Liver-Eating Johnson in True West Magazine

[Notchy Bob]

I'll confess... I'm a True West subscriber. Some issues don't have much to offer, but this month (December 2023) they have Liver-Eating Johnson on the cover:



There is an interesting article about him in the magazine, with somewhat limited text but a bunch of period paintings By A.J. Miller and others. The article was written by D.J. Herda, author of the full-length biography, "The Never Ending Lives of Liver-Eating Johnson." There is also a full page "fact sheet" about the hepativorous frontiersman that pretty much covers his lifespan. The story of his "terrifying nickname" was hardly more than a footnote. I've read several versions of that story, but the magazine only related one. He was an interesting character, to say the least.

This issue also has an article covering "the 10 best mountain man movies." Some of the entries don't really fit the category, but "Jeremiah Johnson" got the #1 spot, and "The Mountain Men," with Charlton Heston and Brian Keith, was right up there. And, of course, "The Revenant" was front and center.

Finally, Phil Spangenburger covered the topic of Hawken rifles in three pages. Not much there for a hard-core Hawken buff, and there were at least a couple of factual errors, but the illustrations are good. One of the J&S rifles shown has an ornate patchbox and a single-set trigger. There are just a few of these out there, but it is not common to see them illustrated.

Only you can decide if it's worth the off-the-rack purchase price of $6.99, but it is one of the better recent issues.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I had a subscription that just ran out recently. I think their December issues are always mountain man related. I just got tired of their editor Bob Boze Bell with his artwork or books for sale on almost every page.

 

[sethwyo]

I wish that they would put the advertisements all together in a section in the back,
You start reading a article on page 10 and then you have to skip to page 31 to finish it,
It's always annoyed me even with the old magazines from the '60s they pulled this sneaky stunt.
apparently think they're going to get you to buy stuff from their advertisements by jerking you around back and forth through the magazine, even though you've already paid for their magazine

 

[Antelope Pete]

I like Wild West much better. It has much better in depth articles without the Arizona dominance. It seems hard to find now though without a subscription..

 

[BillinOregon]

Thanks Bob. I did not realize Spangenberger was still writing.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Thanks Bob. I did not realize Spangenberger was still writing.

I thought the same thing, figure Spangenberger had gone under. He always done a good black powder piece in Guns & Ammo

 

[bud in pa]

I remember reading about Johnson, another Jersey guy. Seems like Jersey guys have no qualms about doing stuff out of the ordinary!

 

[sethwyo]

 

[TDM]

Haven’t seen that magazine in years, didn’t know it was still published. Very neat!

 

[Notchy Bob]

There are now a couple of active threads concerning John "Liver-Eating" Johnson/Johnston, but for those who have not yet gotten their fill, I found a really well-written short story some of you might enjoy. This is Winter on the Belle Fourche, by Neal Barrett, Jr. That link will take you to the full story online, and you can read it for free. It is fiction, but a pretty good read. I gather it was originally published in an anthology, The New Frontier: The Best of Today's Western Fiction, in 1989.

Just to get it out of the way, there are some historical inaccuracies... the story takes place in 1855, and it is my understanding that there is no unequivocal evidence to confirm that Johnston was in the Rockies prior to 1862. There is a young lady in the story with a fondness for poetry, named Emily Dickinson, from Amherst, Massachusetts, but the historical character by that name was sort of a recluse by that time and never went west, as far as I know. There is mention of a "buffalo trooper," and a "colored trooper," but the Buffalo Soldiers were not organized into the regular Army until after the Civil War. Johnston carries a Colt Walker, which I suppose would have been remotely possible, but why couldn't he just have a Dragoon revolver? It would have been a lot more believable. I'm sure we could all find more things to nit-pick, but there's no need. It's a good story, well written, and it put me in that desirable state of "suspended disbelief." I thought the author had a good feel for the language of the time, even if some of the words are now offensive.



If you like good fiction and have half an hour to fill in, check it out.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[sethwyo]

liver eatin is still talked about, but no tellin of the story of jeff turner.

 

[Arrowhead_92]

Is " "Crow Killer" The Saga of Liver Eating Johnson" by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker a good historical read or is it fact and fiction tall tails? Thought about picking up the new addition of it...

 

[sethwyo]

It is a fake story, I personally wish I could go back in time and not read it,

The story is full of completely fake things that aren't even realistic, it is written like one of those cheap western novels with a bunch of blood and guts. Such as A character fanning a Colt 45 in each hand.
The whole story in general is fake and it shows in the made up things that they put in there
In the book Crow killer it talks about him taking out and then replacing the cartridges in his Colt Walker, and it makes reference to his 50~90 Springfield needle gun.

(Colt Walker model didn't take cartridges and the Springfield trap door never was chambered for the 5090)

It gives a completely fake account about them going into a camp of Indians and chopping them up into pieces , heads in one pile torsos in ather pile , arms in another pile, etc.
It gives some other account about him cutting the heads off of some men who traded guns to the Indians and sticking the heads on poles behind their trading post.
The book may have a few grains of truth but overall it's just a big lie.
Johnson never actually ate any human livers but the story claims that he killed thousands of people and ate their livers it's really disgustingly fake.

 

[Arrowhead_92]

It is a fake story, I personally wish I could go back in time and not read it,

The story is full of completely fake things that aren't even realistic, it is written like one of those cheap western novels with a bunch of blood and guts. Such as A character fanning a Colt 45 in each hand.
The whole story in general is fake and it shows in the made up things that they put in there
In the book Crow killer it talks about him taking out and then replacing the cartridges in his Colt Walker, and it makes reference to his 50~90 Springfield needle gun.

(Colt Walker model didn't take cartridges and the Springfield trap door never was chambered for the 5090)

It gives a completely fake account about them going into a camp of Indians and chopping them up into pieces , heads in one pile torsos in ather pile , arms in another pile, etc.
It gives some other account about him cutting the heads off of some men who traded guns to the Indians and sticking the heads on poles behind their trading post.
The book may have a few grains of truth but overall it's just a big lie.
Johnson never actually ate any human livers but the story claims that he killed thousands of people and ate their livers it's really disgustingly fake.

Thanks for that. That sounds horrible lol, I thought that book might be like that, last year I read Joe Meek the merry mountain man by Stanley vestal and while it wasn’t that bad, I felt like I was reading a 50’s western novel. Wish there were better books out there on people like Johnston, Meek, and others.

 

[oldwood]

Read the novel , and saw the movie many times. Beyond great stuff.

 

[nessmuk]

liver eatin is still talked about, but no tellin of the story of jeff turner.

Please educate me. Who was Jeff Turner?

 

[sethwyo]

I may Google it when I have a moment and post a link to a story, if you got time today Google somethin like Jeff Turner Indian fighter

 

[nessmuk]

I got it. Once I added "Indian fighter" to my search his name turned up.

 

[sethwyo]

Sad story all around

 

[CaptainVane]

As for dismembering bodies, any doctor will tell you it’s incredibly exhausting work to hack apart a human body, let alone hundreds/thousands.
Especially with the half dull hatchets and knives they had back them.