Why did a Man want to be sheriff? The pay was low, and the work ranged from menial to dangerous and demanding. The majority of the men who enforced the law were average citizens. Some served in a time of high adventure; some were not as brave as others; some drank too much; some were pawns of politics, and others were escaping shadowy pasts. As Gorzalka chronicles the life of each sheriff in Wyoming's territorial days, their successes, failures, and motivation, the stories combine to create the era's history. Chapters on all fifty-five territorial sheriffs. Photos of most.
Massacres, mayhem, and mischief fill the pages of Outlaw Tales of Wyoming 2, with compelling legends of the Cowboy State's most despicable desperadoes. Ride with horse thieves and cattle rustlers, duck the bullets of murderers, plot strategies with con artists, and hiss at lawmen turned outlaws.
Massacres, mayhem, and mischief fill the pages of Outlaw Tales of Wyoming 2, with compelling legends of the Cowboy State's most despicable desperadoes. Ride with horse thieves and cattle rustlers, duck the bullets of murderers, plot strategies with con artists, and hiss at lawmen turned outlaws.
A treacherous journey through the Wyoming wilderness brings great change and challenge to Jamis Johnson and his frontier family. His dream is to create a quality strain of horses for the demanding life of the expanding American frontier. His dream can become a reality with the purchase of a stallion from the stock of George Gray of the G Bar G Ranch in Laramie. Jamis leaves his family to trek through the foothills of the Rattlesnake Mountains, where he encounters Indians and battles the unforgiving elements of the rugged outdoors to reach Laramie before winter sets in. In his absence, his wife, Deborah, is left with the insurmountable endeavor of trying to provide for herself and her young son in a cold, cruel and dangerous environment. Their struggle to survive through astonishing circumstances will draw the reader into their world and provide a glimpse into what life was like for those American heroes who settled this great country and helped it to become a beacon to the downtrodden from the far corners of the earth.
Think gunfighter, and Wyatt Earp or Billy the Kid may come to mind, but what of Jim Moon? Joel Fowler? Zack Light? A host of other figures helped forge the gunfighter persona, but their stories have been lost to time. In a sequel to his Deadly Dozen, celebrated western historian Robert K. DeArment now offers more biographical portraits of lesser-known gunfighters—men who perhaps weren’t glorified in legend or song, but who were rightfully notorious in their day. DeArment has tracked down stories of gunmen from throughout the West—characters you won’t find in any of today’s western history encyclopedias but whose careers are colorfully described here. Photos of the men and telling quotations from primary sources make these characters come alive. In giving these men their due, DeArment takes readers back to the gunfighter culture spawned in part by the upheavals of the Civil War, to a time when deadly duels were part of the social fabric of frontier towns and the Code of the West was real. His vignettes offer telling insights into conditions on the frontier that created the gunfighters of legend. These overlooked shooters never won national headlines but made their own contributions to the blood and thunder of the Old West: people less than legends, but all the more fascinating because they were real. Readers who enjoyed DeArment’s Deadly Dozen will find this book equally captivating—as gripping as a showdown, twelve times over.
