In the early 1920s a group of Charles M. Russell’s closest friends in Great Falls, Montana, were partners in the Montana Newspaper Association, a venture that published advertising supplements in the state’s daily newspapers. They hit upon the idea to publish a series of entertaining stories chronicling the history of the Old West, and they prevailed on Russell to provide pen-and-ink illustrations for each one. These stories appeared nearly every Sunday for a year, from March 5, 1922, through February 18, 1923. Most of Montana’s 170 newspapers carried this popular series. For his part, Russell was glad to participate; he loved the history of the American West and avidly read many books on the subject. Today these wonderfully narrative drawings stand apart from the articles they once accompanied. The original ink drawing pictured here was originally in the estate of the artist’s widow, Nancy C. Russell. It is part of the largest selection of them to be found anywhere—almost half the number that the artist eventually produced for the series. In each of them, Russell’s fluid and dexterous lines create a vivid picture of truly historic events—elevating them to the power of epic and myth. The gunslinger and murderer Joseph Slade was immortalized in Mark Twain’s famed account of living in the West, Roughing It. Slade was fearless and a very good shot, and worked for a time as an “enforcer” for overland stage companies in the Rocky Mountains. In the course of his work he killed a number of men, some of them outlaws but others merely innocent victims of his savage temper. He became bitter enemies with Jules Reni, a man whom Slade had replaced at one of the overland stations. After Reni tried to ambush Slade, the latter’s friends captured Reni and tied him to a post at the station. Slade taunted his luckless adversary, then shot him in heartless fashion. Slade was eventually arrested for one murder too many and promptly hanged by an angry vigilante committee in 1863.