5 Crazy True Stories: Women of The Wild West

The Wild West wasn't just a man's world. Some of the most astonishing stories from the American frontier belonged to women who robbed banks, wore badges, survived gunfights, defied powerful cattlemen, escaped prison and became legends in their own right. But these aren't the same old Western stories you've heard a hundred times. In 5 Crazy True Stories: Women of the Wild West, we dig deeper into the frontier and uncover five remarkable true stories of women who found themselves in places no one expected them to be. Meet Cora Hubbard, a woman who didn't simply fall in with a gang of bank robbers. She took part in the robbery herself, setting off a sensational manhunt that would eventually bring the unlikely outlaw back to Missouri. Meet Ada Carnutt, a woman who wore the badge of a Deputy U.S. Marshal at a time when federal law enforcement was overwhelmingly male. When criminals needed to be arrested, she didn't wait for someone else to do the job. Meet Ella Watson, remembered by history as "Cattle Kate." But the sensational story told about her after her death may have been nothing more than a carefully constructed lie. Behind one of Wyoming's most notorious lynchings lies a disturbing story of land, power, murder and a legend that refused to die. Meet Poker Alice, the cigar-smoking gambler whose reputation has overshadowed one of the most remarkable episodes of her life. According to her own account, she found herself caught in a deadly gunfight in the streets of Creede. And meet Pearl Hart, the infamous female outlaw whose story became stranger after her arrest. A spectacular escape, a sensational trial and a bizarre transformation into a media celebrity made her one of the most talked-about women in the American West. Five women. Five unbelievable stories. And five reminders that the frontier was far more complicated, dangerous and unpredictable than the legends make it seem. Some of these women were criminals. Some wore badges. Some were victims of powerful men. Some survived situations that should have killed them. All of them left behind stories worth remembering. If you love Old West history, forgotten characters, frontier crime, legendary women and true stories that make you stop and say, "There's no way that actually happened," this book is for you. The Wild West still has plenty of stories left to tell. These are five of them.