Frontierado is on Friday, August 7th this year. As ever, this holiday is about the myth of the Old West, not the grinding reality.
Wolf Kahler would have made a good Russian Bill
RUSSIAN BILL – William Tatenbaum aka Waldemar Tethenborn aka Feador Telfrin was born in Russia as the son of Countess Telfrin. Russian Bill’s noble birthright was confirmed by the American Consul in Saint Petersburg, Russia after Bill’s death by lynching in 1881.
That’s important to note because during William Tatenbaum’s travels in the American West many people thought the smooth-talking Russian gunslinger was lying about being a nobleman. Apparently they assumed he was a forerunner of the 20th Century’s Mike Romanoff, who became a celebrity based on his brassy – but failed – attempt to pass himself off as a member of the fallen Romanoff dynasty.
The 19th Century’s William Tatenbaum might have lived a longer life if he had pursued a similar con-man’s career instead of falling into the life of a guns-blazing outlaw.
While serving in the Tsar’s Imperial White Hussars (cavalry) and after seeing action in the Khivan Campaign, the future Russian Bill had a violent falling out with a superior officer. The exact nature of the conflict is not known and years later the Countess Telfrin would refer to it only as “a political affair.”
Bill left Russia under a cloud and at some point wound up in the American West. The wandering rogue made references to having gambled on Mississippi Riverboats and in assorted Texas towns while participating in periodic “duels” (gunfights) over ladies or related matters of “honor.” Given how true Russian Bill’s claims to nobility turned out to be, all the other claims he made about his mysterious past need to be taken with some seriousness.
Tatenbaum certainly looked and otherwise fit the part of the Old West Gambler better than the rougher outlaw he later became. He was described as a dandified dresser and sported expensive pistols. In addition he was well-spoken, well-educated and fluent in at least four languages, all of which would have accounted for his popularity with the ladies. His supposedly handsome face, curly blonde hair and moustache would have helped.
By the late 1870s Russian Bill was in the Animas Valley in Southwestern New Mexico Territory where he fell in with the Clanton Crime Faction, whose control extended from there to parts of Arizona Territory. Some accounts claim Bill first took to committing crimes with them to pay off a gambling debt to one of the gang. Continue reading
BLINDMAN (1971) – Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr turns 86 years old today. In his younger years he was affiliated with some musical group, but REAL Ringo fans know him as a Master Thespian who appeared in plenty of memorable movies. 
The Frontierado Holiday lands on Friday, August 7th this year. Regular Balladeer’s Blog readers may recall that Frontierado Season celebrates the myth of the Old West, not the grinding reality. To mark the season, I always review Westerns, look at neglected elements of the 1800s west and examine overlooked gunslingers whose lives were at least as exciting as the big-name figures. 
“WHISKEY JIM” GREATHOUSE – He started out by shooting his way to the top of a bootleg whiskey ring in the early 1870s. From there he moved on to stealing horses and mules with his gang, later switching to Buffalo “Hunting” with Pat Garrett. That got Whiskey Jim caught up in the war between buffalo “hunters” and the Comanches. In New Mexico, Jim took on crime lord “Hoodoo” Brown and ultimately moved on to rustling and rubbing shoulders with Billy the Kid. Click 
Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some neglected westerns. And when it comes to neglected it’s tough to top the tiny sub-genre of what is already a sub-genre: Spaghetti Westerns. I’m talking about Llama Westerns, the microscopic fraction of Italo-Westerns that deals with gunslingers in Peru shooting it out over Inca treasure instead of the usual gold or revenge. 
BARBARY COAST (1975-1976) – William Shatner was the main draw for this series set in 1800s San Francisco and its Barbary Coast section famed for gambling, crime, gunfights, brawls, partying and dance hall girls. Shatner starred as Jeff Cable, hero of the Union Army during the Civil War, now serving as a special government agent like Robert Conrad’s character in The Wild, Wild West. 
BARBARY COAST (May 4th, 1975) – This 2-hour telefilm was directed by the one and only Bill Bixby, who also made a cameo appearance. Jeff Cable (Shatner), West Point Graduate and Civil War hero fresh off fighting the Democrat Party’s hate group the Ku Klux Klan for President Ulysses S. Grant, arrives in San Francisco. Cable’s new mission is to shut down the Crusaders, an organization of Klan members who moved west and started their plot to become California’s version of the KKK. 
WHISKEY JIM – James Greathouse was born in Texas around 1854. Nothing is known about his early life but at age 20 he was living in Fort Griffin and running a successful bootleg whiskey network he had shot his way to the top of. As you could guess that illicit trade earned him his nickname Whiskey Jim. 
HENRY SEYMOUR LOOT – In 1879 Henry Seymour led his outlaw gang in robbing a stagecoach just out of Brigham City, Arizona and outside the Pine Spring Stage Station. The gang had targeted this particular stage because it carried a shipment of newly minted gold coins supposedly worth over $200,000. (If true that would be $6,429,000 here in 2025) 
STAGECOACH WEST (1960-1961) – This Friday, August 1st will mark the Frontierado Holiday this year, so let me slip in a few more seasonal blog posts along with my usual items. Stagecoach West starred Wayne Rogers as Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh! 
HIGH LONESOME – Stagecoach driver Luke Perry meets his latest load of passengers, among them Simon Kane, a man searching for his runaway wife. His son Davey travels with him and Sime told the boy his mother died to keep the more painful truth from him. 
DUSTY DELIA HASKETT – She was the first female stagecoach driver for the United States Mail Service. Delia was born in 1861 and built a reputation for herself during her adventurous career driving stagecoaches throughout California. 
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