Stagecoach robbers evolved as a consequence of the discovery of gold or silver, or some other mineral treasure, and a town would spring forth from the earth overnight. Roads were soon built and stage lines began operating. A pitching Betsy would take out bullion and dust and bring in payrolls, always through country that was rough and isolated. The temptation to get rich quickly was too great for some, and the demand, Hold Throw out that treasure box was heard all too often in the Old West. Most robberies were never solved, but many robbers were caught, indicted, tried, convicted, and...

During the 1800s trains carried the nation's wealth throughout the east, but no one thought to rob a speeding train until 1866. In 1870 the first western train was robbed in Nevada and within hours a second train was robbed. Railroads made every alteration to their cars and changed every procedure they could imagine to thwart the robbers, but to no avail. Robbing trains became epidemic over the next five decades, even when the legislatures made train robbery a capital crime. A few of the hundreds of train robberies stand out as thrilling and dangerous affairs, and the greatest of these...

Frontier Justice highlights eighteen crimes and subsequent punishments of the most interesting, controversial, and unusual executions from an era when hangings and shootings were a legal means of capital punishment. Learn about the bungled hanging of Tom Ketchum who was beheaded by the noose; the unique trigger for the trapdoor used to hang Tom Horn; "Big Nose" George Parrott who was skinned, pickled, and made into a pair of shoes; the double trials of Jack McCall, assassin of Wild Bill Hickok; the hanging of a woman-Elizabeth Potts; the shooting of John D. Lee of Mountain Meadows Massacre...

This collection of case histories examines hundreds of trials and death sentences carried out by the law of the 'Wild West'. The legal executions, most of them by hanging, provoke discussion over the controversial, modern view of the death sentence as well as the evolving jurisprudence of the western U.S. territories.

Since statehood was achieved in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, 321 men and 2 women have been executed. The first of these post-statehood executions took place in Nevada on October 30, 1868, and the last took place in Utah on June 18, 2010. This text provides a case history for each execution, including details of the crimes committed, pursuits and captures, the particulars of the legal process, and the executions. There have been five methods of execution available in these states, and death by hanging, lethal gas, electrocution, firing squad and lethal injection are all...

Since colonial days, administration of the death penalty--whether by hanging, firing squad, electrocution, or lethal injection--has persisted as one of the most controversial ethical and practical issues of American jurisprudence. This thorough work seeks to clarify the issue by chronicling every legal execution in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, including Indian Territory, through December 2010. Each case history includes a detailed description of the crime, the pursuit and capture of the suspect, his or her pre-trial experiences, the trial, sentencing, incarceration, execution, and its...

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.

California was the mining centre of the West for half a century. Wherever precious minerals were found, road agents appeared to "mine the roads" of treasure being shipped out and payrolls being shipped in. The first recorded robbery of a stagecoach occurred in 1856, and the last in 1913. Over that period there were 457 stagecoach robberies, many with special characteristics such as a claim the robbers were Confederate soldiers, a murder, a gun battle, or a thrilling pursuit and capture. Surprisingly, there were many robberies in which the perpetrator remained unknown or in which was so little...

More Frontier Justice in the Wild West; Bungled, Bizarre and Fascinating Executions reveals the details of more than two dozen instances of frontier justice from the era of the Wild West. These stories of how society dealt with the bad guys and how the good guys walked a fine line between justice and vigilantism reveals some surprising truths about the culture of the Wild West. The events chosen are unique, have some surprising twist, serve as a landmark or benchmark event, or just stand out in the annals of western justice."