Brownielocks and The 3 Bears
Present our 2011 Rootin' Tootin'  Halloween Costumes

Plus...

Our  rootin' tootin' trivia pertains to the Wild West or the American Frontier as some scholars refer it to. We cover some of the most famous and notorious, as well as some of the lesser known, but ( we feel)  very interesting,  people of the time.  They include the outlaws, the women who loved them and the lawmen who chased them.   It also includes some prostitutes and madams of the era as well.

Therefore, this is an equal opportunity trivia for both men and women from ages 12 on up!
We realize some of the questions are a wee bit hard.  But, this is more for learning than really a contest of Wild West wit.  Hopefully, we're giving you some information others haven't.

 

There are 65 questions. 

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1.   To his close friends, Jesse James had this nickname.

(a)  Deadeye
(b)  Dingus
(c)  JBuck
(d)  Slick

2.  Which of the following was called "The Gun That Won The West?"

(a) Colt 45
(b) Winchester 73
(c) Smith & Wesson No. 3 Revolver
(d) Double Barrel Shotgun (Coach Gun)

3.  Which of the following groups is believed to be the real true tamers of the Wild, Wild West?

(a) Mail Order Brides
(b) Religious groups
(c) Lawmen
(d) The Temperance Movement

 

4.  Who captured Billy the Kid?

(a) Wyatt Earp
(b) Bat Masterson
(c) Alan Pinkerton
(d) Pat Garrett

5.   Clay Allen was a hot-tempered gunman who had a toothache one day. So he rode into Cheyenne, Wyoming and got a dentist. But, the dentist pulled out the wrong tooth. So what did Clay do?

(a) He shot him
(b) He ripped out some of the dentist's teeth.
(c) He punched him and broke his jaw.
(d) Nothing.  He was too drunk and didn't notice until the next day.

6. Commodore Perry Owens was a handsome lawman who was known for what?

(a) Never drinking
(b) Never gambling
(c)  Respecting women
(d)  All of the above

7.   Jack McCall shot Wild Bill Hickock  while he was playing poker.  The hand that he was holding is known as "Dead Man's Hand."  What was it?

(a) Ace of Spades,  8 of Spades,  Ace of Clubs,  8 of Clubs
(b) Ace of Spades,  8 of  Hearts,  Ace of Hearts, 8 of Spades
(c) 8 of Diamonds, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, 8 of Hearts
(d) 8 of Clubs, 8 of Diamonds, Ace of Spades, Ace of Hearts

8.   "The New Plan" was a match-making magazine with the purpose of helping to unite  lonely hearts  (of all ages) who have common monetary and social backgrounds to find each other.   This magazine was published where?

(a) San Francisco, CA
(b) Seattle, WA
(c) Kansas City, MO
(d) Boston, MA

9.  Which of the following outlaws wanted to be cremated when they died?

(a) Doc Holliday
(b) Wyatt Earp
(c) Bob Dalton
(d) Frank James

10.   Who was known as "The Hanging Judge?"

(a)  Judge Isaac Parker
(b)  Judge Jerome Anderson
(c)  Judge Wilmot Smyth
(d)  Judge Percival Ingles

11.  The Dalton Gang met their fate in Coffeyville, Kansas October 1892.  What  daring robbery attempt did they try to do that had never been done before?

(a)  Rob both a stage coach and a bank.
(b) Rob a train and a bank in one day.
(c) Rob two banks at the same time.
(d) Rob two trains in one day (morning and evening).

 

12.   Which of the "Wild Bunch" gang members really like riding a bicycle?  (Note: The movie was not accurate)

(a) Butch Cassidy
(b) Ben Cruzan
(c) James Lowe
(d) Ben Kilpatrick

13.  In Denver, Colorado the town council ordered all "women of ill repute" to wear yellow ribbons.  Jennie Rogers, a well-known madam of the town wasn't going to be intimidated.  So she ordered her girls to do what instead?

