Astoria shyster L.G. Carpenter coveted Darius Norris's valuable acreage on Long Beach Peninsula. So he got the police chief to arrest Norris on bogus charges, swindled him into signing over his property, and shanghaied him off out of town on a sailing ship. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1903b.darius-norris-shanghaied-538.html)

When World War I broke out, Herbert Hoover was the world's most successful mining engineer. He abandoned all that to build an organization to feed the starving, first in Belgium and then throughout war-torn Europe. (London, UK; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1702c.herbert-hoover-in-belgium-431.html)

He arrived in Oregon at age 9, and people called him “Poor Little Bertie.” He left Oregon for good to go to college at Stanford when he was 17. But Herbert Clark Hoover remained a member of the Salem Quaker church until his death. (Newburg, Yamhill County; 1880s, 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1702b.herbert-hoover-raised-in-oregon-430.html)

Laura Starcher and her friends were fed up with the halfhearted, desultory service they were getting from city government. So they got organized, ran for all the public offices, and won ... much to the chagrin of the defeated mayor: Starcher's husband. (Umatilla, Umatilla County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1903d.umatilla-petticoat-revolution-540.html)

Clarence the logger was running a trapline as a side hustle. One day, he decided a passing skunk would look great on his stretching rack, and impulsively seized the skunk with his bare hands. This did not turn out to be one of Clarence's better ideas. (Garibaldi, Tillamook County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1904a.tillamook-county-wildlife-encounters-542.html)

At Jake Silverman's trial, 11 jurors wanted him to hang, but couldn't convince the lone holdout to change his vote. So voters changed the law and made Oregon the only state in the country where you could be convicted on a 10-2 vote. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1993) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809e.1812.silverman-verdict.html)

It had been an accident, but small-time Portland crook Jimmy Walker had shot Rose City crime boss “Shy Frank” Kodat. Unfortunately for Jimmy, he picked the wrong friend to run to for help. (Portland, Scappoose; Multnomah and Columbia County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1310c-jimmy-walker-gangland-murder.html)

The Outlaw as Elder Statesman: In 1883, Eastern Oregon's wildest horse-rustling gunfighter gave up his stock-thieving ways (mostly) and became a wheat farmer. But to say he'd settled down wouldn't quite be accurate. (Part 2 in a 3-part series about Oregon's notorious Hank Vaughan) (Athena and Pendleton, Umatilla County; 1880s, 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1402d.hank-vaughan-part-3-farmer-hellraiser.html)

The Oregon frontier's most colorful almost-outlaw spent a dozen years dodging posses and slipping in and out of the Indian reservation with stolen horses and cattle. Some of his exploits are still being talked about today. (Part 2 in a 3-part series about Oregon's notorious Hank Vaughan) (Pilot Rock, Umatilla County; 1870s, 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1402c.hank-vaughan-rustling-years-2of3.html)

Quick to make both friends and enemies, Oregon's most famous frontier cowboy and almost-outlaw was a gifted horseman and rustler. But his hard-drinking, quick-shooting ways nearly got him lynched as a teen. This is part 1 of a 3-part series on the notorious Hank Vaughan. (Canyon City, Grant County; 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1402b.hank-vaughan-frontier-legend-1of3.html)