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Horse Thieves Paradise: John Jennings leads Colorado Vigilantes into No Man’s Land
Here are a few clippings about the citizens “of half a dozen Colorado villages, Boston, Springfield, Vilas, Minneapolis, and Carriso and also Richfield in Kansas, are uniting to make an expedition against its horse thieves into No Man’s Land.” It appears this trip was led by none other than John Jennings who at the time…
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An Al Jennings 1908 Silent Western, “The Bank Robbery”
I have mentioned several times the influence Old Boston, Colorado likely had on the early development of the western movie genre because of the time Al Jennings and the Jennings clan spent there. He doesn’t mention Boston much after their time there, but like everyone else who past through the town, the Jennings left there…
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An 1887 Letter from Judge Jennings
Many of you are familiar with Judge JDF Jennings who was Vice President of the Boston or Atlantis (Colorado) Town Company from my book “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come.” The Judge aka Judge Jennings aka John D.F. Jennings was a former plantation owner, an attorney, and a physician. He served the Confederacy during…
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The Strange Story of Stevenson, Baca County, Colorado & Reverend William Evans
by: Steven Doner and Kent Brooks My introduction to Stevenson happened in 2010 when I was first shown the Lost 1894 Colorado Relief Map by James McConnell School Supplies of Denver, Colorado. Immediately, I began combing the bottom right corner for familiar names, but more so for unfamiliar items that might fuel my curiosity. Exploring…
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Did the Forgotten Old West Town of Boston Colorado Influence the entire Genre of Western Movies?
“Low characters naturally gravitated in this direction where they would be in less danger of the law. Peaceable men were sometimes forced to become murderers through association with the lawless element who were thrown in their midst. Questions were not asked of their past.” -J.R. Austin, 1936, An Early History of Baca County In the…
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Was Old Boston Really As Wild As They Come?
By The Writer Originally published in the Plainsman Herald, Springfield, Colorado, June 19, 2024 “An elderly gentleman on his way to Colorado was asked what there was attractive there, and answered ‘Nothing sir, but a dry burying ground and shorter route to Heaven” –The Ashland Weekly Journal, 1887 No one has really questioned my book’s…
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“Ten Nights in a Bar Room” by the Boston Amateur Dramatic Troupe: Theatre in 1880s Southeast Colorado
The Boston Amateur Dramatic troupe reproduced “Ten Nights in a Bar Room” at the Murray hall last Friday night. The weather was intensely disagreeable, and the crowd correspondingly small. There were not more than 150 people present. The troupe made a marked improvement over their first effort. The Citizen (Trinidad Colorado) 13 Jan 1888 The…
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Preacher Evans: The Great Orator of Minneapolis, Colorado
Public speaking was an important part of life in 19th century America. Whether you wanted to win an election, win support for a reform movement, or become a successful minister, you needed to learn how to deliver crowd-pleasing speeches. Candidates for office debated one another. Evangelical ministers hoping to win people to their denominations could…
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News from Baca County, July 16, 1898
The news from the July 16, 1898 Springfield Herald is exactly 121 years ago, July 16, 1898. In 1898 the editor of the Springfield Herald was L. A Wikoff. There wasn’t a lot of local news. Each week there was a weekly Crop report by F.H. Brandenburg out of Denver. They mention insurgents in Cuba…