(a) Wear all yellow dresses to stick out totally!
(b) Have their male customers wear the yellow ribbons on their cowboy hats.
(c) Decorate the bordello with yellow curtains in the windows.
(d) Got all her girls bright yellow parasols to twirl whenever they went outside.

14.  Kate Horony aka "Big Nose Kate" was a well-known prostitute and madam and was said to be having a relationship with which of the following outlaws?

(a)  Wyatt Earp
(b)  Doc Holliday
(c)  Jesse James
(d)  Frank Dalton

15.  Billy the Kid was also known as:

(a) Henry McCarty
(b) Henry Antrim
(c) Billy Bonney
(d) All of the above

16.  Alan Pinkerton was America's first private detective.  He was born in what country?

(a) England
(b) Ireland
(c) Scotland
(d) Canada

17.  Ben Kilpatrick aka "The Tall Texan" was illiterate.  As a result, what did he always end up doing?

(a) Ordered nothing but ham and beans in saloons because he couldn't read the menu.
(b) Had saloon girls read the newspapers to him.
(c) Hire prostitutes to go read the Wanted posters and then tell him what they said.
(d) Burned  down school houses after they robbed the banks.

18.   Who of the following, was NOT shot in the back?

(a) Wild Bill Hickcock
(b) John Wesley Hardin
(c)  Belle Starr
(d)  All of them were.

19.  Della Rose (who had a lot of aliases) traveled with which outlaw gang?

(a)  The Daltons
(b)  Jesse James' Gang
(c)   The Wild Bunch (Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid)
(d)   The Youngers

20.   Outlaw Black Bart Boles is said to have robbed over 28 stagecoaches.  Many times, he'd leave what behind after the robbery as sort of a symbolic gesture?

(a)   A poem
(b)   His handkerchief
(c)   One gold coin
(d)   A bullet painted black

21.  James Bowie didn't really invent the knife that he's known for.  Who did?

(a) His Father
(b) His brother
(c) His Grandfather
(d) We don't know.  He just took credit for it.

22.  One of the more popular bordellos in San Francisco was that of Madam Jessie Hayman. But, she was more known as "Diamond Jessie" because?

(a)  She wore a lot of diamonds.
(b)  She won a big diamond ring in a Mississippi riverboat gambling game.
(c)  She had her girls wear only diamond jewelry to show they had class.
(d)  She served her guests nothing but the finest wines in the finest diamond-cut crystal glasses.

23. Christopher "Kit" Carson  was a brigadier general for the Union in the Civil War.  He was unique in that he was the only Union general that was what?

(a) Under 5'3" tall.
(b) Not married.
(c) Illiterate
(d) Color Blind

24.  The Matrimonial News was what?

(a)  An East Coast newspaper that announced marriages.
(b)  A book for men and women on what was expected of each of them in marriage.
(c)  A San Francisco match-making newspaper that posted personal ads for mates.
(d)  A railroad newsletter announcing the arrival of mail-order brides to a town.

 

25.  Buffalo Billy Cody's Wild West Show featured which of the following Indian chiefs?

(a) Sitting Bull
(b) Cochise
(c) Geronimo
(d) Chief Joseph

26.  Sister Florence Mabel Dedrick, a missionary from Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois was dedicated to what cause?

(a)  Helping  men stop drinking
(b)  To help sheriffs clean up towns of gambling joints
(c)  Rescuing "soiled doves"  from a life of prostitution
(d)  Helping the wives and children whose fathers  were killed by outlaws

27.  Bat Masterson did this for almost 20 years:

(a)  Farmer
(b)  Sports Writer
(c)  Lawyer
(d)  Publisher

28.  Alan Pinkerton was trained in what trade when he came to the US?

(a)  Cooper - barrel making
(b)  Blacksmith
(c)  Silversmith
(d)  Scotland Yard Police Work

29.  Billy the Kid had what prominent feature? (Note: If you had looked at are cartoon above, you should get this.)

(a) Big ears
(b) Buck teeth
(c) Bad limp
(d) Bushy eyebrows

30.   The Wild Bunch changed from cowboy hats to derby hats one day because:

(a)  Their hats were full of bullet holes.
(b)  Their wanted posters all had them wearing cowboy hats.
(c)  They had a fight amongst themselves and all their hats got messed up.
(d)  They wanted to look more dashing than the other outlaws of their time.

