He moved to White Oaks, New Mexico, practiced law there, and wrote for the White Oaks newspaper "Golden Era" for a year and a half, returning to Iowa when his mother was ill. He later wrote "Story of the Outlaw, A Study of the Western Desperado", which included profiles of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. Hough moved to New Mexico after Garrett shot Billy the Kid, and he became a friend of Garrett. He wrote for various newspapers in Des Moines, Iowa, Sandusky, Ohio,