vigilantes and Bad Men of Arizona

Charles Waggoner – Colorado Robin Hood

Fred Waite – Chickasaw Outlaw Turned Politician

John Joshua Webb – Lawman Turned Outlaw

George “Red Buck” Weightman – Vicious Oklahoma Desperado

Erastus “Red” Yager – Another Innocent Man?

Zip Wyatt – Notorious Oklahoma Hombre

Compiled by Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2023.

“Where law ends, there tyranny begins.” —  William Pitt

Also See:

Old West Scoundrels

Outlaw Gangs

Story of the Outlaw – Study of the Western Desperado

Train Robberies of America

Vigilantes