31.  In Cane Spring Canyon, AZ, this  Canadian woman held up a stagecoach.  She is the only known female
on record to ever hold up a stagecoach.  She is also the first woman prisoner at Yuma Prison in AZ.

(a)  Ivy Snow
(b)  Belle Starr
(c)  Pearl Hart
(d)  Calamity Jane

32.  Phoebe Annie Moses is the real name of Annie Oakley.  She was such a good markswoman, that she shot what out of the mouth of the Kaiser from Germany from 50 feet away?

(a) A cigar
(b) A cigarette
(c) A toothpick
(d) A pipe

33.  This outlaw is believed to have committed a double suicide (although some historians say differently):

(a) Frank Dalton
(b) Jesse James
(c)  Cole Younger
(d)  The Sundance Kid

34.  John Capen Adams is better known as Grizzly Adams.  He used to train train bears for circuses.
He named two of his own bears after what two famous patriots?

(a)  Washington and Lincoln
(b)  Jefferson and Washington
(c)   Franklin and Washington
(d)   Davis and  Lee

35.  Judge Roy Bean was known as "The Law West of the Pecos."  But he wasn't really a judge and had no legal training whatsoever.  So, how did he get his title?

(a)  He just told everyone he was and no one questioned it.
(b)  He stole the identity of a real judge that was killed.
(c)  His father was a judge and so he just took over after he died.
(d)  He was made a Justice of the Peace and read law books and ended up being a judge on cases.

36.  His real name is William Frederick Cody. But, how did he get his nickname of "Buffalo Bill?"

(a)  He was hired to supply meat to the US Army. So he killed a lot of buffalo to do it.
(b)  He wore a buffalo fur jacket all the time.
(c)  He would not kill a buffalo because he knew how important it was to the Indians.
(d)  His mom wrapped him in a buffalo fur when young and she called him that.

37.  In 1826 this person served in the US House of Representatives as a Democrat.

(a) Davy Crockett
(b) Jim Bowie
(c)  Meriwether Lewis
(d)  William Clark

38.   Poker Alice Tubbs is a famous woman gambler originally from Devonshire, England.  In her day, she was well-known for what?

(a)  She beat Wyatt Earp in a game of Taro.
(b)  She won 4 brothels in a poker game.
(c)  She broke the bank of the Golden Dust Casino in Silver City, New Mexico.
(d)  She shot anyone on the spot who said she was a cheat.

 

39.  Besides being a sheriff,  Pat Garrett was also a:

(a) Buffalo Hunter
(b) Texas Ranger
(c)  US Customs Officer
(d)  All of the above

40.   Florence Quick was Bob Dalton's  (head of The Dalton Gang) girlfriend and some say common-law wife.  She loved Bob dearly and would help him in any way she could.  Which of the following is she most known for?

(a)  She learnt Morse Code  and also slept with railroad station operators so she could hang around the station in order to overhear messages come in about trains that were due with gold or payroll money to tell Bob about.
(b)  She collected protection money from distillers in the Tulsa area to give to Bob.
(c)  She dressed up as a man and helped steal horses with the gang.
(d)  All of these.

 

41.  A "tickbird" is said to be a person who?

(a) Gave tips to the Sheriff on the whereabouts of an outlaw or his gang.
(b) Helped the outlaws by giving them food, shelter or information.
(c) A prostitute that weaseled information out of her customers.
(d) A  woman who hid out with a gang, but was never involved in any robberies.

42.   Doc Holliday coughed a lot because:

(a)  He had lung cancer
(b)  He had asthma
(c)  He had tuberculosis
(d)  He had a lot of acid reflux

43.  Kate Warne is famous because:

(a) She was the nation's first female detective
(b) She was the Madam of the biggest brothel the West ever had.
(c) She was the first female Texas Ranger.
(d) She was the first female sheriff.

