Indigenous Ability

 [All excerpts taken from  Over the Chihuahua and Santa Fe trails, 1847-1848: George Rutledge Gibson's Journal George Rutledge was born in Virginia around 1810. He later studied law and opened a law office in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1834. During the early 1840s he moved his practice to Weston, Missouri. He also tried his hand at journalism, that is, publishing his own newspapers, both of these ventures failed, perhaps so for his law practice as well for when the Mexican War started, Gibson volunteered and was elected a second lieutenant. He was part of Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's Army of the West, which left Fort Leavenworth for the occupation of New Mexico in 1846. He later became assistant quartermaster and commissary and accompanied Colonel Alexander Doniphan's forces to El Paso and Chihuahua, seeing action at the Battle of Brazito on 25 December 1846 and the Battle of Sacramento on 28 February 1847. The first section of Gibson's journal begins when he left C...

  [The following is an extract from the well-researched 1979 novel, The Holdouts by William Decker. It discusses a topic we discussed at length in last week’s offering The Lumberjack/Mining Camp Caulk-Kick . You can read that piece here. Or better yet, snag our instructional on this godawful viciousness here .] With his size and strength Red had always been a formidable fist fighter, but he tried to avoid fighting. Sam remembered how disturbed Red had been when an old logger had given them advice on how to fight. They had been at a dance when a fight broke out in the parking lot and a crowd gathered to watch two men slug it out in a clearing among the cars and pickups. No rowdiness or drinking was allowed inside the community dance hall, so it all took place out in the parking lot, and this was the third fight that night. It ended when one of the men went down and did not rise again. Sam had been awed by the solid blows the men exchanged. The sight of grown men battling was so m...

  Our brand-spankin’ new instructional video deals with all permutations of this kick that was devised to not merely injure but to snap tibias and fibulas. For historical background see the Link For a preview of the Instructional Outline, see below. [The Program comes with the Complete Outline for inclusion in your Training Notebooks.] To snag your Instructional Journy into Cripple Town—Here’s the Product ! Pronunciation & Origin The Environment ·         Bar Rails ·         Lumberjack Smallpox Training Surfaces ·         Banana Bag ·         BOB ·         Wall Bag ·         A Good Ol’ Tree Training Gear ·         You ·         Shoes [Boots for Authenticity] ·  ...

  [Taken from our book Frontier Fisticuffs: Brawls, Dustups & Mysterious Strangers--The Martial Arts Western on Film . To see another extract from the book, this time a delightful and accurate early Jonn Wayne film, hit the link. The behind the scenes scufflin’ is worth the read alone.] Take a Hard Ride [1975] This 1975 Italian-American coproduction was an attempt to blend the then popular Blaxploitation and Spaghetti Western trends. It was also the 2nd of three films starring the trio of Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and our main man of interest here, Jim Kelly. [ Three the Hard Way & One Down, Two to Go being the other two films.] The director, credited as Anthony Dawson was the sometime screen name of Antonio Margheriti, a veteran of Italian exploitation cinema with Peplum, Spaghetti Westerns and cannibal films to his credit. As per usual with Italian “Westerns” the film was shot nowhere near the American West, here, the Canary Islands stands in for the Southwe...

ALL MALES PREPARE TO FLINCH TO YOUR CORE... as we delve into the history behind Rough n Tumble castration. I guarantee you one wild ride as we have a look at diabolical viciousness that’ll make today’s political hijinks look, well, simply silly. Use the link to listen for free over at Spotify. Rough n Tumble Castration Favor: If you Like, Share, Subscribe, Rate, Review the Rough n Tumble Raconteur Podcast, I’d be mighty obliged, it helps support all the research and testing we do around here at the Rough n Tumble Lab, aka The Comancheria. Live in the Shade of the Wagon, My Friends!

  “Diligence passe sens” (“Great is drill.”) Henry VIII A common request among combat rookies and even intermediate players (and if we are honest some long-timers still think this way, too) is “What’s next?” or “What’s the next super-secret neato technique to master?” And I get this attitude, I mean who doesn’t want some new bit of information to chew over, some new skill to toy with and occupy the mind? For some, familiarity breeds contempt and if most of us don’t feel contempt for what we know we must do, we can at least admit that sometimes another day in the gym working on variations of the same things as we did last week can occasionally lead to a bit of staleness. But, despite the occasional battle with “This again?” we must come to terms with and embrace the fact that this is the way of all great and serious endeavors. Let’s look to other sports for illustration. If we were to step onto the court of any winning basketball team during practice, would we expect to see ...