The Badge and Harry Cole

by Clifton Adams

As a deputy marshal of the U.S. District for Western Arkansas in the 1880s, Harry Cole was well qualified for the tough and demanding work he did. He took a passionate pride in the knowledge that he was better at his work than almost anybody else. The fact was that Cole valued nothing and no one more than his job -- not friendship, personal loyalties, not even his beautiful wife, Cordelia. There were times, though, when the burden of being a lawman weighed heavily on Harry Cole, and it became almost intolerable when he made it his mission to capture the Sutter gang. Along the way, he left a trail of death and broken lives -- and now the memories returned to haunt him as he faced Cordelia's bitter rejection of everything he stood for.

237 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[David]

This was a tight fast novel and a great character study

[Jay Wright]

Surprisingly good! This is a little like True Grit. Harry Cole is a Federal Marshall working for Judge Parker in the Indian territories. His wife has turned on him, but the one thing he is good at is being a lawman. So while he is rounding up persons selling whiskey to the Indians, he runs across a gang that robbed a train in Missouri. The character is well developed and it has a good gritty story.

[Thomas Burchfield]

Pretty good noirish western from a Spur-Award winning author. Harry Cole is a deputy marshal for the (in)famous Judge Parker and obsessed with his job above all else. When Judge Parker sends Cole in pursuit of the Sutter gang in the hills of Oklahoma Territory, Cole becomes a man as dangerous and cruel as his prey. It's no TRUE GRIT, but Adams tells an exciting yarn colored with bleak but exacting detail, capturing the harshness of life at that time and place.

[Teresa Creek]

Marshall Harry Cole is very good at being a lawman in the wild and wooley west. He always goes for the worst of the worse and brings them back even if it means going against Judge Parker's orders. As he pursues the Sutter gang he leaves a trail of blood, death and carnage behind him including his own marriage to the lovely Cordelia. I enjoyed this book because I'm a silly romantic that likes blood and guts.

[Gloria Jorg]

Excellent. I am never disappointed by Clifton Adam’s tales of the Wild West. A gripping story line.