44.  Wild Bill Hickock is believed to have suffered blindness  from what cause?

(a)  Wood splinters that never got removed
(b)  Syphilis
(c)  Metal bullet fragments from a bullet that ricocheted once.
(d) Glass splinters from flying broken glass in a bar fight.

 

45.  Blackface Charley Bryant was a well-known marksman of his time who never missed.  How did he get his nickname of "Blackface?"

(a)  His face was always smudged and dirty from powder burns.
(b)  He put dark mud on his face during gunfights to hide better.
(c)  He had a really, thick black beard, that within hours after shaving, started to grow back in leaving black
      stubble on his face constantly.
(d)  He was African American.

46.  Alan Pinkerton started what criminal help system that is stilled used today?

(a)  Getting fingerprints on outlaws
(b)  Sending in spies to towns to find hideouts
(c)   Organizing a "Rogues Gallery" that profiled outlaws and could be shared with sheriffs from town to town.
(d)   All of the above

47.  Madam Jesse Hayman was the first woman ever arrested for what?

(a)   Selling watered-down liquor in her establishment
(b)  Hiring illegal immigrants
(c)   Blackmailing a town sheriff
(d)   Marrying a man while still being married to another man (bigamy)

48.  The very first bank robbery in the US, was done by which of the following gangs?

(a) Jesse James Gang
(b)  The Daltons
(c)  The Youngers
(d)  The Wild Bunch

49.  Josie Washburn was a former prostitute who then became a Madam by opening her own brothel in Lincoln, Nebraska.  She is believed to be the very first prostitute/Madam to do what in the US:

(a) To try to  get society to give some respectability to former prostitutes.
(b) To ask the Nebraska State Legislature to help fund a home for prostitutes who wanted to quit the work.
(c)  Wrote a book about her life as a prostitute and Madam.
(d)  All of the above.

50. Alan Pinkerton wasn't always on the side of the law.  What did he do that was illegal?

(a)  His cooperage was an Underground Railroad station for slaves.
(b)  He wasn't a US citizen, but he voted in elections.
(c)  In order to fund his Agency, he took a bribe and allowed a criminal to escape.
(d)  He let moon shiners go scott free.

51.  In October of 1866, what happened that had never happened in the US before?

(a)  A President was assassinated
(b)  Counterfeit US dollars were first discovered
(c)  The first train robbery happened
(d)   Halloween was declared a legal holiday

52.  Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid's gang was most frequently called "The Wild Bunch." But, they were also called "The Hole in The Wall Gang."  Why?

(a) Due to all the bullet holes they left in bank walls.
(b) Due to all the bullet holes they left in the walls of buildings as they shot up the towns.
(c) Due to the massive amounts of bullet holes left in jails as they'd escape.
(d) Due to the name where they hung out.

53.  San Francisco had lots of brothels so there was a lot of competition.  Tessie Wall was one of the Barbary Coast's most popular Madams.  And, she knew that advertising was important.  What did Tessie do to promote her brothel that no other Madam had done before her?

(a) She printed photographs of all her girls in the newspaper so the men could see her merchandise.
(b) Every Saturday afternoon she had her girls parade up and down Market Street in the finest dresses from Paris and New York to show how classy she was.
(c) She created mock "Wanted" posters of each of her girls and posted them all over town with picture, height, weight, and other attributes.
(d) All of the above

54.  Sam Bass was a Texas outlaw whose gang consisted of: Joel Collins, Tom Nixon (Canadian), Bill Heffridge and Jim Berry.  They held up the Deadwood stage 4 times (July to August 1877) and got a total of what in loot?

(a) Seven peaches and less than $50
(b) $700
(c) $70 and some cheap jewelry off the passengers
(d) Nothing.  Each time it was empty.

