Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Abe is getting updated. The new, technicolor $5 bill goes into circulation March 13. Has anyone but me noticed that, just like some Latin American country, the more colorful our money is the less it's worth?

Speaking of money. . . .

We have four titles left for Christmas giving:

The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth and the Great American Tragedy (paper) $22

The Day Dixie Died: Southern Occupation, 1865-1866 (hardcover) $25

Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short, Savage Life of a Civil War Guerilla (paper) $15

We also have a handful of Stories in Stone, the book on Topeka Cemetery. They are $10 each.

We will happily take your check, or even bland, green money, autograph to whomever you'd like, and mail it to them for only $3 extra.

We have a brand new tour season starting in the spring, so watch our blog, historygypsies.blogspot.com for tour information, and read Tom's Wild West blog on historynet.com.
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Kansas Public Radio

Today was Kansas trivia day on KANU and I just happened to be listening (as I am every day) when they asked, "In which Kansas town did Elizabeth Taylor spend her first Christmas?"

Imagine how edified I was when Kevin S., a neighbor, knew the answer was Arkansas City because he read it in our Kansas Journal of Military History. Kevin had come by our house a few days ago and picked up a copy of Bloody Dawn, the only book of Tom's he had not read, as well as copies of our magazine. Bless his heart. . . .

Oh, and Elizabeth's paternal grandparents lived in Ark City, where she spent a lot of her childhood, and I believe attended kindergarten.

Bloody Bill Anderson Strikes Again

I receive about 75 to 100 Google alerts daily on topics related to the Civil War, Indian Wars, Wild West, Deep South, and Home Improvement. What an invaluable service! Until a few days ago. . . .

The subject of my alert was Bloody Bill Anderson. I opened it to a video of a couple engaged in . . . . well, use your imagination. I closed and deleted it immediately, but not before my computer was infected with at least one virus. I have been struggling with spyware programs all week.

Even from the grave, Bill Anderson wreaks havoc.

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Small World Syndrome

Frank Stallone (left) has hit the big time with his role in the new movie, Fred Claus. Don't know Frank Stallone? He happens to be Sly's brother, but our Western fans might recall him as Ed Bailey (below, with Kate and Doc), the first victim of Doc Holliday in the film Tombstone. A few months ago, our bud Andy Waskie escorted Philadelphians Sly and Frank through Laurel Hill Cemetery as they were scouting scenes for a new movie.

"You don't scare me, Holliday. Without them guns, you're ain't nothin' but a skinny lunger!"


Alas, with the sun coming up, after a night of poker, drinking and smoking, poor Ed's patience had run its course. Too bad he couldn't have chosen his words more carefully for they were to be his last. Ed Bailey-- his role was a brief one. But it was rich!