55.  Tiburcio Vasquez killed, robbed and plundered around California for over 20 years.  Before he was to be hanged, what was his last request?

(a) To have one last night with his favorite prostitute
(b) To see the men who were building his gallows
(c) To see his coffin
(d) To see his mother

56.  Which of the following outlaws robbed, but never killed anyone?

(a)  Frank Dalton
(b)  Cole Younger
(c)  Butch Cassidy
(d)  John Wesley Hardin

57.   A lot of the Wild West outlaws also did what?

(a) Joined the Army (Union or Confederate) during the Civil War.
(b) Worked for the Pony Express
(c) Were employed as  Sheriffs of a town
(d)  All of the above

58.  Agent James McParlan of the Pinkerton Agency went undercover into which of the following groups to gain information and to make arrests?

(a)  The Molly McGuires
(b)  The Daltons
(c)  The Youngers
(d)  The Confederacy

59.  Madam Tessie Hall is known as "The Woman Who Licked John L. Sullivan." (the boxer).  How did she lick him?

(a)  She beat him in a poker game and took everything that he had.
(b)  She bet him that he couldn't pull a wagon loaded with all of her girls in it across town.
(c)  She drank more champagne than he did.
(d)  She beat him in a dice game.

60.  Judge H. Arbuckle on April 3, 1873 posted an announcement in the Matrimonial News stating that any husband of a  mail-order bride  (if he chose to do so) could automatically ask that his marriage be made null and void if he found out his bride deceived him by doing which of the following? 

(a)  Had artificial Bosoms
(b)  Used padded Limbs
(c)  Wore cosmetic Paints
(d)  All of the above

 

61. Robert LeRoy Parker is Butch Cassidy.  How did he get his nickname of Butch?

(a) His haircut
(b) It was his father's nickname and he took it.
(c) While he worked as a butcher
(d) He cut some guy all up in a bar fight.

62.  Even though men out numbered women in the West, not all men wanted women out there.  In Nevada City, California a group of bachelors organized together to suppress females.  What was the name of this group?

(a)  The Red Stocking Snoozers
(b)  The Male Advancement Society
(c)   Skirts & Curtains Militia
(d)   Freedom Fighters Against Petticoats

63.  This  African-American western frontiersman discovered a pass through the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is also named after him.

(a)   Andrew Lawson
(b)  Jim Beckwourth
(c)   Albert Bowman Rogers
(d)   Mathew Flinders

64.  President Theodore Roosevelt said that Jesse James was what?

(a)  An thorn in American decency.
(b)  A bad example to all young boys.
(c)  America's Robin Hood.
(d)  An example of  frontier corruption.

65. After one daring bank robbery, The Wild Bunch (aka Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid's gang) did what?

(a)  They had their picture taken.
(b)  They dumped a sack  of the money in front of a church.
(c)  They stopped at the Sheriff's Station and got  the men inside out of jail also.
(d)  Nothing. They'd just robbed  the bank and left  town asap.

 

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We hope you have a fun and safe Halloween :)

Information source for all our questions are from the following books:

"Wild Women of the West" by Carl W. Breihan
© 1982  New American Library (Signet Books)

"Outlaws and Lawmen of the Wild West: Alan Pinkerton" by Carl R. Green and William R. Snaford
© 1995 Enslow Publishers, Inc.

"Costume, Tradition, and Culture Reflecting on the Past.  The Wild Wild West." by Gina DeAngelis
© 1999 Chelsea House Publishers

"Hearts West. The True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier." by Chris Enss
© 1961 Morris Book Publishing, LLC  (Two Dot)

"Pistol Packin' Madams. True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West" by Chris Enss
© 2006  Two Dot Publishing

"Outlaws and Gunfighters of the Old West" by Phillip W. Steele
© 1991  Pelican Publishing Co.

"The Outlaws. The Authentic Wild West." by James D. Horan
© 1977 Crown Publishers

"The Wild West in American History - Gunfighters." by Leonard J. Matthews
© 1989 Rourke Publications, Inc.

 

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